[Electronics-Talk] BRF vs. Digital e-Book

[Ellana Crew]

Hello there,

I was recently approached by a follower of mine on a blindness blog I run about braille e-book or BRF files and their compatibility with braille displays, and while I was able to clear up that particular question, I have known very little about BRF files before doing my research to answer their question, but now that I have done some reading and looking into them, I am not exactly sure what the particular benefit of a BRF file actually is as compared to a Daisy or regular digital e-book file format.

From what I was reading on a couple of different websites, it seems as though BRF files are just digital braille files to be read just like an ordinary digital text file on a braille display. But, if this is the case, what is the point of creating the BRF file type? Why not just stick to regular digital text files if your braille display already does the work of converting it to braille for you? With a regular digital text file, you can read it on your braille display or with voiceover, and probably take that same text and import it to Duxberry to be embossed, but it seems like BRF files just do the exact same things. The sources I found had said that BRF files can be read on a braille display, or imported into Kurzweil to be read auditorily, or also be read with the screen reader, all things that digital text files can already do.

Are there perhaps any important distinctions that make BRF files more useful, compatible, or if active than digital text files? Is there a crucial feature or value I am missing?

Any info I could get on this would be greatly appreciated!

Ellana Crew, Vice President
Maryland Association of Blind Students

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.