Waveform Audio File Format
Sign in to saveAlso known as .wave, .wav, WAVE, Microsoft WAVE, WAV, WAV format
Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or WAV due to its filename extension; pronounced or ) is an audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on personal computers. The format was developed and published for the first time in 1991 by IBM and Microsoft. It is the main format used on Microsoft Windows systems for uncompressed audio. The usual bitstream encoding is the linear pulse-code modulation (LPCM) format.
Key facts
- File format.name
- Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE/WAV)
- File format.extension
- .wav .wave
- File format.mime
- audio/vnd.wave, audio/wav, audio/wave, audio/x-wav
- File format.type code
- WAVE
- File format.uniform type
- com.microsoft.waveform-audio
- File format.owner
- IBM and Microsoft
- File format.latest release version
- Multiple Channel Audio Data and WAVE Files
- File format.latest release date
- (update)
- File format.genre
- Audio file format, container format
- File format.extended from
- RIFF
- File format.extended to
- BWF, RF64
via Wikipedia infobox
Described at
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Encyclopedic overview
15 sectionsContents
- Description
- File specifications
- RIFF
- RIFF WAVE
- WAV file header
- Metadata
- Popularity
- Use by broadcasters
- Limitations
- Non-audio data
- Audio compact discs
- Comparison of coding schemes
- See also
- References
- External links
Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or WAV due to its filename extension; pronounced or ) is an audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on personal computers. The format was developed and published for the first time in 1991 by IBM and Microsoft. It is the main format used on Microsoft Windows systems for uncompressed audio. The usual bitstream encoding is the linear pulse-code modulation (LPCM) format.
WAV is an application of the Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) bitstream format method for storing data in chunks, and thus is similar to the 8SVX and the Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) format used on Amiga and Macintosh computers, respectively.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Waveform Audio File Format” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.