WAV
File format standard for storing audio on PCs / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with WavPack.
"Wav" redirects here. For the scientific wave, see Wave. For the waves of water, see Wind wave. For other uses, see Wav (disambiguation).
"Wave Sound" redirects here. For the festival, see Wave Sound (festival).
Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or WAV due to its filename extension;[3][6][7] pronounced /wæv/ or /weɪv/ [8]) 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.
Quick Facts Filename extension, Internet media type ...
Filename extension |
.wav .wave |
---|---|
Internet media type | |
Type code | WAVE |
Uniform Type Identifier (UTI) | com.microsoft.waveform-audio |
Developed by | IBM and Microsoft |
Initial release | August 1991; 32 years ago (1991-08)[3] |
Latest release | |
Type of format | Audio file format, container format |
Extended from | RIFF |
Extended to | BWF, RF64 |
Close
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.