WAV

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/WAV)
Filename extension
.wav .wave
Internet media type
audio/vnd.wave,[1] audio/wav, audio/wave, audio/x-wav[2]
Type codeWAVE
Uniform Type Identifier (UTI)com.microsoft.waveform-audio
Developed byIBM and Microsoft
Initial releaseAugust 1991; 33 years ago (1991-08)[3]
Latest release
Multiple Channel Audio Data and WAVE Files
7 March 2007; 17 years ago (2007-03-07) (update)[4][5]
Type of formatAudio file format, container format
Extended fromRIFF
Extended toBWF, RF64

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.

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.

  1. ^ Fleischman, E. (June 1998). WAVE and AVI Codec Registries. IETF. doi:10.17487/RFC2361. RFC 2361. Retrieved 2009-12-06.
  2. ^ "File Extension .WAV Details". Filext.com. Retrieved 2015-08-10.
  3. ^ a b IBM; Microsoft (August 1991). "Multimedia Programming Interface and Data Specifications 1.0" (PDF). Retrieved 2020-12-26.
  4. ^ P. Kabal (2006-06-19). "Audio File Format Specifications - WAVE or RIFF WAVE sound file". McGill University. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
  5. ^ "Multiple Channel Audio Data and WAVE Files". Microsoft Corporation. 2007-03-07. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
  6. ^ "WAVE Audio File Format". Library of Congress. 2008-09-12. Retrieved 2023-12-03.
  7. ^ Di Silvestro, Laile L.; Baribault, Greg (June 20, 1999). Waveform Audio File Format, MIME Sub-type Registration. IETF. I-D draft-ema-vpim-wav-00. Retrieved 2009-12-06.
  8. ^ "Definition of WAV file in English". Oxford English Living Dictionary. Archived from the original on February 7, 2018.