Open WAV File

WAV files, which can also be named as WAVE, is an abbreviation for Waveform audio file format, is a digital audio format with or without data compression developed jointly by Microsoft and IBM.

The WAV file is used to store digital audio streams on the PC, mono and stereo at various resolutions and sample rates.

The WAV file is a variant of the RIFF format, which comes from the Resource Interchange File Format, consisting of a method for storage in packages defined by IBM and Microsoft.

Thus, the RIFF format, and therefore the WAV format, acts as a container for various audio encoding formats, similar to IFF and AIFF formats, compatible with Apple Macintosh.

The format considers some peculiarities of Intel processors, because it is optimally designed by IBM and Microsoft Windows.

This is why WAV is the main audio format for Windows.

It is important to note that the WAV format is compatible with almost any audio codec, however it is based on the LPCM (Linear Pulse Coded Modulation) format, which has no loss of quality and is suitable for professional use.

The WAV format can have a quality similar to that of audio CD, sampling at a frequency of 44100 Hz and 16 bits for each audio channel.

That is why professional or expert audio users can use the WAV format with LPCM audio for maximum audio quality.

But also, the WAV format supports audio compression, using Microsoft's Audio Compression Manager (ACM Codec) codec, achieving characteristics similar to those of MP3 or Ogg Vorbis files.

A notable characteristic of WAV files is that their header indicates that they are 32-bit, which limits their maximum size to 4 GB.

Software to open a WAV file

• Adobe Audition
• Avid Pro Tools
• Foobar2000