Waveform audio file format

Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or more commonly known as WAV due to its filename extension) is an audio file format developed by Microsoft and IBM for storing audio data on computers. It is an application of the Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF). WAV files are uncompressed and generally use a file size that is larger than that of compressed audio formats like MP3, but the resulting audio quality is much higher.

The most popular and basic version of the WAV format stores audio using Pulse Code Modulation (PCM), but the format also supports other encoding types such as ADPCM, a-law, and µ-law. WAV files can be written in either mono or stereo format and does not support lossy compression. Although the WAV format is native to Microsoft Windows, many other popular multimedia platforms can playback WAV audio, such as Mac OS X and Linux installed systems.

WAV audio is often used to store data such as music or speech recordings. The format is often used in streaming audio services or as sound files for computer programming. WAV also allows for the editing of audio data or providing the ability to process the audio data through special sound effects and other effects in audio editors.

The WAV format is a popular option for audio due to its compatibility with numerous digital audio workstations, its storage of audio with minimal degradation, its use with unencrypted files, and its ability to store and transfer larger files quickly. Because of its popularity, it is often more difficult to implement reference wall clocks and time-stamps with WAV files as opposed to compressed audio formats like MP3.