This page contains information on the WAV file extension (Waveform audio format), a popular audio file format
File extension | .wav |
Category | Audio File |
Description | WAV (WAVE) files are audio files playable via multimedia playback software such as Windows Media Player and other software available for your operating system. These files contain any sounds such as sound effects, music or spoken words. WAV files are large in size and with the advent of MP3 and MP4 WAV files are becoming less popular and less common. They were created and developed by IBM and Microsoft but unlike MP3 and MP4 the WAV file format does not use a form of lossy compression so file sizes are therefore much bigger and now less popular. |
Actions | Convert WAV file View other audio file formats |
Technical Details | Wav files are the standard digital audio format in Windows. Using the .WAV file extension, 8- or 16-bit samples can be taken at rates of 11,025 Hz, 22,050 Hz and 44,100 Hz. The highest quality being th 16-bit at 44,100 HZ, this highest level is the sampling rate of an audio CD and uses 88KB of storage per second. All general sounds in Windows, such as when you log in, are in the .WAV format. The default content of a WAV file is uncompressed (although they can be used to store compressed formats such as MP3), pulse code modulated (PCM) digital samples derived from the analog source. |
Associated programs | CyberLink PowerDirector Microsoft Windows Media Player Roxio Creator 2009 |
Developed by | Microsoft & IBM |
MIME type | audio/wav audio/wave audio/x-wav |
Useful links | Find out more about the WAV format When to use WAV files ? Convert WAV file |
Convert WAV file
Using Zamzar it is possible to convert WAV files to a variety of other formats
- wav to aac (Advanced Audio Coding File)
- wav to ac3 (AC3 Audio File)
- wav to flac (Free Lossless Audio Codec)
- wav to m4a (Compressed video file)
- wav to m4r (iPhone Ringtone File)
- wav to mp3 (Compressed audio file)
- wav to mp4 (MPEG-4 Video File)
- wav to ogg (Ogg Vorbis Compressed Audio File)
- wav to wma (Windows Media Audio)
