WAV
Waveform Audio File Format
MIME type: audio/wav
WAV is an uncompressed audio format developed by Microsoft and IBM. It stores raw audio data with no compression, preserving perfect audio quality at the cost of very large file sizes.
Advantages
- +Perfect audio quality (uncompressed)
- +Universal support on all platforms
- +No encoding/decoding artifacts
- +Industry standard for audio production
Limitations
- -Very large files (10 MB per minute at CD quality)
- -No metadata/tag support in basic format
- -Impractical for streaming or mobile use
- -No compression
Common Use Cases
Technical Details
WAV files use the RIFF (Resource Interchange File Format) container. Audio data is stored as Linear PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) samples. Standard CD quality is 44,100 Hz sample rate, 16-bit depth, stereo — producing 10.1 MB per minute. The format supports various sample rates (8 kHz to 384 kHz), bit depths (8-bit to 32-bit float), and channel counts.
Frequently Asked Questions
WAV vs MP3 — what's the difference?
WAV is uncompressed with perfect quality but huge files (~10 MB/min). MP3 is compressed to ~1 MB/min with slight quality loss. Use WAV for editing and production, MP3 for distribution and listening.