All about WAV Files

The WAV file type is primarily associated with Audacity.

WAV	File extension: WAV
	File type:	audio file

What is a WAV file

WAV files mostly belong to Audacity. WAV files store audio data using the RIFF format in an uncompressed, raw state.
When you open a WAV file, you see sound captured without compression, which preserves its quality.
Key details sourced by FilExt.com include:

Format: Uses the RIFF container.

Audio Data: Contains uncompressed sound.

Playback & Editing: Open with applications like Audacity or Windows Media Player.

Storage: Files are larger because they do not use compression.

FilExt.com note: More details can be found at the Audacity website.

How to open WAV files

You need a suitable software like Audacity to open a WAV file. Without proper software you will receive a Windows message "How do you want to open this file?" or "Windows cannot open this file" or a similar Mac/iPhone/Android alert. If you cannot open your WAV file correctly, try to right-click or long-press the file. Then click "Open with" and choose an application. You can also display a WAV file directly in the browser:. Just drag the file onto this browser window and drop it.

Online WAV File Viewer

Choose your .wav file to play

or drag and drop it here

Online File Viewer

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How to convert WAV files to MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC, AAC, AIFF, ...

1. To do so, click the "Choose your .wav file to play" button above.
2. After your file is opened in browser,
3. click "Save as..." in the menu.
4. Then choose the audio format (e.g. MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC, AAC, AIFF, ...) you want.
5. Download the converted file.

WAV file format:

The file format determines how the data is stored in the file. The file format can be determined based on the file extension and the signature (the first few characters of a file). File extension, signature and file format must match; otherwise errors will occur when the file is opened. Exact knowledge of the format is therefore important in order to solve problems occurring in files. Below you will find our evaluation of the WAV files:

The WAV extension is very commonly used. This WAV file itself is among the most popular common file types and uses a uniform format that many programs support. The file formats most commonly found in WAV files are:

• 85% of all WAV files are Broadcast Wave File audio files, which are using the popular RIFF file format. RIFF files store data in tagged chunks. There are primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video. The contents of these files cannot be read by a human; only a computer program can interpret the data. The average file size is 630 KB with most files being between 19 KB and 23 MB in size. The file type was created 20 years ago but is still used today. The files contain the following words: WAVEfmt, data and RIFF. Such files are related to audio, music, voice, zoom, recording, windows, beyond and sound.
• 1% of all WAV files use the popular Mac2OSX file format. The Mac2OSX format is an AppleDouble format and originally used to store additional metadata on Unix systems. They consist of unreadable binary data. WAV files are between 210 bytes and 4 KB in size. The keywords Mac OS X, apple and ATTR are typical for these files.

All other WAV files (14%) have no uniform format, often, for example, MKV and PNG. Sometimes used for challenge, message, open, start, online or loop. If you want to find out which format your WAV file belongs to, just click on the button "Choose your .wav file to play".