WAV
WAV (or
WAVE), short for Waveform
audio format, is a
Microsoft and
IBM audio file format standard for storing audio on
PCs. It is a variant of the
RIFF bitstream format method for storing data in "chunks", and thus also close to the
IFF and the
AIFF format used on
Macintosh computers. Both WAVs and AIFFs are compatible with Windows and Macintosh operating systems. It takes into account some differences of the
Intel CPU such as
little-endian byte order. The RIFF format acts as a "wrapper" for various audio compression
codecs. It is the main format used on
Windows systems for raw audio.
Though a WAV file can hold
compressed audio, the most common WAV format contains uncompressed audio in the
pulse-code modulation (PCM) format. PCM audio is the standard audio file format for CDs at 44,100 samples per second. Since PCM uses an uncompressed,
lossless storage method, which keeps all the samples of an audio track, professional users or audio experts may use the WAV format for maximum audio quality. WAV audio can also be edited and manipulated with relative ease using software.
As
file sharing over the
Internet has become popular, the WAV format has declined in popularity, primarily because uncompressed WAV files are quite large in size. More frequently, compressed but
lossy formats such as
MP3, and
AAC are used to store and transfer audio, since their smaller file sizes allow for faster transmission over the internet as well as lower disk space consumption. There are also more efficient lossless codecs available, such as
Monkey's Audio,
TTA,
WavPack,
FLAC,
Shorten,
Apple Lossless and
WMA Lossless.
The usage of the WAV format has more to do with its simplicity and simple structure, which is heavily based on the IFF file format. Because of this, it continues to enjoy widespread use with a variety of software applications, often functioning as a lowest common denominator when it comes to exchanging sound files between different programs.
The WAV format is limited to files that are less than 4
GiB in size, due to its use of a 32 bit unsigned integer to record the file size header (some programs limit the file size to 2
GiB). Although this is equivalent to about 6.6 hours of CD-quality audio (44.1 kHz, 16-bit stereo), it is sometimes necessary to go over this limit. The
W64 format was therefore created for use in
Sound Forge. Its 64-bit header allows for much longer recording times. This format can be converted using the
libsndfile library.
Audio
CDs do not use WAV as their sound format, instead using
Red Book audio. The commonality is that both audio CDs and WAV files have the audio data encoded in
PCM. WAV is a data file format for computer use. If one were to transfer an audio CD bit stream to WAV files and record them onto a
CD-R as a data disc (in
ISO format), the CD could not be played in a player that was only designed to play audio CDs.
*
A summary of the WAVE file format*
Another summary of WAVE file format*
Wotsit's file format information for WAV*
WAV file format*
Basic WAV file format*
Borland C program to convert Audio Cds in Wave Files nothing choice Content must not violate any copyright. Encyclopedic content must be verifiable. You agree to license your contributions under the GFDL.Le Anh Vu. HA DANG KHOI
