(WAVe) The native 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 (16-bit at 44,100 Hz) is the sampling rate of an audio CD and uses 88KB of storage per second. Windows employs WAV files for general system sounds, and new WAV files can be placed in the Windows Media folder (WINDOWSMEDIA or WINNTMEDIA) and assigned in the Sounds control panel.
The WAV format is widely used as the audio medium for professional recording and editing. For creating music CDs, WAV files are converted to the CD-DA audio format, and both WAV and CD-DA files take up a similar amount of storage space. See CD-DA.
Mostly Uncompressed PCM
The default content of a WAV file is uncompressed, pulse code modulated (PCM) digital samples derived from the analog source. However, WAV files can also be used to store compressed formats, including MP3, ADPCM, GSM, G.723.1 and others. A header in the file indicates the content type. See sampling and PCM.
The WAV format is widely used as the audio medium for professional recording and editing. For creating music CDs, WAV files are converted to the CD-DA audio format, and both WAV and CD-DA files take up a similar amount of storage space. See CD-DA.
Mostly Uncompressed PCM
The default content of a WAV file is uncompressed, pulse code modulated (PCM) digital samples derived from the analog source. However, WAV files can also be used to store compressed formats, including MP3, ADPCM, GSM, G.723.1 and others. A header in the file indicates the content type. See sampling and PCM.
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2009 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- Bigasoft iPhone Ringtone Maker 1.6.6.3600 (Windows)
- Bigasoft iPhone Ringtone Maker is an easy-to-use iPhone ringtone creator which helps you easily convert music like MP3 to iPhone ringtone M4R, even create iPhone ringtone M4R from your personal music/movie collection including WMA, M4A, WAV, MP3, RA, AVI, MPEG, WMV, DivX, MP4, H.264/AVC, AVCHD, MKV, RM, MOV, XviD, or...
- Software downloads 2009-11-27
- AVCWare iPhone Ringtone Maker 1.0.20.1015 (Windows)
- AVCWare iPhone Ringtone Maker turns your dream of making your own iPhone ringtone with loved music into reality in the way of converting almost all mainstream video/audio formats including AVI, MPEG, WMV, DivX, MP4, H.264/AVC, AVCHD, MKV, RM, MOV, XviD, 3GP, MP3, WMA, WAV, RA, M4A to M4R iPhone ringtone,...
- Software downloads 2009-11-27
- Xilisoft Video Converter Platinum 5.1.26.1127 (Windows)
- Incredibly easy to use for both beginners and experts, Xilisoft Video Converter Platinum is your best choice for video conversion: converting videos of all popular formats like AVI, MPEG, WMV, DivX, MP4, H.264/AVC, AVCHD (.mts, .m2ts), MKV, FLV, RM, MOV, XviD, 3GP, M4V, VOB, DAT, SWF. It will also help...
- Software downloads 2009-11-27
- Xilisoft Mobile Video Converter 5.1.26.1030 (Windows)
- Xilisoft Mobile Video Converter can convert multiform video and audio files like AVI, WMV,MP4, MOV, MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, OGG to mobile phone compatible videos and audios, extract mobile phone MP3, WMA, WAV, M4A and OGG audio files from various video/music files for enjoying on all kinds of mobile phone....
- Software downloads 2009-11-26
- FairStars Recorder 3.29 (Windows)
- FairStars Recorder is a real-time audio recorder, offering professional recording features with full support for WMA, MP3, OGG, APE, FLAC and WAV formats. It allows you to record sound directly from your sound card, including from a microphone or a line-in jack at high quality. It can be used to...
- Software downloads 2009-11-26
- AVCWare Video Converter 2.0.1.1120 (Windows)
- With the easy-to-use interface and powerful conversion engine, AVCWare Video Converter is an ideal video converter to both beginners and professionals alike. It helps you to convert all popular video formats like AVI, MPEG, WMV, DivX, MP4, H.264/AVC, MKV, RM, MOV, XviD, 3GP, etc. You can also extract audio files...
- Software downloads 2009-11-26
- Power DVD Rip Studio 1.1.7.110 (Windows)
- Power DVD Rip Studio is a powerful DVD copying and ripping software which can rip DVD to AVI, DVD to MPEG, DVD to WMV, DVD to WAV, and DVD to SVCD formats. You can easily backup DVD movies to your iPod, PSP, iPhone, Zune and your mobile phone. Power DVD...
- Software downloads 2009-11-26
- CD Duplicate Master 1.0.0.1020 (Windows)
- CD Duplicate Master, a powerful CD duplicate utility, is designed to fit for CD duplicate fan's need. It can enables you to extract digital audio tracks from an audio CD into sound files on your hard disk; burn audio CD, data CD to blank CD disc, and data files to...
- Software downloads 2009-11-26
- Breeze Professional Edition 5.6.3 (Windows)
- Multiple Stream Media Processor; operates with multiple streams of video, audio and pictures at once. Play video and audio from files, CD/DVD, VCR and from the Internet, watch TV, listen to FM radio, capture live video and audio from Webcams, DV camcoders and microphones, view and edit pictures. Multiple Streaming...
- Software downloads 2009-11-26
- Breeze Standard Edition 5.6.3 (Windows)
- Multiple Stream Media Processor; operates with multiple streams of video, audio and pictures at once. Play video and audio from files, CD/DVD, VCR and from the Internet, watch TV, listen to FM radio, capture live video and audio from Webcams, DV camcoders and microphones, view and edit pictures. Multiple Streaming...
- Software downloads 2009-11-26
- Breeze Light Edition 5.6.3 (Windows)
- Multiple Stream Media Processor; operates with multiple streams of video, audio and pictures at once. Play video and audio from files, CD/DVD, VCR and from the Internet, watch TV, listen to FM radio, capture live video and audio from Webcams, DV camcoders and microphones, view and edit pictures. Multiple Streaming...
- Software downloads 2009-11-26
- LP Ripper 10.0 (Windows)
- LP Ripper makes the task of converting vinyl LPs, tapes and cassettes to MP3 files or CDs much easier. Just record each side of your LP as a single WAV file on your computer. LP Ripper automatically splits the file into a separate WAV file for each track. Optionally, it...
- Software downloads 2009-11-25
- Video Surgeon 1.1.0.7 (Windows)
- Video Surgeon is an easy to use software tool for musicians, athletes, hobbyists, dancers, and anyone else that uses video as part of the learning, teaching or instruction. YouTube is a nice start, but when it comes to download capabilities why stop there! Video Surgeon's unique "sniffer technology" allows users...
- Software downloads 2009-11-25
- SQL Image Viewer 2.5.0.142 (Windows)
- SQL Image Viewer enables you to retrieve, view, convert, and export images stored in Firebird, MySQL, Oracle, SQLite, SQL Server and ODBC data sources, and supports the following image formats: BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, PSD, and TIFF. It also recognises the following binary file types: PDF, MP3, WAV, 7Z, BZ2,...
- Software downloads 2009-11-25
- OneClick Video Converter 10.0.0.1098 (Windows)
- OneClick Video Converter is a predominant video converter designed to accommodate your video and audio converting needs. With OneClick Video Converter you can convert almost all video and audio formats, such as 3GP, WMV, RM, MP4, MPEG, SWF, AVI, MOV, AAC, AC3, MP2, MP3, AMR, WAV, VOB and ASF with...
- Software downloads 2009-11-24
- EasyWMA 3.0.3 (Mac)
- EasyWMA allows you to convert asf, flv, wma, wmv audio real media, flac and ogg vorbis files to aiff, mp3, m4a or wav so that you can play your favorite songs in iTunes or any other player on your Mac. EasyWMA can be helpful if you need to play wma...
- Software downloads 2009-11-23
- AD Sound Recorder 4.6.1 (Windows)
- AD Sound Recorder is a sound recording program. It can record all audio from your sound card into MP3, WMA or WAV format. Real-time sound visualizations enables you to adjust your audio source and make high quality recordings. AD Sound Recorder features include hot switching of the working audio source,...
- Software downloads 2009-11-23
- Audio Transcoder 1.9.4.1198 (Windows)
- Audio Transcoder is a powerful audio converter for rapid conversion between AAC, AC3, AIFF, APE,CUE, FLAC, M4A, MP+, MP1, MP2, MP3, MP4, MPC, MPP, OFR, OFS, OGG, SPX, TTA, WAV, WMA, WV, XM, IT, S3M, MOD, MTM, UMX, MO3. For a small registration fee, the program offers a CD ripper,multiformat...
- Software downloads 2009-11-23
- Xilisoft MKV Converter 5.1.26.1113 (Windows)
- Xilisoft MKV Converter can convert Matroska Video (*.mkv) to multiform video files like AVI, WMV, DivX, MP4, H.264/AVC, XviD, MOV and MCE AVI, extract MP3, WAV, WMA, AAC or M4A music file from MKV video for enjoying on iPod, PSP, Apple TV, PS3, Xbox and other digital players, and even...
- Software downloads 2009-11-23
- FairStars MP3 Recorder 2.15 (Windows)
- FairStars MP3 Recorder is an easy-to-use audio recorder with MP3, OGG, APE, or WAV format support. FairStars MP3 Recorder can be used to grab any sound, including music, dialogs from movies, game sounds, streaming audio, or anything else. Additional features include real-time sound monitor before recording, silent detector, file limitation,...
- Software downloads 2009-11-23
Neighboring Terms
Premier Vendor Content Whitepapers, webcasts & resources from our Power Center Sponsors
- Learn more about tools to grow your business
-
The Business Essentials Guide provides you useful tools and templates to help grow your business and save you time with automated shipping solutions.
- Save time with the UPS Business Essentials Guide
- Keep Up With The Latest In Document Management with The DocuMentor.
-
Doc delivers the scoop on today's enterprise content management, printer maintenance, and all other issues related to document management. It's the DocuMentor Blog.
- Learn more >>
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online - Free Six-Month Trial for Eligible Organizations
-
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online provides fast online access, simple contact management and better sales performance for a low monthly cost - the best value on the market today.
- Learn more about the free, six-month trial offer>>
Popular Sanity Saver Videos
