A WAV file is an audio file saved in the WAVE format, which is a standard digital audio file format utilized for storing waveform data. WAV files may contain audio recordings with different sampling rates and bitrates but are often saved in a 44.1 KHz, 16-bit, stereo format, which is the standard format used for CD audio.

WAV file open in Microsoft Windows Media Player The WAVE format is based on the Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF), which is a file container format primarily used for saving video and sound. Microsoft and IBM jointly developed the WAVE format in the early-1990s adopting WAV files as the primary option for saving raw, uncompressed audio in Microsoft Windows. WAV files are similar to .AIF files, which are saved in the Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) and are more common on Macintosh systems. However, WAV files are more often saved and played on Windows computers rather than Macs. There are a large number of programs that support WAV files on Windows, macOS, and Linux systems. Some of them include bundled programs, such as Microsoft Windows Media Player and Apple iTunes, and third-party applications, such as VideoLAN VLC media player and Eltima Elmedia Player. NOTE: WAV is short for "Waveform Audio File Format," and is pronounced "wave."