File extension WAV

File type WAVe PCM Sound, Standard Windows Sound Format
Developer Microsoft
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What is a WAV file?

File with a .WAV extension contains audio data in form of waves of a specified sampling and bitrate. This extension can be expanded into Waveform Audio File Format. It is used, for instance, to store music on CDs with sampling parameters of 44,1 kHz, 16 bit in stereo.

WAV format based on the RIFF format (Resource Interchange File Format), used usually in Windows system, while a similar format – AIF (based on the AIFF - Audio Interchange File Format) in Mac OS.

Program(s) that can open the .WAV file

How to open WAV files

If you cannot open the WAV file on your computer - there may be several reasons. The first and most important reason (the most common) is the lack of a suitable software that supports WAV among those that are installed on your device.

A very simple way to solve this problem is to find and download the appropriate application. The first part of the task has already been done – the software supporting the WAV file can be found in the table. Now just download and install the appropriate application.

Possible problems with the WAV format files

The inability to open and operate the WAV file does not necessarily mean that you do not have an appropriate software installed on your computer. There may be other problems that also block our ability to operate the WAVe PCM Sound, Standard Windows Sound Format file. Below is a list of possible problems.

  • Corruption of a WAV file which is being opened
  • Incorrect links to the WAV file in registry entries.
  • Accidental deletion of the description of the WAV from the Windows registry
  • Incomplete installation of an application that supports the WAV format
  • The WAV file which is being opened is infected with an undesirable malware.
  • The computer does not have enough hardware resources to cope with the opening of the WAV file.
  • Drivers of equipment used by the computer to open a WAV file are out of date.

If you are sure that all of these reasons do not exist in your case (or have already been eliminated), the WAV file should operate with your programs without any problem. If the problem with the WAV file has not been solved, it may be due to the fact that in this case there is also another rare problem with the WAV file. In this case, the only you can do is to ask for assistance of a professional staff.

Similar extensions

.a2b Adlib Tracker II Instrument Bank
.a2i Adlib Tracker Instrument Format
.a2m AdLib Tracker 2 Format
.a2p Adlib Tracker Pattern Format
.a2t Adlib Tracker Tiny Module Format
.aa Audible Audio Format
.aa3 Sony ATRAC Audio Format
.aac Advanced Audio Coding Format
How to associate the file with an installed software?

If you want to associate a file with a new program (e.g. my-file.WAV) you have two ways to do it. The first and the easiest one is to right-click on the selected WAV file. From the drop-down menu select "Choose default program", then click "Browse" and find the desired program. The whole operation must be confirmed by clicking OK. The second and more difficult to do is associate the WAV file extension to the corresponding software in the Windows Registry.

Is there one way to open unknown files?

Many files contain only simple text data. It is possible that while opening unknown files (e.g. WAV) with a simple text editor like Windows Notepad will allow us to see some of the data encoded in the file. This method allows you to preview the contents of many files, but probably not in such a structure as a program dedicated to support them.

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