What is WAV?
{{Infobox file format | name = Waveform Audio File Format | icon = | extension = .wav | mime = audio/vnd.wave<br />audio/wav<br />audio/wave<br />audio/x-wav | type code = WAVE | uniform type = com.microsoft.waveform-audio | owner = [[Microsoft]] & [[IBM]] | genre = [[audio format|audio file]] | container for = | contained by = | extended from = [[RIFF (File format)|RIFF]] | extended to = | standard = }} '''WAV''' (or '''WAVE'''), short for '''Waveform Audio File Format''', is a [[Microsoft]] and [[International Business Machines|IBM]] [[audio file format]] standard for storing an audio [[bitstream]] on [[personal computer|PCs]]. It resembles the [[Resource Interchange File Format|RIFF]] [[bitstream format]] in the sense that it stores data in “chunks”. It is also close to the [[Interchange File Format|IFF]] and the [[Audio Interchange File Format|AIFF]] format used on [[Amiga]] and [[Apple Macintosh|Macintosh]] computers, respectively. It is the main format used on [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] systems for raw and typically uncompressed audio. The default bitstream encoding is the Microsoft [[Linear pulse code modulation|Pulse Code Modulation]] (LPCM) format, although other codecs, such as [[MP3]], are allowed as well. {{tech-stub}} [[Category:Computer file formats for audio]]