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• This is the simplest audio file format.
• Unprocessed data is stored in the "raw" form. This provides the best audio quality. The only pre-processing required is the formatting of the data.

• Mainly used for storing audio data on a PC
• Unfavorable for transmission over the Internet
• Unfavorable for storing many audio files in a small disk space

It is a regular format used for storing raw audio on Windows systems. WAV is a data file format for computer use. Audio CDs do not use it as their storage format. Also, it is not popular for sharing files over the Internet because uncompressed WAV files are quite large in size. Smaller files allow for faster transmission over the Internet, and they also make it possible to save a large collection in a small amount of disk space.

Quality of the WAV format

Both audio CDs and WAV files have their audio data encoded using PCM (Pulse Code Modulation). By using an uncompressed lossless storage method, PCM is able to keep all the samples in the audio track. This provides the best audio quality. Hence, it is of great benefit to professionals and audio experts. In the course of their work, they can easily edit and process WAV audio using software. It supports a variety of bit resolutions, sample rates, and audio channels. Most professional programs use the WAV format for processing digital audio.

Components of a WAV file

Following are the three main chunks of a WAV file:

• The RIFF chunk (12 bytes) identifies the file as a WAV file.
• The FORMAT chunk (24 bytes) identifies parameters such as the sample rate.
• The DATA chunk contains the actual waveform samples.

The FORMAT chunk precedes the DATA chunk. These are the two main chunks required. All other chunks are not mandatory. The optional chunks define cue points, list instrument parameters, store application-specific information, etc.

All applications using WAV must be able to read the two required chunks. However, it can selectively ignore the optional chunks. A program that copies a WAV file should copy all the chunks in the file, including the optional chunks.