.wav — Waveform Audio
Audio audio/wav
What a .wav file is
Uncompressed PCM audio. About 10 MB per minute at CD quality.
How to open it
Everything.
Worth knowing
The right format for recording and editing, the wrong one for distribution.
How to identify a .wav file
A file's extension is only its name — renaming a.png to a.wav changes nothing inside. What software actually reads is the magic number, the first few bytes of the file.
| Signature | 52 49 46 46 .. .. .. .. 57 41 56 45 |
| MIME type | audio/wav |
| Category | Audio |
RIFF container with "WAVE" at offset 8.
# what is this file really?
file mystery.wav
# look at the first bytes yourself
xxd mystery.wav | head -2
head -c 16 mystery.wav | xxd
# Windows PowerShell
Get-Content mystery.wav -AsByteStream -TotalCount 16 | Format-HexFrequently asked questions
What is a .wav file?
Uncompressed PCM audio. About 10 MB per minute at CD quality.
How do I open a .wav file?
Everything.
Is .wav safe to open?
Yes. A .wav file is data, not code — opening one cannot execute anything by itself.
Can I change a file's extension to convert it?
No. Renaming changes the label, not the bytes. The one place it appears to work is between formats that genuinely share a container — renaming .docx to .zip works because a DOCX is a ZIP. Everything else needs a real converter.