All formats
What is a WAV file?
WAV stores uncompressed PCM audio, so it is a bit-exact record of the waveform with no encoding loss at all. That makes it the standard working format for recording and editing, and a poor choice for distribution: roughly 10 MB per minute of CD-quality stereo.
At a glance
- Full name
- Waveform Audio File Format
- Extensions
- .wav
- Type
- Audio
- Introduced
- 1991
- Created by
- Microsoft and IBM
- Compression
- Uncompressed
- MIME type
- audio/wav
Strengths
- Completely lossless and uncompressed, ideal for editing
- No decode overhead, so it is fast to process
- Universally supported by audio software
Limitations
- Very large files, around 10 MB per stereo minute at CD quality
- Metadata support is weak compared with MP3 or FLAC
- The classic format has a 4 GB file size ceiling
When to use WAV
Use it when
Recording, editing and mastering, or handing audio to someone who will process it further.
Avoid it when
Sending audio to listeners or over a network. Export MP3, AAC or FLAC.
WAV conversions
Each page states what the target format cannot carry before you run it.
WAV compared
Related audio formats
Last updated 2026-08-03