This section describes what is .wav file name extension or WAV files.
.wav is the file name extension for audio files - music and songs in WAV (WaveForm) format,
developed by Microsoft and IBM.
The original WAV file format contains uncompressed audio data
using the same encoding method, PCM (Pulse-Code Modulation), as audio CD (Compact Disc Digital Audio or CD-DA) discs.
So uncompressed WAV file size matches audio track sizes on audio CDs.
Audio WAV files are usually generated by ripping off sound tracks from an audio CD with
an audio CD ripping software.
WAV files may also be encoded with a variety of codecs (coder and decoder)
to compress audio data. A WAV file encoded with the mp3 codec may reduce
the audio data to the same level as a MP3 file.
Roughly, uncompressed WAV files takes about 10MB space per 1 minute of play time.
Here is how to calculate space requirement based on PCM specifications:
16 bits per sample
44,100 samples per second
60 seconds per minute
2 channels for stereo sound
1 minute stereo sound requires:
2 * 60 * 44,100 * 16 bits
= 2 * 60 * 44,100 * 2 bytes
= 10,584,000 bytes = 10 MB
See other chapters for more information on .wav file name extension.
