WAV
The classic Microsoft/IBM audio container, most often used for uncompressed linear PCM.
Pro Audio Converter can convert audio files to and from WAV (.wav).
Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or more commonly WAV) is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs. It is an application of the RIFF bitstream format for storing data in "chunks" and is closely related to the AIFF format used on Macintosh computers. Both WAV and AIFF are compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux. Although a WAV file can hold compressed audio, the most common WAV format contains uncompressed audio in linear pulse code modulation (LPCM). The standard audio file format for CDs, for example, is LPCM-encoded with two channels of 44,100 samples per second at 16 bits per sample.
Pro Audio Converter can create WAV files with lossless Linear PCM data as well as the following compressed data formats:
Options for Linear PCM WAV
Sample Rate — The number of samples of audio carried per second, measured in Hz or kHz (1000 Hz). 44.1 kHz is the sampling rate of audio CDs and 48.0 kHz is commonly used for professional video. Higher sample rates result in higher quality audio with larger file sizes. Setting this to Auto creates an output file with the same sample rate as the input file. If the output file does not support the sample rate of the input file, Pro Audio Converter uses the greatest sample rate that is supported.
Bit Depth — Defines the number of bits used to represent each sample. Increasing the bit depth reduces quantization noise and improves the signal-to-noise ratio. Each 1-bit increment increases S/N by about 6 dB. 24-bit digital audio has a theoretical maximum S/N of 144 dB, compared to 96 dB for 16-bit. Audio CDs use 16 bits; 24-bit is common in professional audio and video.
Endianness — The byte order of each sample. Big Endian stores the most significant byte first; Little Endian stores the least significant byte first. By definition, WAV files are always Little Endian.
Channels — The number of audio channels in the output file. Auto attempts to match the input file's channel count. You can also force Stereo (2 channels) or Mono (1 channel).
Quality — Good is optimized for the fastest encoding. Choose Better or Best (optimal for 24-bit sources) for higher quality. The tradeoff is between encoding speed and audio quality.
