n. (abbr. WAV or WAVE)WAYVan accepted archival audio file format standard for storing an uncompressed, lossless audio bitstreamBreaden 2006, 36–37A basic consumer computer with a bundled soundcard could generate better-than-CD quality copies of analog sources (typically 48 kHz/16-bit), while with some modest investment a home computer could make a WAV file (Wave form audio format) at 96 kHz/24-bit (even if this file couldn’t be rendered onto a playable CD without dumbing it down to the 44.1 kHz/16-bit CD-playable file). The WAV file, the audio equivalent of the BMP or TIFF raster image, had become the common currency of digital audio recording.Caswell 2009, 142Both Scheinfeldt and Lile also grapple with the issue of long-term preservation. At the September 11 Digital Archive, the majority of cell-phone-generated documents arrive in .wav format, with some coming in .mp3 format. Although Microsoft and IBM developed the proprietary .wav format, also known as a waveform audio file, for Windows operating systems, most Web browsers are equipped with a playback system for .wav files. One advantage of the format is that it stores uncompressed files.Brylawski et al. 2015, 111Pulse code modulation (or linear PCM) is the recommended encoding stream for digitized audio and is generally the default encoding scheme for WAVE (Waveform Audio File Format) .wav files.Corrado and Moulaison Sandy 2017, 197The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in the United States has identified the Broadcast Wave Format (BWF) versions 0, 1, and 2 and Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) version 1.21 as its [preferred] format for digital audio. Other acceptable formats according to NARA are Audio Interchange Format (AIFF), MPEG Audio Layer III (MP3), and Wave Waveform Audio File Format (Wave).LoC 2022aLC experience or existing holdings: When reformatting analog sound recordings, the Broadcast WAVE format (either version), wrapping LPCM, is used as the archival master format for mono and stereo audio at the Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation and by the American Folklife Center. ¶ LC preference: The Broadcast WAVE format (either version), wrapping LPCM, is preferred as the archival master format for mono and stereo audio when reformatting analog sound recordings.NARA 2022aAn audio recording produced from original analog or digital audio formats that has been encoded using linear Pulse Code Modulation (PCM). For audio files, it is important to distinguish between a file format and a codec. A codec performs the encoding and decoding of the raw audio data while the data itself is stored in a specific audio file format, such as Broadcast WAV (.wav). Sampling frequency, bit-depth, and monophonic or stereo, for example, are important characteristics of audio files. . . . Although WAVE is the formal full name of the file format (Waveform Audio File Format), the three character file name extension is WAV. We have used the three character file name here in keeping with the way the file format is most often expressed as a file name extension.
