Uncompressed WAVE audio files (commonly identified by a .WAV file extension). Uncompressed WAVE is regarded as a sustainable preservation format due to the format’s quality, widespread use, and capacity to store information (i.e. ‘metadata’) about the audio content itself.
Wave File Specifications
The following information identifies various levels of quality for WAVE audio files.
Basic:
- uncompressed .WAV
- Plain text file or spreadsheet with metadata (information about the recording):
- performer(s) or content creator
- title (if applicable)
- description of subject matter
- date of event/performance
Intermediate (CD quality):
- uncompressed .WAV
- 16 bit PCM (Pulse Code Modulated) encoding
- Recorded at 44.1 kHz
- Plain text file or spreadsheet with metadata (information about the recording):
- performer(s) or content creator
- title (if applicable)
- description of subject matter
- date of event/performance
Advanced (archival quality):
- uncompressed .WAV
- 24 bit PCM (Pulse Code Modulated) encoding
- Recorded at 96 kHz
- Plain text file or spreadsheet with metadata (information about the recording):
- performer(s) or content creator
- title (if applicable)
- description of subject matter
- date of event/performance
Advanced++: Broadcast Wave Format (BWF):
- CD or archival quality .WAV file
- Metadata written to the Broadcast Audio Extension (or “BEXT“) chunk of the .WAV file header (instead of or in addition to the text file/spreadsheet)
