WRID>RIFF-WAVE

DRAFT!

TODO: overview

Programs must expect (and ignore) any unknown chunks encountered, as with all RIFF forms. However, fmt must always occur before data, and both of these chunks are mandatory in a WAVE file.

[RIFF1991]

Chunk	Name	Bytes	Type	condition	Description	WRID
RIFF-WAVE	id	4	u8[4]	id = RIFF		...>id
RIFF-WAVE	size	4	u32			...>size
RIFF-WAVE	form_type	4	u8[4]	form_type = WAVE		...>form_type

The only chunks you can expect to be in every valid WAVE file are fmt and data. Everything else is optional.

[RIFF1991] specifies the following chunks for WAVE files:

• fmt - Format of audio samples in data chunk.
• fact - Number of samples for compressed audio in data chunk.
• data - Wave sample data
• cue - A series of positions in the waveform data chunk.
• plst - Play order for cue points. Very rare.
• LIST-INFO - A LIST of descripitve text chunks.
• LIST-adtl - A LIST of CuePoint annotation chunks.
• LIST-wavl - A LIST of audio and/or silence chunks: data, slnt
• JUNK - file padding (no content)

See the chunk reference for a list of additional documented chunks.

Learning References

• Audio File Format Specifications by Prof. Peter Kabal
  • includes copies of original specs from MS & later specs. Overview of file format, sample WAV files.

Specification

• [RIFF1991] Multimedia Programming Interface and Data Specifications 1.0(1991). See pages 56-65.
• [RIFF1994] New Multimedia Data Types and Data Techniques 3.0(1994). See pages 12-22.