WAV or WAVE, which is also called Audio for Windows, stands for Waveform Audio File Format. It is developed by Microsoft and IBM as a standard audio storing format on computers. WAV files are largely uncompressed but in a high quality audio files.

WAV is the main format used on Windows systems for uncompressed audio. This format is so widely used that it is called a standard PC audio file format. When your computer starts up, gets an email, shuts down, or other sound or noise, all these sound effects are .WAV files. It has been also accepted as a viable interchange medium for other computer platforms, such as Macintosh. As for its simplicity, its familiarity, it is spread widely and will continue to be used in more software.

Files in WAV format can store data and information, like the bit depth, tracks and sample rate. It can store the uncompressed raw audio data as well. The files to be shared or downloaded on the Internet should not be in a large size. Uncompressed WAV file is very big, so it becomes less and less popular over the Internet. However, it is still a common document type, which can be used on the system whose disk space is not a constraint condition. It can also be used in applications such as audio editor. So it will remain in use.

Uncompressed WAV files are also widely adopted by some radio broadcasters. Here are two examples. In VCS system of BBC Radio in the United Kingdom, the audio standard format used by 44.1 kHz 16 bit two channel is WAV. The 48 kHz 16 bit two channel used in American Broadcasting Company system is WAV.

In a word, WAV format has been used all over the world as the international audio for a while, and it will continue to be used.