Raw audio format

A raw audio file is any file containing un-containerized and uncompressed audio. The data is stored as raw pulse-code modulation (PCM) values without any metadata header information (such as sampling rate, bit depth, endian, or number of channels).^[1]

Extensions edit

Raw files can have a wide range of file extensions, common ones being .wav, .raw, .pcm, or .sam.^[1] They can also have no extension.

Playing edit

As there is no header, compatible audio players require information from the user that would normally be stored in a header, such as the encoding, sample rate, number of bits used per sample, and the number of channels.

References edit

^ ^a ^b Raw Audio File Formats Information (at the Wayback Machine)

[:0-1] Raw Audio File Formats Information (at the Wayback Machine)

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