Free WAV sample files
Uncompressed audio. Large files with a simple, predictable structure. Download valid WAV test files in 5 exact sizes, from 100 KB to 10 MB, each with a checksum.
- Extension
- .wav
- MIME type
- audio/wav
- Kind
- Binary
- Category
- Audio
WAV files by size
Every file below is a valid Waveform Audio File Format file of exactly the stated size. Open a file's page for its checksum and contents, and to preview it in your browser before downloading.
| File | Size | Contents | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 KB WAV samplesample-wav-100kb.wav | 100 KB102,400 bytes | 0.6 s | Download WAV |
| 500 KB WAV samplesample-wav-500kb.wav | 500 KB512,000 bytes | 2.9 s | Download WAV |
| 1 MB WAV samplesample-wav-1mb.wav | 1 MB1,048,576 bytes | 5.9 s | Download WAV |
| 5 MB WAV samplesample-wav-5mb.wav | 5 MB5,242,880 bytes | 29.7 s | Download WAV |
| 10 MB WAV samplesample-wav-10mb.wav | 10 MB10,485,760 bytes | 59.4 s | Download WAV |
More WAV samples
Hand-designed files with realistic content or a specific edge case.
| File | Size | Contents | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| 440 Hz test tone WAV (3 seconds)sample-test-tone-440hz.wav | 258 KB264,644 bytes | 3.000 s | Download WAV |
What is a WAV file?
WAV normally holds raw PCM audio: a short header giving the sample rate, bit depth and channel count, followed by the samples. Nothing is discarded, which makes it the working format for recording and editing.
Size is easy to predict. CD-quality stereo uses 176,400 bytes per second, so one minute is about 10 MB.
How to recognise a WAV file
| Extension | .wav |
|---|---|
| MIME type | audio/wav |
| Also seen as | audio/x-wav, audio/vnd.wave |
| Container | RIFF |
| Typical content | Linear PCM, 16-bit, 44.1 or 48 kHz |
| Size limit | 4 GB, because sizes are 32-bit |
| Header | 44 bytes in the canonical form |
What to test for
These are the behaviours that most often go wrong when software handles WAV files.
- Three MIME types are in common use: audio/wav, audio/x-wav and audio/vnd.wave. Allow-lists should accept all of them.
- Not every WAV file has a 44-byte header; extra chunks may appear before the audio data, so parsers must walk the chunk list.
Strengths of WAV
- Uncompressed, so nothing is lost and decoding costs nothing.
- A simple structure that every audio tool reads.
Limitations of WAV
- About ten megabytes per minute at CD quality.
- Limited to four gigabytes, with little support for metadata.
Typical uses of WAV test files
- Testing large audio uploads
- Checking transcoding to MP3, AAC or Opus
- Testing speech-to-text input handling
Software that opens WAV
- Every audio editor and digital audio workstation
- All major browsers and media players
- FFmpeg, SoX and libsndfile
Specifications
Related
WAV sample files: questions
- What format are the WAV samples?
- 16-bit stereo PCM at 44,100 Hz with the canonical 44-byte header.
- What is the MIME type of a WAV file?
- The MIME type is audio/wav. You will also meet audio/x-wav and audio/vnd.wave in practice. The file extension is .wav.
- Is a sample WAV file the same as a dummy or example WAV file?
- Yes. Sample, test, dummy and example WAV files are different names for the same thing: a WAV file with known contents that stands in for a real one. Any file on this page will do wherever a tutorial or a test plan asks for a dummy WAV file.