.WAV file signature
A Waveform Audio file (WAV) file begins with the bytes 52 49 46 46 ?? ?? ?? ?? 57 41 56 45 (RIFF....WAVE in ASCII) at the start of the file. The signature is the same whatever the file is named, which is why a renamed or extensionless WAV file is still recognisable.
Signature
| Offset | Hex | ASCII |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 52 49 46 46 ?? ?? ?? ?? 57 41 56 45 | RIFF....WAVE |
MIME type: audio/wav · usual extensions: .wav
How to check a file's signature
Without installing anything: drop the file on our detector. It reads the bytes in your browser and shows the hex dump alongside the verdict; nothing is uploaded.
macOS and Linux (Terminal):
xxd -l 32 file.wav
file file.wavWindows (PowerShell):
Format-Hex -Path file.wav -Count 32If the bytes do not match
A file named .wav whose first bytes are something else is not a WAV file. The common explanations are a wrong or deliberately misleading extension, a download that saved an HTML error page instead of the file, or a container such as ZIP wrapping the real content. The detector reports what the bytes say; the WAV guide explains what a genuine file should contain.