poka.sh

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WAV

Generated by scripts/gen-format-pages.py from docs/data/format-metadata/, FILE_FORMATS.csv and docs/formats-master.csv. Do not edit by hand: change the source, then run the script.

WAV Audio Preview.

At a glance
Original creator Microsoft
Purpose Audio in a RIFF container: a format chunk describing the codec and sample layout, the samples, and optional metadata chunks.
Extensions .wav
Poka parser poka-wav
Viewer poka-metadata-card-viewer
Depth tier Metadata card (see Depth tiers)
Breadth tier B4 Summary (see Breadth tiers)

How much Poka reads

B4 Summary. The container and metadata are read and summarised (counts, properties, structure), but the main content is not rendered.

Confidence: high (the reviewer read the code and a test that proves the claim). Basis: Reviewed 2026-10-16: parsers/poka-wav/src/lib.rs (RIFF chunk walk, fmt, fact, LIST/INFO, data, WAVE_FORMAT_EXTENSIBLE) and tests/samples.rs over 47 corpus WAVs (PCM, IMA ADPCM, 24-bit). Spec-sheet metadata card only: codec, rate, channels, depth, duration, 11 INFO fields; samples are not decoded (viewer plays the original). Covers classic WAVE and extensible; RF64 is not accepted.

What Poka does not read

  • Samples are not decoded, no waveform or analysis
  • RF64 and BW64 (files over 4 GB) are rejected as not RIFF
  • Broadcast Wave bext chunk is not read
  • Cue points, markers, loop and sampler (cue, ltxt, smpl) chunks are not read
  • ID3 and iXML chunks and other non-INFO metadata are not read
  • Only 11 LIST/INFO tags are shown
  • The extensible channel mask is parsed but speaker layout is not shown
  • Codec names cover about 14 format tags; others show as unknown
  • Files over 24 MiB are cut at the read cap (three quarters of the 32 MiB memory grant); the card reports the file's real size

Background

The Library of Congress says Microsoft created WAVE and introduced it with Windows 3.1; it became the basis of the European Broadcasting Union's Broadcast Wave format. Windows 2000 added the WAVE_FORMAT_EXTENSIBLE header for multichannel audio with speaker positions. The most common content is uncompressed LPCM. Poka shows a spec sheet: codec, sample rate, channels, bit depth, duration and the LIST/INFO metadata. The real codec of an extensible file is taken from its sub-format GUID, the duration from the byte rate, and a data size that is a placeholder or larger than the file is reported, not trusted.

Versions

Version Identifier Poka Note
WAVE with a classic format chunk RIFF....WAVE Read
WAVE_FORMAT_EXTENSIBLE format tag 0xFFFE Read The format tag is taken from the first two bytes of the sub-format GUID.

Libraries

Libraries Poka uses or has assessed for this format, with the status, licence and language the registry records.

Sources