The purpose of this file format is the addition of metadata to facilitate the seamless exchange of sound data between different computer platforms and applications.
It specifies the format of metadata, allowing audio processing elements to identify themselves, document their activities, and supports timecode to enable synchronization with other recordings.
This metadata is stored as extension chunks in a standard digital audio WAV file.
[1] Files conforming to the Broadcast Wave specification have names ending with the filename extension .WAV.
In addition to the common WAVE chunks, the following extension chunks can appear in a Broadcast Wave file:[2] Since the only difference between a BWF and a "normal" WAV is the extended information in the file header (Bext-Chunk, Coding-History, etc...), a BWF does not require a special player for playback.