The usual bitstream encoding is the linear pulse-code modulation (LPCM) format.

The user interface (UI) for ACM may be accessed through various programs that use it, including Sound Recorder in some versions of Windows.

Beginning with Windows 2000, a WAVE_FORMAT_EXTENSIBLE header was defined which specifies multiple audio channel data along with speaker positions, eliminates ambiguity regarding sample types and container sizes in the standard WAV format and supports defining custom extensions to the format.

Consequently, the safest thing to do from an interchange standpoint was to omit the INFO chunk and other extensions and send a lowest-common-denominator file.

The optional chunk reports the number of samples for some compressed coding schemes.

The chunk identifies some significant sample numbers in the wave file.

The associated data list () allows labels and notes to be attached to cue points; text annotation may be given for a group of samples (e.g., caption information).

Finally, the mandatory chunk contains the actual samples in the format previously specified.

The specification also supports discrete blocks of samples and silence that are played in order.

Even with this resolved, the productions then allow a to contain a recursive (which implies data interpretation problems).

In spite of their large size, uncompressed WAV files are used by most radio broadcasters, especially those that have adopted a tapeless system.

Although this is equivalent to about 6.8 hours of CD-quality audio at 44.1 kHz, 16-bit stereo, it is sometimes necessary to exceed this limit, especially when greater sampling rates, bit resolutions or channel count are required.

The RF64 format specified by the European Broadcasting Union has also been created to solve this problem.

LTspice, for instance, can store multiple circuit trace waveforms in separate channels, at any appropriate sampling rate, with the full-scale range representing ±1 V or A rather than a sound pressure.

The commonality is that audio CDs are encoded as uncompressed 16-bit 44.1 kHz stereo LPCM, which is one of the formats supported by WAV.

This is a reference to compare the monophonic (not stereophonic) audio quality and compression bitrates of audio coding formats available for WAV files including LPCM, ADPCM, Microsoft GSM 06.10, CELP, SBC, Truespeech and MPEG Layer-3.