What do the bytes in a .wav file represent?

Question

When I store the data in a .wav file into a byte array, what do these values mean? I\'ve read that they are in two-byte representations, but what exactly is contained in the

Answer 1

The WAVE (.wav) file contain a header, which indicates the formatting information of the audio file's data. Following the header is the actual audio raw data. You can check their exact meaning below.

Positions  Typical Value Description

1 - 4      "RIFF"        Marks the file as a RIFF multimedia file.
                         Characters are each 1 byte long.

5 - 8      (integer)     The overall file size in bytes (32-bit integer)
                         minus 8 bytes. Typically, you'd fill this in after
                         file creation is complete.

9 - 12     "WAVE"        RIFF file format header. For our purposes, it
                         always equals "WAVE".

13-16      "fmt "        Format sub-chunk marker. Includes trailing null.

17-20      16            Length of the rest of the format sub-chunk below.

21-22      1             Audio format code, a 2 byte (16 bit) integer. 
                         1 = PCM (pulse code modulation).

23-24      2             Number of channels as a 2 byte (16 bit) integer.
                         1 = mono, 2 = stereo, etc.

25-28      44100         Sample rate as a 4 byte (32 bit) integer. Common
                         values are 44100 (CD), 48000 (DAT). Sample rate =
                         number of samples per second, or Hertz.

29-32      176400        (SampleRate * BitsPerSample * Channels) / 8
                         This is the Byte rate.

33-34      4             (BitsPerSample * Channels) / 8
                         1 = 8 bit mono, 2 = 8 bit stereo or 16 bit mono, 4
                         = 16 bit stereo.

35-36      16            Bits per sample. 

37-40      "data"        Data sub-chunk header. Marks the beginning of the
                         raw data section.

41-44      (integer)     The number of bytes of the data section below this
                         point. Also equal to (#ofSamples * #ofChannels *
                         BitsPerSample) / 8

45+                      The raw audio data.            

I copied all of these from http://www.topherlee.com/software/pcm-tut-wavformat.html here