.wav MIME type
WAV audioaudio
audio/wavUncompressed PCM audio. Large files; the type is written several ways.
| MIME type | audio/wav |
|---|---|
| Extensions | .wav |
| Also seen as | audio/x-wav, audio/wave, audio/vnd.wave |
| Content-Type | audio/wav |
| Compress in transit? | Yes — enable gzip or Brotli |
| File signature | 52 49 46 46 xx xx xx xx 57 41 56 45 (RIFF....WAVE) |
Good to know
audio/wavis what browsers and most servers use, though the IANA registration isaudio/vnd.wave; accept all of them on upload.- Convert to MP3, AAC or Opus for streaming — WAV is roughly 10 MB per stereo minute.
Serve .wav files with the right type
The response header to send:
Content-Type: audio/wav
Most servers pick the type from the file extension. If yours sends the wrong one, map it explicitly:
audio/wav wav;
AddType audio/wav .wav
res.set("Content-Type", "audio/wav");import mimetypes
mimetypes.add_type("audio/wav", ".wav")<input type="file" accept=".wav,audio/wav">
Check it
See what a server sends for a file, and what type a local file really is by its contents:
curl -sI https://example.com/file.wav | grep -i '^content-type:' file --mime-type file.wav
Frequently asked questions
What is the MIME type for .wav files?
audio/wav. You may also see audio/x-wav, audio/wave, audio/vnd.wave, but audio/wav is the one to send.
What Content-Type header should a .wav file be served with?
Content-Type: audio/wav. It compresses well, so let the server apply gzip or Brotli.
How can I tell if a file is really a .wav?
Check its bytes rather than the extension: WAV files start with 52 49 46 46 xx xx xx xx 57 41 56 45 (RIFF....WAVE). On the command line, file --mime-type name.wav does this for you.
Headers that go with it: Content-Type · Content-Disposition · X-Content-Type-Options