If you are a Wav files user, surely i know definitely this will not be starnge or new to you, i mean the name Wav, as it might look and sound to some other people which is perfectly fine probab;y because they have not use it befor.
Surely large number of people all around the word using wav files must one or twice or even more faced with wav files issues, knows that audio files usually come in many forms. Also MP3 is one of the most popular and one of the most popular audio file formats. Windows users are also very familiar with the WAV format.
Now, know that i need to tell you that this same WAV files actually tend to be much on the larger and are the audio format that Windows uses for OS sounds / alerts. If you want to change system sound, you need to replace it with a WAV file.
Probably you or anybody around you WAV files got corrupted and now you can’t seem to find a way to fix corrupted audio files?
Just incase your answer is “yes”, then you have come to the right place. WAV, which stands for Waveform Audio File Format, is a popular audio file extension and format developed by Microsoft. The format was released in 1991 and is extensively used even today.
Of course, many new-age devices might support WAV, but they can also make these audio files corrupt while playing. Don’t worry – in this guide, we will teach you how to repair corrupt WAV files and identify the common reasons behind this issue as well.
Most definitely, just apart from a dedicated application to recover corrupted audio files, you can also try an online tool as well. While several applications can help you fix corrupted audio files online, you should know that their output is not as good as a device.
To add to that, they might claim that they are free, but later, they would ask you to complete a survey or buy an app. Nevertheless, from the provided options, I have tried MP3Repair.net and found the results pretty satisfying.
Guide to Fix corrupt WAV files
Normally, file type is immune to corruption. This is the same for WAV files as well. They can be partially or completely contaminated. If a file is partially corrupted, it may stop playing when it reaches a certain point, or it may jump to the next part that does not have corruption. If a file is completely corrupt, you may not be able to play it as everything.
When checking for file corruption
If you are not sure whether the file is corrupt or not, it is easy to inspect.1
- Try to open File Explorer and navigate to the WAV file.
- Right-click on the file and select Properties from the context table.
- Go to Tab details.
- If the information is empty eg not bitrate information, the file is corrupt.
And of course there are some things you can do to try to repair corrupt WAV files.
1. Moment of Exporting the file
Surely any corrupt WAV file can be fixed if you add and export again as a WAV file using an audio editor. This works if the sound on the file is not damaged but the metadata and headers have been. It’s a simple solution and that’s why we recommend trying it anyway.
- Firstly, Download and install Audacity.
- Drag & drop the corrupted WAV file forward to the app.
- Play the audio. If it plays, the file can be sorted.
- As soon as the file wave loads, go to File> Export.
- Select WAV format and save the file as a new file.
- Play the file saved again.
2. Try to Play in VLC player
Any VLC player is more than a media player. There are many other types of tools for managing audio and video playback and there is a built-in file format converter. If you cannot repair the WAV file, you should try converting it to a different format using VLC player.
Note: file conversion can lead to a decline in audio quality.
- Download and install VLC player.
- Open VLC player and on the menu bar go to Media.
- Choose Convert / Save.
- Click Add and select the WAV file that you want to repair it.
- Click Turn on / Save again.
- Click Explore and select the folder to which you want to save the output file.
- Enter a filename and select file extension eg MP3 or OGG.
- Click on Start.
- Play the newly converted file.
The Conclusion
So now to wrap it all up, after we all knwow that that file corruption is not always something that can be fixed. If your RAW file is available, you can always convert it to WAV. It definitely will be much faster. And now the RAW file is not available, it is worth trying these solutions anytime.