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wavrw is a command line tool to read and write WAV files with a focus on visualizing the structure of files and parsing metadata.

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briandorsey/wavrw

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wavrw

wavrw is a command line tool to read (and someday write) WAV files with a focus on visualizing the structure of files and parsing metadata.

It's initially intended as a learning project with aspirations to be generally useful. It's currently in very early days and may not be useful to anyone else.

Current status: Most chunks from the initial WAV specifications are supported: RIFF1991 and RIFF1994. Also parses BEXT. Doesn't yet support writing metadata. Doesn't yet read or write audio data (samples).

I intend to eventually support every WAV chunk I can find a sample of. If there's something you'd like supported, please let me know by adding an issue. If you have them, please include a link to a specification and one or more example files.

Take care, -Brian

Installation

See Release Notes for installation instructions. Currently only have Linux and MacOS builds, happy to add a Windows release if someone requests it.

Details

wavrw answers questions about WAV files:

  • What is actually in this file?
  • Does another program preserve all WAV chunks when saving and exporting files? (by running it before and after the other program and comparing the output)

Example output

$ wavrw view test_wavs/example_a.wav`
test_wavs/example_a.wav: 
      offset id              size summary
          12 fmt               16 PCM (0x1), 1 chan, 24/48000
          36 bext             604 BWDate, BWTime, BWDescription
         648 data            1440 audio data
        2096 LIST-adtl         70 labl(3)
        2174 ID3             2048 ...
        4230 SMED            8812 ...
       13050 LIST-INFO        214 IPRD, IGNR, ISFT, INAM, IARL, ICOP, IART, ICMT
       13272 iXML            4516 ...
       17796 cue               76 3 cue points
       17880 _PMX            3706 ...
       21594 MD5               16 0x37A5BED4393B8F3708963F5E59C7F483
       21618 CSET               8 code_page: (0), United States of America(1), En ...

Example detailed output

$ wavrw view --format=detailed test_wavs/example_a.wav
test_wavs/example_a.wav: 
      offset id              size summary
          12 fmt               16 PCM (0x1), 1 chan, 24/48000
             |             format_tag : WAVE_FORMAT_PCM (0x1)
             |               channels : 1
             |        samples_per_sec : 48000
             |      avg_bytes_per_sec : 144000
             |            block_align : 3
             |        bits_per_sample : 24
             --------------------------------------
          36 bext             604 
             |            description : BWDescription
             |             originator : BWOriginator
             |   originator_reference : BWOriginatorRef
             |       origination_date : BWDate
             |       origination_time : BWTime
             |         time_reference : 0
             |                version : 1
             |                   umid : 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
             |         loudness_value : 0
             |         loudness_range : 0
             |    max_true_peak_level : 0
             | max_momentary_loudness : 0
             |max_short_term_loudness : 0
             |         coding_history : 22
             --------------------------------------
         648 data            1440 audio data
        2096 LIST-adtl         70 labl(3)
             |                   labl :   1, Region 01
             |                   labl :   2, Marker 01
             |                   labl :   3, Marker 02
             --------------------------------------
        2174 ID3             2048 ...
        4230 SMED            8812 ...
       13050 LIST-INFO        214 chunk: text
             |                   IPRD : CDTitle
             |                   IGNR : Category
             |                   ISFT : Soundminer
             |                   INAM : TrackTitle
             |                   IARL : BWOriginator
             |                   ICOP : TrackYear Manufacturer (Library) URL
             |                   IART : Artist
             |                   ICMT : Description
             --------------------------------------
       13272 iXML            4516 ...
       17796 cue               76 name: position, chunk_id, chunk_start, block_start, sample_offset
             |                      1 :          0, data,          0,          0,          0
             |                      2 :        240, data,          0,          0,        240
             |                      3 :        360, data,          0,          0,        360
             --------------------------------------
       17880 _PMX            3706 ...
       21594 MD5               16 0x37A5BED4393B8F3708963F5E59C7F483
       21618 CSET               8 code_page: (0), United States of America(1), English(9), US(1)
             |              code_page : 0
             |           country_code : United States of America(1)
             |               language : English(9)
             |                dialect : US(1)
             --------------------------------------

Help overview

$ wavrw help 
WAV file metadata read/write utility

Usage: wavrw <COMMAND>

Commands:
  view   Summarize WAV file structure and metadata
  list   List directories of files, show single line summary of chunks
  topic  Print additional help and reference topics
  help   Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

Global Options:
  -h, --help     Print help
  -V, --version  Print version
$ wavrw topic chunks 
bext  Broadcast Extension for motion picture, radio and television.
CSET  Character set information. Code page, language, etc. Very Rare. 
cue   A series of positions in the waveform data chunk. 
data  Audio samples. This parser skips all audio data (for now). 
fact  Number of samples for compressed audio in data. 
FLLR  Padding, filler or outdated information. 
fmt   Format of audio samples in data. 
inst  Pitch, volume, and velocity for playback by sampler. 
JUNK  Padding, filler or outdated information. 
MD5   Checksum of audio data of the WAVE. 
PAD   Padding, filler or outdated information. 
plst  Play order for cue points. Very rare. 
RIFF  Container structure for multimedia data.
smpl  Information needed for use as a sampling instrument.

LIST-adtl CuePoint annotation chunks. 
	file  Information embedded in other file formats.
	labl  A label, or title, to associate with a CuePoint.
	ltxt  Text associated with a range of data samples.
	note  Comment text for a CuePoint.
LIST-INFO Descriptive text chunks: 
	IARL, IGNR, IKEY, ILGT, IMED, INAM, IPLT, IPRD, ISBJ, 
	ISFT, ISHP, IART, ISRC, ISRF, ITCH, ICMS, ICMT, ICOP, 
	ICRD, ICRP, IDPI, IENG, ISMP, IDIT. 
LIST-wavl Audio and/or silence chunks: 
	data Audio samples. This parser skips all audio data (for now). 
	slnt A count of samples to be played as silence.

For more information about chunks, see wavrw's sibling project WavRef:
	https://wavref.til.cafe/

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wavrw is a command line tool to read and write WAV files with a focus on visualizing the structure of files and parsing metadata.

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License

Apache-2.0, MIT licenses found

Licenses found

Apache-2.0
LICENSE-APACHE
MIT
LICENSE-MIT

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