WAV Header Viewer

How it works

1. Choose a WAV or AIFF file.
2. Read the chunk list with offsets and sizes.
3. Open a chunk to see its fields decoded.

What a chunk list tells you

WAV, BWF, RF64 and AIFF files are made of chunks: labelled blocks with a size. This page walks every chunk and shows its offset in the file, its size and its decoded fields. The fmt chunk holds the format (including the extensible form with its channel mask and sub-format), fact holds the sample length, data holds the audio, and LIST holds metadata such as INFO tags and cue labels. Broadcast files add bext (originator, date, time reference, loudness fields), iXML and cue or sampler loop points. RF64 files add ds64 with 64-bit sizes. AIFF files show COMM with the sample rate decoded from its 80-bit float, SSND, text chunks, markers and instrument data.

Chunks the page does not decode are listed with a hexadecimal preview of their first 64 bytes.

Warnings

The viewer checks the structure and warns about sizes that disagree with the file, chunks that run past the end, a missing pad byte after an odd-sized chunk, streamed files whose data size was never filled in, a missing or misplaced fmt or data chunk and inconsistent format fields. That helps when a file will not open in a player or a plug-in.

Safe by design

Only headers are read, never the audio. Every offset is checked against the size of the file, the walk stops after 10,000 chunks and text is capped at 64 KB. Anything stored in the file, such as tags or iXML, is shown as plain text and never interpreted as a web page, so a hostile file cannot run code here.

Questions