Audio
What is a WV file?
Updated Jul 2026
WV is the file extension for WavPack, a lossless audio format that compresses music without throwing away any sound quality. It shrinks a song's file size compared to raw WAV while keeping the audio byte for byte identical when played back. The catch is that most phones, car stereos, and streaming apps don't recognize it without converting first.
- Extension
- .wv
- Type
- Audio
- Typically
- Lossless music
Why WV exists
WavPack has been around since the late 1990s, built as a free way to compress audio losslessly. It found a following among audiophiles, CD archivists, and people who trade live concert recordings, since it keeps the full original quality instead of trimming detail the way MP3 does.
The format works by squeezing out redundancy in the audio data mathematically, so decompressing a WV file gives you the exact same waveform you started with. That's different from MP3 or AAC, which permanently discard some sound to save space. WavPack also has a hybrid mode that can split a track into a smaller lossy file plus a correction file, though most WV files people encounter are just the standard lossless kind.
Where people actually run into WV is after ripping a CD, downloading from a music archive, or receiving a file from someone who prefers lossless audio. The problem shows up next: a phone, car system, or smart speaker often expects MP3 or FLAC and won't play a WV file at all, so it needs converting before it's usable.
The trade-offs
Strengths
- No loss in audio quality compared to the original recording
- Smaller than uncompressed WAV files
- Can store tags like artist, album, and cover art
- Decompresses back to an exact copy of the source audio
Watch-outs
- Not supported by most phones, car stereos, or streaming apps
- Larger files than MP3 or AAC at any listenable bitrate
- Less common than FLAC, so fewer players and devices handle it
- Usually needs converting before you can play it on everyday devices
A note on privacy
A WV file can carry embedded tags such as artist name, album title, and cover art, similar to other music formats. Uploading it to an online converter sends that audio and its tags to someone else's server. Converting it on your own computer keeps the file and its tags on your machine the whole time.
Questions
How do I open a WV file?
You'll need a media player with WavPack support, and not all of them have it. The simpler route for most people is converting it to MP3 or FLAC, which nearly everything can play.
Is WV better than FLAC?
Both are lossless and compress to roughly similar sizes, so audio quality is a wash. FLAC just has far wider support across devices and apps, which is why it's the more common choice.
Why do I have WV files on my computer?
Usually from ripping a CD with lossless settings, or downloading from a music archive or trading community that favors lossless audio over MP3.
Can I convert WV without uploading it?
Yes. A desktop app like Morphjet converts WV files on your own computer, so the audio never travels over the internet to reach a server.
Morphjet opens and converts WV and 1,800+ other formats, all on your own computer. Launching this July.