Overview

BWF is an abbreviation of Broadcast Wave Format. It is an extension of the popular Microsoft WAVE audio format and is the recording format of most file-based non-linear digital recorders used for motion picture and television production. WAV (or WAVE), short for Waveform audio format, is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing audio on PCs. ... A non-linear editing system is a video editing or audio editing system that can perform random access on the source material. ... Methods and media for sound recording are varied and have undergone significant changes between the first time sound was actually recorded for later playback until now. ... For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as...

It was first specified by the European Broadcasting Union in 1997, and updated in 2001 and 2003. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; French: , and unrelated to the European Union) was formed on 12 February 1950 by 23 broadcasting organisations from Europe and the Mediterranean at a conference in the coastal resort of Torquay in Devon, UK. In 1993, the International Radio and Television Organisation (OIRT), an equivalent...

The purpose of this file format is the addition of metadata to facilitate the seamless exchange of sound data between different computer platforms and applications. It specifies the format of metadata, allowing audio processing elements to identify themselves, document their activities, and permit synchronization with other recordings. This metadata is stored as extension chunks in a standard digital audio WAV file. Metadata (Greek meta after and Latin data information) are data that describe other data. ... Metadata (Greek meta after and Latin data information) are data that describe other data. ... Timecode is also the title of a 2000 film directed by Mike Figgis which was shot in one continuous take. ...

Files conforming to the Broadcast Wave specification usually have names ending with the extension .BWF or .WAV. A filename extension or filename suffix is an extra set of (usually) alphanumeric characters that is appended to the end of a filename to allow computer users (as well as various pieces of software on the computer system) to quickly determine the type of data stored in the file. ...

In addition to the common WAVE chunks, the following extension chunks can appear in a Broadcast Wave file:

• Original Bext chunk ('bext')
• iXML chunk ('iXML')
• Quality chunk ('qlty')
• MPEG audio extension chunk ('mext')
• Peak Envelope chunk ('levl')
• link chunk ('link')
• axml chunk ('axml')

The correct title of this article is . ...

WAV compatibility

Since the only difference between a BWF and a "normal" WAV is the extended information in the file header (Bext-Chunk, Coding-History, etc...), a BWF does not require a special player for playback.

Unfortunately, this compatibility also preserves the 4 GB filesize limitation that WAV files have. In order to be able to store audio which would exceed this limit, a naming convention exists for tagging subsequent files: .wav, .w01, .w02, ..., .wNN WAV (or WAVE), short for Waveform audio format, is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing audio on PCs. ...

Each of those segments is a regular Wave/BWF file, but players aware of this convention will treat all segments as one single, long piece of audio when opening the first segment ".wav".

As an extension, RF64 is a BWF-compatible multichannel file format enabling file sizes to exceed 4 GB that has been specified in 2006. RF64 is a BWF-compatible multichannel file format enabling file sizes to exceed 4 Gbyte. ...

See also

• RF64, A BWF-compatible multichannel file format enabling file sizes to exceed 4 Gbyte
• WAV
• MXF, Material eXchange Format
• Advanced Authoring Format

RF64 is a BWF-compatible multichannel file format enabling file sizes to exceed 4 Gbyte. ... WAV (or WAVE), short for Waveform audio format, is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing audio on PCs. ... Material eXchange Format (MXF) is a container format for professional digital video and audio media defined by a set of SMPTE standards. ... The Advanced Authoring Format (AAF) is a widely used industry standard for high-end exchange of video project data. ...

External links

• EBU Tech 3285 - Specification of the Broadcast Wave Format (BWF) - Version 1 - first edition (2001)
• EBU Tech 3285-s1 - Specification of the Broadcast Wave Format (BWF) - Supplement 1, MPEG Audio - first edition (1997)
• EBU Tech 3285-s2 - Specification of the Broadcast Wave Format (BWF) - Supplement 2, Capturing Report - first edition (2001)
• EBU Tech 3285-s3 - Specification of the Broadcast Wave Format (BWF) - Supplement 3, Peak Envelope Chunk - first edition (2001)
• EBU Tech 3285-s4 - Specification of the Broadcast Wave Format (BWF) - Supplement 4, Link Chunk - first edition (2003)
• EBU Tech 3285-s5 - Specification of the Broadcast Wave Format (BWF) - Supplement 5, <axml> Chunk - first edition (2003)
• BWF-Widget Broadcast Wave File Utility
• BoomRecorder