What is WavPack?
WavPack is an open audio compression format that can operate in fully lossless mode, lossy mode, or a distinctive hybrid mode that combines a lossy .wv file with a correction file for complete lossless restoration.
Three ways WavPack can operate
| Mode | Result |
|---|---|
| Lossless | A .wv file that can reconstruct the original audio exactly |
| Lossy hybrid base | A smaller high-quality lossy .wv file |
| Hybrid + correction | The .wv plus .wvc correction file together restore the original losslessly |
Source capabilities
Current WavPack supports integer PCM from 8 through 32 bits, 32-bit float PCM, DSD, mono/stereo and very high channel counts. It can preserve audio from formats such as WAV/BWF/RF64, AIFF, CAF, Wave64, DSDIFF and DSF.
Compression and verification
Lossless compression ratio depends on the source rather than a fixed output bitrate. WavPack can store checksums for verification and supports APEv2 metadata tags.
Common confusion
.wv does not mean WAV. A WavPack file must be decoded by a WavPack-aware player/decoder. Its lossless mode is more comparable conceptually with FLAC or ALAC, while its hybrid correction mode is unusual among mainstream audio formats.