Ringtones can be sounds in various formats. There are a lot of identified formats specific for the ringtones. One of them is the WAV ringtone format.
WAV is a file format developed by Microsoft and IBM for use on the PC. The format was built into the Windows 95 operating system and quickly became a standard. This ends with the .wav file extension. WAV ringtone format files are typically large in file size due to the high quality the format and are used for CDs. This format is not widely used in cell phones as other formats are smaller in size and thus more suitable for cell phones.
WAV ringtone format files can contain CD-quality (44.1 KHz/16-bit) audio signals. WAV files can be made smaller and converted to MP3 through a process called encoding. WAV files can be made smaller and converted to MP3 format through a process called encoding. This process always yields some kind of quality degradation, depending on how much compression is applied. When MP3 is converted to WAV, the process is called decoding. When MP3 is decoded to WAV, there is no increase in sound quality whatsoever, the file merely increases in size and can be read by common CD players. CD rippers (or CD recorders / extractors), are software programs that record CD audio to WAV ringtone format.
WAV ringtone format is necessary for editing sound files. Technically, MP3 cannot be edited to remove defects or add effects; it must first be converted to WAV. WAV ringtones or WAV ringtone format files can be downloaded or copied from PC to cell phone as any other audio media format. The WAV ringtone format audio file can contain anything - voice, music etc. The WAV ringtone format file is also easily converted via free software to other, more compact formats like MP3 or AAC.
Modern day phones are able to download and handle and play the WAV ringtone format files giving the users the ease to listen to their favorite songs. But just a gentle reminder, do not override the copyrights of any tune that you download from the internet.
