What is the purpose of wav headers for an mp3?

[LisaB]

I know that BeSweet, for instance, can output wav-mp3, which is mp3 with wav header, but I have no idea why anyone would want to do this.

So what are wav headers useful for, anyway?

[freestyler]

I would assume off the top of my head that this would trick a player into assuming the audio is PCM and would allow it to be used in authoring a dvd since mp3 is not called for in the spec.

Just a thought.

[junkmalle]

It encapsulates mp3 audio in a WAV file so most program that can read WAV files can now handle that mp3 data.

[LisaB]

Well, it's just a header. The mp3 data will still have to be decoded. So if a program is not able to handle an mp3, then it won't be able to handle a wav-mp3. There has to be another explanation. And I'm guessing some restrictions on the format of the mp3. Since wav is a cbr format, I'd assume the mp3 must be cbr for the header to be useful.

I've never heard of anyone authoring a DVD using mp3 audio disguised as PCM. That would be a neat trick if it works, and people converting avi to dvd might be able to get away with not re-encoding the audio!

[junkmalle]

Well, it's just a header. The mp3 data will still have to be decoded. So if a program is not able to handle an mp3, then it won't be able to handle a wav-mp3.

By adding a RIFF header you give programs that only know how to deal with WAV files the ability to use an installed MP3 codec to decode the audio data for them. Here's a web site with an explanation:

http://www.studiodust.com/riffmp3.html