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Playing WAV on Mac with Elmedia Player

Nataliia Paraskeva Jun 13, 2023

While MP3 is the standard audio file format used worldwide, you may still end up needing to play WAV files on Mac on occasion. The native apps on macOS sometimes support this Windows audio format but expect error messages. Instead, you can listen to WAV files while using the best music player for Mac: the third-party app Elmedia Player. It offers more features, advanced playback customization, and broad format support, including MP3, WAV, FLAC, ALAC, and more.

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The best WAV player for Mac: Elmedia Player

Elmedia Player

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Rather than installing a separate Mac WAV player and using multiple apps for listening to audio files, you can make the best Mac audio player, Elmedia Player, your default for all sound files. It supports almost every audio file format, including typical MP3, FLAC, and ALAC, plus WAV, WMA, MTS, M4A, and many others.

When you have multiple file formats in a single playlist, including lossy and lossless, Elmedia Player is the WAV player for Mac that can handle them all without hassle.

You also get access to incredible features when playing WAV files on Mac with Elmedia Player, like a 10-band audio equalizer for fine-tuning playback, intuitive playlist creation and management, wireless audio streaming, and a macOS inspired design and UI.

How to play WAV files on Mac using Elmedia Player

1. Navigate to the Elmedia Player website to download the app.

2. Open the installation driver and follow the easy instructions.

3. Drag the icon to your dock, so it’s always close at hand.

Once Elmedia Player is in your macOS dock, you’re ready to play audio, including playing WAV files on Mac.

What are WAV and WAVE files

If you mostly buy music or stream on services like Spotify, you may not have encountered WAV files on your Mac. WAVE and WAV format are more common on Windows than macOS because they’re derived from Microsoft’s Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF)–an uncompressed format for audio files. But suppose you use audio editing software or get most of your music from CDs or video games. In that case, you might end up with WAV files in your music library and need a Mac WAV player.

MP3 is universally popular because it compresses audio to a much smaller file size without compromising the playback quality. WAVE and WAV are much larger file sizes, so many people opt for using a codec to convert WAV files on Mac into smaller formats like MP3, AAC, or FLAC.

When using a powerful audio player like Elmedia Player, there’s no need to go through the hassle of converting your Mac WAV files to a new format. Just enjoy them as you would any other playlist.

FAQ

How do I play audio files on my Mac?

No matter what format your audio files, you can listen to them with Elmedia Player. It plays WAV on Mac without a codec to convert files into a new format. If you try to play WAV files on Mac using QuickTime, you may get error messages or distorted playback. For the best audio experience with a Mac WAV player, Elmedia Player offers unparalleled features and supports the most formats.

Can VLC play WAV files?

No matter your preferred WAV player for Mac, chances are you have VLC downloaded onto your macOS. Although VLC doesn’t have an advanced interface or features, it offers broad format support for audio and video files. VLC can also play WAV files on Mac. It’s programmed to read and play WAVE and WAV formats without errors.

Just follow these steps to play WAV files on Mac using VLC:

Open VLC
Select the “Media” menu
Click “Open File” on the open window and select your WAV files
Select “Open” and wait for the WAV file to load

VLC will play the selected WAV files automatically. However, it doesn’t offer the same advanced playback features as other Mac WAV players, like Elmedia Player.

Can Apple Music play WAV files?

If you want to play WAV files on your Mac with Apple Music, your best bet is to convert them into another file format, such as MP3, FLAC, or AAC. You can do this from Apple Music without any additional software like MP3 Player for Mac. If you choose to play WAV files on Mac using Apple Music without first converting, expect frequent errors from the app.

What other users are saying about Elmedia

It’s what QuickTime should be like. Modern Video Player with the keyboard shortcuts familiar from YouTube & Netflix. I was always annoyed when I wanted to use the arrow keys to skip back in Quick TIme, Elmedia gets it right 🙂

Jan 4.5

23 April, 2023