RAW

Raw
Developer:	N/A
Header:	Absent
Content:	PCM
Instruments:	Intrinsic
Target Output
Released:	N/A
First Game:	N/A
Extensions	*.pcm *.raw *.snd

This is the article for the PCM format. For the OPL format, see RAW (Rdos).

Raw audio is not a specific audio format, but any file that contains digital audio and doesn't have a header or footer. Headers or footers allow a sound player to know what encoding is used, the playback rate, and the sample rate, thus, you must know the values of these variables before hand to play raw audio. Many audio formats can be converted into a raw format simply by removing their header and footer.

Some of the variables you must know to properly play a raw file include:

• Encoding - PCM, A-Law, μ-Law, IEEE 754, ASCII, etc.
• Rate - Usually between 8,000-48,000 kHz, but others are possible.
• Channels - Mono (1), Stereo (2), Stereo (3), Quadraphonic (4), Surround (5), etc.
• Bit Depth - 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 64, etc.
• Byte Signage - Signed, Unsigned
• Endianess - Big endian, little endian,
• Decimal - Integer, Float

When a game uses raw audio, the rip should include the value of these variables so that others can listen to them properly.

Raw files are often given the extension *.raw, although many programs use *.snd (sound) or *.pcm (pulse code modulation).

Players

(Category)

• Audacity - Linux, Macintosh, Windows
• Creative WaveStudio - Windows
• Game Audio Player - Windows
• GoldWave - Windows
• Multi Media Machine - DOS
• Play SND - DOS

Editors

(Category)

• Audacity - Linux, Macintosh, Windows
• Creative WaveStudio - Windows
• GoldWave - Windows

Converters

(Category)

RAW to ?

• Audacity - Linux, Macintosh, Windows - AAC, AC3, AIFF, AMR, AU, FLAC, MP2, MP3, OGG, WAV, WMA
• Creative WaveStudio - Windows - VOC, WAV
• Game Audio Player - Windows - WAV
• GoldWave - Windows - AAC, AIFF, AIFFC, AU, IFF, FLAC, OGG, OPUS, M4A, MP3, VOC, VOX, WAV, WMA, XAC
• Play SND - DOS - SND (Tandy), VOC, WAV

? to RAW

• Creative WaveStudio - Windows - VOC, WAV
• GoldWave - Windows - AAC, AIFF, AIFFC, AU, IFF, FLAC, OGG, OPUS, M4A, MP3, VOC, VOX, WAV, WMA, XAC
• Play SND - DOS - AIFF, AU, IFF, SND (Tandy), VOC, WAV

Games

(Category)

Released	Title	Sample
1987-??-??	Sky-Fighter (AMI)
1987-0?-??	Garrison (AMI)
1993-0?-??	Heartlight PC (DOS)

How to Obtain

RAW files usually have to be manually extracted from game files, a process that is different for pretty much every game that uses them.

Links

• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_audio_format - Wikipedia.