BWAV (File Format)

BWAV (Binary WAVe) is a sound format used in Nintendo Switch games such as Super Mario Maker 2 and Ring Fit Adventure. It is located both as files and sub files into BARS files.

File Format

Header

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	Char[4]	File magic. Always BWAV in ASCII.
0x04	UInt16	Byte-order-mark. FE FF for big endian, FF FE for little endian.
0x06	UInt16	Version number.
0x08	UInt32	Unknown.
0x0C	UInt16	Audio type: 0 = stream, 1 = prefetch.
0x0E	UInt16	Number of channels.

Channel Info

A list of channel infos follow the header. It is unknown why some parameters is specified for each individual channel instead of the whole stream. Each entry has the following structure:

Offset	Type	Description
0x00	UInt16	Unknown.
0x02	UInt16	Unknown.
0x04	UInt32	Sample rate.
0x08	UInt32	Total number of sound samples in the channel. This value corrusponds to the full stream number of sound samples, thus if audio type is prefetch, this value is incorrect.
0x0C	UInt32	Total number of sound samples in the channel.
0x10	UInt16[8][2]	Coefficients, used for DSP ADPCM decoding.
0x30	UInt32	Absolute channel data offset. This value corrusponds to the full stream offset, thus if audio type is prefetch, this value is incorrect.
0x34	UInt32	Absolute channel data offset.
0x38	UInt32	Unknown.
0x3C	UInt32	Loop end in samples. FF FF FF FF if looping is disabled.
0x40	UInt32	Loop start in samples.
0x44	UInt32	Unknown.
0x48	UInt32	Unknown.

Version List

Version	Found in
0.1	Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Switch Online Playtest Program Nintendo Switch Sports Ring Fit Adventure Splatoon 3 Super Mario 3D All-Stars Super Mario Bros. Wonder Super Mario Maker 2 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Tools

The following tools can handle BWAV files:

• (none)