aplay: test_wavefile:807: can't play WAVE-file format 0x0055 !??

[Michael Schwendt]

On Fri, 4 Sep 2009 09:07:40 -0700, stan wrote:

> > hi stan,
> > 
> > may i ask how you made this determination?
> > 
> > i have long wanted to know how to decipher audio formats at the byte
> > level. or did you use the file cmd?
> > 
> > tia, jackc...
> > 
> > >> $ file ~/Music/babycry.wav
> > >> /home/bill/Music/babycry.wav: RIFF (little-endian) data, WAVE
> > >> audio, MPEG Layer 3, mono 11025 Hz
> > >>
> 
> I used the last line of the file output, MPEG Layer 3 is mp3.
> Here is the output from file on a true wav file (a sample from freesound).
> 
> uberhuberman_Louisiana_Rain_1.wav: RIFF (little-endian) data, WAVE
> audio, Microsoft PCM, 16 bit, stereo 44100 Hz

Note that if it says ADPCM instead of PCM, you already need a special
decoder to play it. sox's /usr/bin/play would succeed again while aplay
would not.