Install wavpack with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, scoop, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• wavpack
• wvgain
• wvtag
• wvunpack

Project history

Secondary histories and archived release listings trace WavPack back to David Bryant's mid-1998 development work and version 1.0 on August 15, 1998. Version 2.0 followed on September 2, 1998 with lossy encoding based on quantizing prediction residue rather than psychoacoustic masking, and version 3.0 arrived on September 12, 1999 with fast mode, raw PCM compression, and CRC error detection.

The late 3.x series introduced the hybrid model that became WavPack's defining feature: a lossy file usable on its own plus a correction file that restores the original PCM stream when present. ReallyRareWares records that version 3.97, dated February 18, 2003, released the sources under a BSD license after WavPack had previously been closed-source freeware. WavPack 4 then introduced a new file format structure and a more modern feature set, including fast seeking, better robustness, multichannel and high-resolution audio support.

The WavPack 5 era broadened the format from a WAV-centered compressor into a more general audio archiving tool. The official site says version 5.0.0 added several new file formats and lossless DSD audio compression, and the changelog dates 5.0.0 to December 6, 2016 with RF64, Wave64, CAF, Philips DSDIFF, Sony DSF, very large file support, block checksums, non-standard channel identities, and streaming-oriented decoding improvements. Later releases added wvtag, fuzzing and CI hardening, AIFF support, multithreading, BW64 recognition, improved ID3 handling, and version 5.9.0 on January 16, 2026.

Adoption history

WavPack has long had a dual adoption pattern: audiophile/archival users who value efficient lossless storage and hybrid correction files, and software ecosystems that need a permissive, open implementation. The official site lists support across players, editors, rippers, taggers, and media frameworks, including foobar2000, JRiver MediaCenter, Audacity, Winamp plugins, Reaper, FL Studio, VLC, SoX, GStreamer-enabled Linux distributions, FFmpeg/avconv, MPD, DeaDBeeF, X Lossless Decoder, and many others.

Hardware and firmware support also gave WavPack a place in portable audio culture. The official site highlights Rockbox playback and recording support across many older portable music players, Cowon devices as early native-support examples, and later high-end portable players and media players that advertise WavPack playback. Hydrogenaudio summarizes WavPack as a feature-rich lossless compressor with broad software support, Direct Stream Digital support, and practical caution that some advanced features are best handled through the official tools rather than limited third-party encoders.

How it is used

The reference distribution centers on `wavpack` for encoding, `wvunpack` for decoding/restoration, `wvgain` for ReplayGain analysis, and `wvtag` for APEv2 metadata. The official manual describes batch operation, wildcard input, stdin/stdout piping, raw PCM handling, reencoding existing WavPack files while copying tags, safe overwrite behavior through temporary files, progress reporting, and the ability to preserve headers and metadata so lossless restoration is bit-identical to the original file.

Hybrid mode is the specialist workflow: users choose a target bitrate with `-b` or the newer `-c<n>` shortcut, optionally create a correction file, keep the `.wv` as a smaller portable listening copy, and archive `.wv` plus `.wvc` together for lossless recovery. Pure lossless mode is used for ordinary audio archiving, while WavPack 5's DSD and large-file support made it useful for SACD-derived DSF/DFF material and other non-CD archival sources.

Why package nerds care

WavPack matters to package nerds because it is both a codec format and a reference C library with real downstream surface area: command-line tools, libwavpack, plugins, media-framework integration, fuzzing history, assembly optimizations, file-format documentation, and distro-packaged development libraries. It also occupies a rare design point among audio codecs: permissive licensing, open specification, lossless/hybrid operation, DSD support, metadata tooling, and archival attention to restoring non-audio chunks.

Timeline

• 1998-08-15: WavPack 1.0 is released for DOS with lossless compression and decompression.
• 1998-09-02: WavPack 2.0 adds lossy encoding.
• 1999-09-12: WavPack 3.0 adds fast mode, raw PCM compression, and CRC error detection.
• 2003-02-18: Version 3.97 sources are released under a BSD license.
• 2006-03-20: WavPack 4.31 era reflects the post-WavPack-4 file format and feature transition.
• 2016-12-06: WavPack 5.0.0 adds multiple input formats, DSD compression, large-file support, block checksums, and streaming-oriented decoder changes.
• 2024-02-29: WavPack 5.7.0 adds optional multithreaded encoding and decoding.
• 2026-01-16: WavPack 5.9.0 is released with tag-copy support and additional robustness fixes.

Related projects

• WavPack is commonly discussed alongside FLAC, ALAC, Monkey's Audio, OptimFROG, MPEG-4 ALS, TAK, FFmpeg, GStreamer, Rockbox, foobar2000, SoX, and audio tagging/replaygain tools. Its hybrid correction-file model is closest in spirit to OptimFROG DualStream and later scalable/layered lossless ideas such as MPEG-4 SLS and DTS-HD Master Audio.

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WavPack
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dbry/WavPack/master/README.md
• https://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=WavPack
• https://www.rarewares.org/rrw/wavpack.php
• https://www.wavpack.com/
• https://www.wavpack.com/changelog.txt
• https://www.wavpack.com/wavpack_doc.html