How to check if a sound file is a .wav file in C# ?

[rocco1010]

Let's say somebody may change the extension of a .doc or .mp3 file to .wav, in my application, I want to check to make sure if a file is actually a .wav file.

How do I do this in C# ?

[EARNEST]

Maybe System.IO - > GetExtension?
Or check certain area of the file (header maybe?) where that info can exist.

[tlhintoq]

Read the file header byte by byte

[EARNEST]

:D very close.
anyways,this might help the OP

[GaryTexmo]

If you don't care too much about program speeds, you can always just try and play it anyway and use a try/catch block to handle the exception. I don't know what you're using to play the sound, but I did some tests with a System.Media.So undPlayer object and it seems a System.InvalidO peration exception is thrown when it tries to play a file that's not a valid wav file.

    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        System.Media.SoundPlayer m_player = new System.Media.SoundPlayer();

        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            try
            {
                m_player.SoundLocation = textBox1.Text;
                m_player.Play();
            }
            catch (System.IO.FileNotFoundException ex)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Could not file file: " + textBox1.Text + "\n" + ex.Message);
            }
            catch (System.InvalidOperationException ex)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("File was not a valid .WAV file: " + textBox1.Text + "\n" + ex.Message);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Unknown exception: " + ex.Message);
            }
        }
    }

If you're loading and playing a lot of files in quick succession though, the overhead of a try/catch might make it so this method isn't right for you, in which case you'll probably need to go with T's option.

[rocco1010]

GarryTexmo: if we try to play the sound anyway, it still cannot detect if it's a .wav or, .mp3, .midi...etc.

tlhintoq: "Read the file header byte by byte" => not all files contain a header ?

[tlhintoq]

Then you just have to try to analyse the file and see if it fits what you *think* it is.

If think it is supposed to be an MP3, then see if the frames fit the specification.

A .wav has a header

http://www.sonicspot.com/guide/wavefiles.html

midi has a header

http://www.skytopia.com/project/articles/midi.html