# .wavs and virii **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 5, 2000, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wavs-and-virii/18658 "2000-05-05T12:55:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GoSensGo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@GoSensGo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoSensGo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wavs-and-virii/18658/1 "2000-05-05T12:55:12Z")
Is it possible to transmit viruses through .wav files? One of my friends is convinced it is, but I have seen no evidence for this being the case… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wavs-and-virii/18658/2 "2000-05-05T13:23:02Z")
No. Wavs are read; they do not execute. Anything added to them will only add gibberish or static to the playback. ---
**Author:** ![hardcore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@hardcore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hardcore)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wavs-and-virii/18658/3 "2000-05-05T13:50:37Z")
Theoretically, it is possible, though I’ve never heard of one. However, you would need an exploit (like a buffer overrun) in the code of the program that plays the wav file. There are a lot of different players for wav files, so it is unlikely to occur. ---
**Author:** ![GoSensGo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@GoSensGo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoSensGo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wavs-and-virii/18658/4 "2000-05-05T14:23:03Z")
That’s kind of what I was thinking: you’d need some sort of internal routine that somehow triggers a self-decompressing routine regardless of what method is used to play the wav. Which sounds like way more work than most virus programmers are willing to go through, I’d guess… But I’d guess it’d be easier with a RIFF-Wav than a PCM-Wav. ---
**Author:** ![ookpik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c68b51/32.png) [@ookpik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ookpik)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wavs-and-virii/18658/5 "2000-05-05T20:23:25Z")
It is possible to “hide” files within sound files or graphics files. There’s a name for this practice Stegonography maybe? So you could hide a virus there, but as mentioned above, you’d need to have the user, or victim execute some code beforehand in order to extract the virus for it to work. ---
**Author:** ![Lagged2Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ac8455/32.png) [@Lagged2Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lagged2Death)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wavs-and-virii/18658/6 "2000-05-05T21:00:33Z")
In MS Windows, the filename extention (.wav, .txt, etc.) generally determines how the system handles the file. However, there’s nothing that dictates what the contents of a file with a particular extension will actually be; .wav files are sounds by convention, but there’s no enforcement. Also, it’s possible to change the standard setup for how the OS handles a file. You can tell Windows to try to run .wav files as programs, if you’re so inclined. The way the system is usually set up, .wav files are used strictly as sound data for a sound player program of some kind. Since the computer won’t attempt to execute the .wav file as if it were code, control remains firmly in the hands of the OS and the approved apps running on the machine. However, there’s no reason someone couldn’t write a virus, send it around with the .wav extension, then later try to trick users or their computers into running the .wav file as code. They could trick a person into doing it with a scary e-mail, or they could use some other trojan program to get the computer to do it. The ILOVEYOU worm doesn’t quite work that way, but it sort of illustrates the concept. The lethal attatchment in the e-mail is just an ordinary text file. But the .vbs extension tells the OS to run the text file as code, and then the havoc starts. If you save the attatchment with a .txt extension, you can examine the code in Windows Notepad quite safely. As a .txt file, it’s harmless. Similarly, files with .wav extension, as long as there are no other changes to your system, should be harmless. In short, although it’s technically possible for a .wav file to contain malicious code, it’s very unlikely to actually happen, because there are much easier ways to get your computer to execute malicious code. So there’s little incentive for the author of a malicious program to try to do this. I wouldn’t worry about .wav files. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wavs-and-virii/18658/7 "2000-05-06T04:08:08Z")
**Virii ?** What language is that? The plural of the English word _virus_ is _viruses_. The plural of the Latin word _virus_ is _vira_. There is a Latin word _virii_. It means _greening’s_. ---
**Author:** ![GoSensGo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce73a5/32.png) [@GoSensGo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoSensGo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wavs-and-virii/18658/8 "2000-05-06T16:35:31Z")
it’s imagination language! virii looks way cooler than viruses, which just looks dumb. Sorry for messing up the Latin. -Alex ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wavs-and-virii/18658/9 "2000-05-06T19:56:25Z")
Oh, “virus” is neuter? I never knew that. Of course, you can see the cause for confusion… So much for Latin being logical _grumble grumble_.