WV to SPH Converter

Decode WavPack audio into NIST SPHERE speech format

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Research Standard

Decode WavPack lossless into NIST SPHERE — the gold standard format for speech research datasets worldwide.

Pristine Source Audio

WavPack lossless ensures your speech corpora start from artifact-free recordings — critical for research quality.

Data Security

WV uploads are erased after conversion. SPH outputs are deleted within 24 hours.

How to convert WV to SPH

1

Select files from Computer, Google Drive, Dropbox, URL or by dragging it on the page.

2

Choose sph or any other format you need as a result (more than 200 formats supported)

3

Let the file convert and you can download your sph file right afterwards

About formats

WavPack is an open-source audio codec created by David Bryant, with version 1.0 released on August 15, 1998. What sets WavPack apart is its unique hybrid mode: the encoder can simultaneously produce a compact lossy file and a separate correction file that, when combined, reconstruct the original PCM stream bit-for-bit. Users who need portability carry just the lossy file; those who want archival quality keep both. The codec handles PCM audio from 8-bit to 32-bit integer and 32-bit floating point, with sample rates up to 768 kHz — specifications broad enough for DSD content, which WavPack 5 added support for. Compression ratios in pure lossless mode typically reach 40 to 55 percent of the original size, competitive with FLAC and often slightly better on certain material. Multicore encoding in later versions dramatically speeds up processing on modern hardware. The open-source library ships under a BSD license and has been integrated into foobar2000, VLC, FFmpeg, and numerous other tools. WavPack also supports rich metadata through APEv2 tags, embedded cue sheets, and ReplayGain values, covering the organizational needs of even the most meticulous music library.
Developer: David Bryant
Initial release: August 15, 1998
SPH is the file extension for audio stored in the NIST SPHERE (SPeech HEader REsources) format, a standard created by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology around 1990. Built for speech research, SPH files carry a 1024-byte ASCII header packed with metadata — database identifiers, channel counts, sample rates, byte ordering, and compression type — making every recording self-describing. The underlying audio is typically 16-bit linear PCM sampled at 16 kHz, though other configurations are permitted. Researchers at NIST, DARPA, and universities worldwide rely on SPH for distributing speech corpora such as TIMIT, Switchboard, and the LDC collections that underpin modern automatic speech recognition systems. A key advantage is that the human-readable header lets scripts parse recording metadata without binary decoding. The format's strict standardization also eliminates ambiguity when sharing datasets across institutions and platforms. Because SPH files store uncompressed PCM, they preserve full audio fidelity — critical when training acoustic models where even small artifacts can skew results.
Initial release: 1990

Frequently Asked Questions

Why convert WV to SPH?

NIST SPHERE is the standard for speech research corpora. Lossless WavPack provides pristine audio for research datasets.

What is SPHERE?

SPeech HEader Resources — developed by NIST for standardized speech data distribution in research communities.

What tools read SPH?

NIST SPHERE toolkit, HTK, Kaldi, Praat, and major speech processing frameworks handle SPH files.

Is lossless source important?

For speech research — yes. Artifact-free audio from WavPack gives better research data quality.

Is it free?

Yes — WV to SPH is free on convertio.tools.