5 min read
PolyWAV vs mono WAV: what is actually different
Same take, same samples, two packagings. The choice decides how easy your day is on set and how easy it is in the cutting room.
A poly WAV holds every channel of a take interleaved in one file. A mono set writes the same channels as separate files, one per track. Nothing about the audio itself differs, and converting between them is lossless in both directions.
What poly gives you
- One object per take, so nothing gets separated during a card copy.
- One metadata block: scene, take, notes and track names written once.
- Guaranteed identical timecode, length and sample rate across channels.
What mono gives you
- Direct import into any system, including old ones that choke on multichannel files.
- Self describing filenames, so a track name is visible in the file browser.
- Selective transfer: send the boom to the editor without shipping eight channels.
Sync behaves the same either way
Both formats carry the same start timecode. The idea that mono files sync better is a habit from tools that read multichannel timecode badly, not a property of the format.
Which to shoot
Record poly on set, deliver whatever post asked for. Poly protects the take during acquisition, and a split at the transfer stage costs seconds. The reverse, hunting for a missing mono file after wrap, costs a day.