Playing .WAV Sound File from LabVIEW

Updated Dec 3, 2025

Reported In

Software

  • LabVIEW

Issue Details

I want to play a .WAV sound file in LabVIEW. How can I do this?

Solution

The sound palette is located in the Functions Palette under Programming>>Graphics and Sound>>Sound. Select Output and you can use the following two VIs to play a .WAV file:

  • Play Waveform VI
  • Play Sound File VI 

 

The Device ID terminal is the device you access for a sound operation, which is generally 0 by default. The Play Waveform VI includes an auto-populated drop-down list of all available sound devices. For more details, refer to Context Help in LabVIEW.

Additional Information

To find the example code, select Help » Find Examples in LabVIEW. In the NI Example Finder, select the Browse tab and navigate to Hardware Input and Output » Sound. To play a .WAV file, start with the Sound File to Sound Output VI example.

If your .WAV is not in the standard .WAV file format you may get the error 4810: 

Ensure the file uses a standard .WAV format to avoid this issue.

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