How to Recover Deleted WAV Files on Windows 10/11 Easily

About WAV Files

WAV (Waveform Audio File Format) is an uncompressed audio format developed by Microsoft and IBM. Because of its high fidelity, it’s commonly used in music production, professional recording, and sound design. Musicians, producers, and audiophiles often rely on them for editing and playback. But the large size of WAV files makes them vulnerable to being overlooked in backups or mistakenly deleted when cleaning up storage.

Like other types of files, WAV files can get lost due to various reasons. Understanding these reasons can help you better find recovery methods and try to avoid future data loss. Here are the common causes of WAV file loss.

🔔Accidental Deletion

One of the most frequent reasons for WAV file loss is simply deleting the file by mistake, either from the Recycle Bin or through “Shift + Delete".

🖥️Formatting the Drive

Formatting an external hard drive, SD card, or USB where WAV files were stored erases the file system, making the audio files inaccessible.

💽Corrupted Storage Media

Bad sectors, power failures, or improper ejection of storage devices can lead to corruption, causing WAV files to become unreadable.

📁File System Errors

Issues such as RAW partitions or file system corruption (NTFS, FAT32, exFAT errors) may make WAV files invisible or inaccessible.

📌Improper Transfer or Interruption

Interruptions during copying, moving, or transferring WAV files between devices can cause file damage or loss.

How to Recover Deleted WAV Files on Windows 10/11

The good news is that deleted WAV files are not always gone forever. In most cases, they remain on your drive until overwritten. This means you have a good chance of successful WAV files recovery if you act quickly with correct methods.

Check the Recycle Bin

Whenever you lose a file, checking the Recycle Bin first is always a smart move. When you delete (not permanently delete) a file on your computer, it gets moved to the Recycle Bin. You can restore deleted files from Recycle Bin when you need.

Step 1. Double click the Recycle Bin icon on your computer to open it.

Step 2. Browse through the deleted items and select the file you want to recover.

Step 3. Right click on it and choose "Restore" to return it to its original location.

However, if the file is not in the Recycle Bin, it may be because it has been permanently deleted or was deleted from an external hard drive. That’s when backups come into play.

Check the Backups

If you have enabled built-in backup features like File History or Backup and Restore on Windows, or if you use cloud storage, you may be able to restore lost WAV files quickly from created backup.

File History

If you have enabled File History on Windows and add the WAV file to backup plan, you can recover it from the backups.

Step 1. Locate the folder where the WAV files were stored.

Step 2. Select the folder and right click on it, then choose "Restore previous versions" from the context menu.

Step 3. Select the version before the WAV file loss and click "Restore" to recover it.

Backup and Restore

Backup and Restore is a legacy Windows backup tool and still available for Windows 10 and 11. If you have backed up a full system image before data loss, you can restore the WAV file from the backup.

Step 1. Open "Backup settings" and click "Go to Backup and Restore (Windows 7)".

Step 2. Choose "Select another backup to restore files from" and select a created backup.

Step 3. Check the "Select all files from this backup" option to restore all files. You can also click "Browse for files/folders" to restore specific file or folder.

Step 4. Select a destination folder to save the recovered files and click "Restore" to start the process.

When the process is completed, you can check the recovered files by clicking on "View restored files".

Cloud Backup

Cloud backup tools are a popular backup choice for their convenience. If you’ve backed up your WAV files using tools like OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox, you can restore them from the cloud.

Step 1. Sign in to your OneDrive account (take OneDrive as an example here).

Step 2. Select the "Recycle bin" section, navigate to the deleted files.

Step 3. Click "Restore" to recover it.

Recover Using Windows File Recovery

Even if no backups are available, Windows also offers a professional command-line data recovery tool—Windows File Recovery. It can recover permanently deleted files from your local storage like USB drives, SD cards, HDDs and more. But it only runs on Windows 10 and 11.

Step 1. Download and install Windows File Recovery on your computer from Microsoft official channel.

Step 2. Open Windows File Recovery and run it as administrator.

Step 3. Type the following command "Winfr D: E: /extensive" and press "Enter". Replace the drive letters "D" and "E" with your actual drive letters.

When the process finishes, press "y" to check the recovered files in the destination folder.

Recover Deleted WAV Files with MyRecover

When the above methods fail, MyRecover is a dedicated solution for recovering permanently deleted or lost audio files. It supports not only WAV but also MP3, AAC, FLAC, APE, and other formats. Whether your files were lost due to accidental deletion, formatting, or emptied the Recycle Bin, MyRecover can help.

 MyRecover

Easy Windows File Recovery Software

• 500+ Devices Supported | SSD, HDD, USB Flash Drive, SD Sard, etc.
• 1000+ File Formats Supported | PNG, MP4, MP3, TXT, ZIP, MSG, etc.
• 500+ Data Loss Scenarios | Deletion, Format, System Crash, Virus Attack, etc.

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Step 1. Download and install MyRecover on your computer from Microsoft Store or official channel, avoid installing it on the drive with lost files.

Step 2. Launch it and choose the drive where the WAV files were stored. If the quick scan doesn't find the files you want, you can click on "Deep scan" to locate more file fragments.

Step 3. Choose the files you intend to recover from the recoverable lists and click "Recover".

Step 4. Select a safe and new location to save the recovered files.

Once the process is finished, the message indicating successful recovery will pop up. You can check the recovered files by clicking on the destination folder path or "Browse" button.

FAQs:

Q1: How to recover permanently deleted audio files?

Even if audio files are permanently deleted, they are not immediately erased from the storage device. You can use professional data recovery software like MyRecover to scan the drive and restore the lost files, as long as new data hasn’t overwritten them. Another option is to check backups if enabled.

Q2: How can I retrieve deleted music files?

Deleted music files can often be retrieved by checking the Recycle Bin and backups. If the file has been permanently deleted and there is no backup, using professional data recovery tools like MyRecover still can retrieve the deleted music files.

Q3: What audio formats can be recovered?

MyRecover support a wide range of audio formats, including: WAV, MP3, AAC, M4A, FLAC, OGG, WMA and more. As long as the storage sectors are not overwritten, these formats can be restored successfully.

Conclusion

Losing WAV files can feel devastating, especially if they contain unique music projects or irreplaceable recordings. Luckily, with options like the Recycle Bin, File History, backups, and advanced tools such as MyRecover, recover deleted wav files is entirely possible.

For professionals handling large volumes of audio, the MyRecover's Professional edition offers unlimited recovery, file preview, and even the ability to restore data from unbootable systems, making it a complete solution for WAV files recovery and more.