How do I get a sound file I have to Play in SL?

I have a short sound file I would like to play on command via a key or inventory selection. Firstly what format should the sound file be in? I know nothing about scripts, although it looks like C code in structure. I want to do a panther roar on command. Second, can someone provide me the code and some brief instructions?

Thanks

You don't need to program that.

You can either upload it as a Windows PCM WAV file (only up to 10 seconds in size) and just Right Click it in your Inventory's SOUNDS folder and select PLAY or make it into a GESTURE. Create a new gesture and drag the sound across into it and if you right click the GESTURE and select ACTIVE you can select it from your GESTURES menu at the bottom of your screen.

PCM “.WAV” files are so large though. Can’t a compressed format like “.mpg” be used so it will not eat up so much bandwidth?

No, it uses OGG. The SL client opens a .WAV, converts to OGG, then sends it to the server. It has to be WAV to be converted, that's all. Everything in SL is highly compressed, so, as you say, bandwidth can be conserved.

It needs to be a PCM 44.1KHz WAV file to be converted into SL format. It doesn't seem to matter if it is stereo or mono.

It's the same with images, you upload it as BMP, JPEG, TGA.. whatever.. and then SL converts it to JPEG2000 format. This is why it is usually best to upload as a TGA file even if it's just a texture with no alpha channels. If you use JPEG to upload, then you already have lost some quality, then SL converts it and you lose even more quality.

Thanks everyone for your help. I was able to get it to work.