A wireless communication apparatus that includes a first format detecting unit detecting a format by executing signal processing on a preamble of a received packet before decoding, an estimating unit using the preamble to carry out multiple types of estimations, and a decoding unit decoding the received packet in accordance with the detected format based on the estimations. The apparatus further includes a second format detecting unit detecting the format of the received packet based on decoded control information in the preamble of the received packet, an error detection determination unit, when the format detected by the first format detecting unit differs from the format detected by the second format detecting unit, determining that the format detected by the first format detecting unit is an error, and a control unit controlling operations of the estimating unit and the decoding unit based on a determined result.