Thanks. I downloaded MediaInfo and checked the file in question. This is the finding: Wave, 1 audio stream PCM (IEEE). Win 11 indicates the following properties: Wave Sound (.wav). Opens with Windows Media Player

@bzan Okay, that is a standard WAV file. How big is it? Maybe it's too big for a 32 bit application?

The file that won't open is 39 MB. Not that big. But a small WAV of 4 MB will open.

@bzan Okay, so only a single file will not open? Maybe there is something wrong with it.

You could try to convert it to WAV format with a free tool like XMedia Recode. I think this might repair the file.

That's what it was - the original file was corrupted somehow. I opened it in Audacity and exported it as WAV. Now SF7 can open it. Thanks for the help! BTW, any idea exactly what the issue could have been?

Update: Using the XMediaRecode tool I found out that the original file that would not open is a "PCM" file. WAV is part of this family of files, but apparently, or as it would seem, the type of PCM/WAV file that I originally got was not recognized by SF7 (probably later versions would). In any case, this would seem to solve the issue. Thanks again for the help.

@bzan A PCM WAV file is a very common format. It was already used in the late 70s/early 80s as a format for recording audio on digital tape recordings, before computers were common in recoding studios.

I believe there was another problem with the file. But it's good you solved the problem.

It could well be a fault with the file. I told the person who sent it to me about the problem, and he says everything appeared to be normal with the file. I guess this will remain a mystery. In any case, I now know hot to handle it should it happen again. Thanks for the help.

@bzan,

Hi

When posting MediaInfo analysis please provide all the data from the Text view of MediaInfo

From the MediaInfo data provided:

. . . . Wave, 1 audio stream PCM (IEEE) . . . .

Would suggest the audio is encoded as 32 or 64 bit floating point PCM, which are known to cause issues with some audio editors.

John EB
Forum Moderator

Thanks for the comments. That makes sense. Unfortunately, I no longer have the original file to analyze. If I get another one I will post the detailed data as you suggest.

John, I just got another one of those files that won't open in SF7. Here is the text info from MediaInfo that you asked for:

Format                                   : Wave
Format settings                          : PcmWaveformat
File size                                : 36.4 MiB
Duration                                 : 3 min 18 s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Constant
Overall bit rate                         : 1 536 kb/s

Audio
Format                                   : PCM
Format profile                           : Float
Codec ID                                 : 3
Codec ID/Hint                            : IEEE
Duration                                 : 3 min 18 s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 536 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 1 channel
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Bit depth                                : 32 bits
Stream size                              : 36.4 MiB (100%)

The MediaInfo indicates it is in fact an FP32 (32bit IEEE Float) format file.

FP32: not to be confused with the Shure FP32 (3x2) field mixer (noisy but rugged).

Any idea why this will not open in SF7?

@bzan

Any idea why this will not open in SF7?

Presumably because SF7 cannot handle 32 bit files, as @johnebaker suggested earlier.

Jeff
Forum Moderator