[Bug] Using "Open with" from Windows Explorer

Hi there,
I recently discovered that using the “Open with…” function from the context menu on audio files (in this case MP3 files) in Windows Explorer opens just the first 17 seconds of the desired file. This is new with v2.2.0, was working fine in previous versions. Drag-and-drop to Audacity works as well as using the Open-menu from Audacity, it’s just that context menu opening. Just in case you ToDo-List is too short :wink:

Thank you very much!

  • Ulli -
    Clipboard.jpg

That is a quirk of the operating system. Audacity does not actually “open” audio files. What really happens when you “open an audio file” in Audacity, is that it opens a new Audacity project, and then imports the audio file into the project. The audio file is not itself “opened”, other than to allow it to be copied into the (new) Audacity project. Technically, the audio file is being opened for reading only - Audacity never does anything directly to the original audio file*.

Similarly, you cannot actually “save” the audio file that you “opened”. An audio track in Audacity is just copied data from the audio file.
You can “save” an Audacity Project (which creates an “AUP” project file and a “_data” folder).
To create an audio file, the audio data must be “exported” from Audacity, Exporting encodes the audio data into a specified file format, and writes that encoded data to disk to create a new audio file.

  • An audio file may be overwritten when exporting from Audacity. It is generally advised to not overwrite the original file, but to export with a new, unique file name. By default, Audacity will warn you if you are about to overwrite an existing file.


    When an audio file is imported into a new Audacity project, the track that is created should automatically zoom to fit into the Audacity window. This does happen when using the “Import Audio” command, but there was a minor bug in Audacity 2.2.0 that prevented it from happening when importing a file with the “Open” command. This has now been fixed, and the fix is available in the Audacity 2.2.1 release candidate. If you wish to try the release candidate, it is available here: Audacity devel download latest version

Tried the RC and it’s fixed :slight_smile: Thank you very much indeed! :slight_smile:

  • Ulli -

Thanks for the update.
If you have any additional feedback regarding the RC, please post here: Alphas & Betas - Audacity Forum