Audacity failed to read from a file error message

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Hello,

I’m using Audacity 3.0.2 on Windows 10. I can play the project however when I try to export I get an error message that says “Audacity failed to read from a file in D:”. I searched through the forum and found someone with a similar problem where the solution was to cut out a specific portion of the recording and then the person was able to export after a part was cut out. How can I find out where the recording is corrupted so that I can just cut out that specific part? I am able to play the full recording on audacity with no problems so I assume there has to be another way to find out where it is corrupted. I also tried to save it as a new project and export the new project however that did not work either.

Thank you.

2

Tell us about the project.
How long is it (approximately).
How many audio tracks?
Does it have any tracks other than the audio tracks?

Does that happen immediately, or do you see the export progressing before the error occurs?


How did you make the copy?
What exactly happened there?

3

This is certainly one approach. So pick a spot half-way through and Ctrl+B to mark the spot. Swipe all of the audio to the right and delete. Does that export? Ctrl-Z to UNDO. Now try swiping all of the audio to the left and delete… But you have probably already tried this.

If you close Audacity, then create a new project and Generate some sample audio, do you have problems with the export?

4

The track is 1 hr and 28 min long. It’s just a recording with no other tracks. When I tried to export the whole file, the error message popped up immediately so there’s no progress on the export at all. When I tried to save a copy of the file I went to File > Save Project > Save Project As… and the same “Audacity failed to a read from a file error message” popped up.

I found a resolve for this issue, however. I figured because the export was interrupted immediately I cut out the first 45 minutes of the recording and I was able to export the part that I did not cut out. Then the first 45 minutes I cut in 5 to 10 increments and exported them in small parts. The parts I couldn’t export, I just had to do without. I figured I should respond to this message in case you had a better solution or in case someone might google a similar issue in the future; they can reference this post. Thanks!

5

I didn’t have any issues exporting any new projects.

Thanks for this suggestion! I actually tried a version of this and was able to export my recording in 4 smaller parts so I could avoid the parts of the file that was corrupted.