Up until today i have been able to import MP3 into Audacity now i cant even if i try a file i have previously imported
Is it a known-good MP3? Where did it come from? Have you tried a different MP3?
It could be “imperfect” or it could be a different format named as MP3.
I assume it plays in Windows Media Player (or whatever you normally use)?
You can check the format with MediaInfoOnline. If it’s an MP3, in the Audio section you should see:
Format : MPEG Audio
Format Version : Version 1
Format Profile : Layer 3
But that won’t tell you if it’s a good MP3.
If it plays in a different application you can probably convert it to WAV with a 3rd party converter such as Kabuu Audio Converter. Then you can open the WAV in Audacity, do whatever you want, and export as MP3 if that’s what you want.
Hi DVD doug
thank you for your reply its audio striped from the video of our church service using online- audio- converter.com its what i have been using for the last 3 years and up until now its worked ok and i have been able to import it in to Audacity. i have tried importing previous files that i have used in Audacity and now they no longer work. The file does play with Windows media player. If the previous files that i have already put into Audacity did work I would have wondered if the program i was using had changed but as none of my MPS files work, I don’t think that’s the problem
Hi DVD doug
The online link you gave me and got this report
Audio
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 3
Format settings : Joint stereo / MS Stereo
Duration : 1 h 5 min
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 128 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate : 38.281 FPS (1152 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 60.2 MiB (100%)
Writing library : LAME3.100����
With Audacity 3.6.4 on my iMac (macOS 14.8.1 “Sonoma”) I could import the whole file (about 1hr and 5min) without a porblem. I started Audacity, then went to the menu and selected “File → Import Audio”.
So the mp3 file itself seems to be okay.
I did not see any indication about the version of Audacity you use. Earlier versions (I don’t remember until which version number) could not export mp3 - no idea whether they could import it? Is the mod-mp3 module enabled in the preferences (see image)? If not, enable it (and also all other modules).
For security, I’ll export your recording as .wav and send it back to you, so you may also try to import this.
1 Like
Good evening . The wave file works fine. unfortunately i cant find the Modules you are directing me to the version i have is 3.7.5 i can change what i have to a .wav file but it would be nice to be able to stay using MP3
I have found where to look for the modules and it is set at enabled so i disabled it shut Audacity reopened it and changed it to enabled shut it down reopened and it didn’t work. looking at recent files none of the MP3 files i have edited in Audacity will now open 
I have also found that using the Audio converter i mentioned i can convert it to a wav file that installs perfectly. So may be that will have to be what i do strip it out as a .wav file. do you think that Audacity might have changed something and that is the problem? i have no idea how to report it if so. But thank you very much for all your help its given me a work around 
Audacity has a command to “Reset Configuration” (I think it is found under the “Tools” menu). This should set all changes you had made before to “factory settings”. I’d try this first.
If this does not work, delete the folder which contains all the settings files from your computer.
While Audacity is not running
In Windows, open the File Explorer and type %appdata%in the top field. Somewhere below (I think in the folder “Roaming”) you should find a folder called “audacity” which you can drag to trash.
In macOS, the folder is found here: ~/Library/Application Support. In the finder, select the “Go To…” command, then down to “Go to folder…” and paste the path in the dialog field. You should find a folder called “audacity” which you can drag to trash.
This settings folder is re-created if missing when you start Audacity with its “factory settings”.
There might be the possibility that something in your operating system is damaged which prevents Audacity to import the file. But re-installing the OS is the very last thing I would like to do…
As a last resort - you could extract the sound from the movie as .wav file.
Good luck!
As the .WAV file works I think I will stick with that. I have edited the wave file and exported it as an MP3 and that works . Thank you again for all your advice
I don’t know what’s going on. This is very unusual. (1)
Did you recently upgrade Audacity? Older versions are here if you want to go-back to an earlier version.
It’s NOT the modules. I disabled mod-mp3 (and just for good measure mod-MP2 and mod-MP123). I could still open MP3s but I couldn’t export as MP3.
Another solution that will probably work - Install FFmpeg (if you haven’t done so already) and Audacity should be able to open-extract the audio from the original audio/video file.
(1) In your case, you’re saying that no MP3s work. But usually it’s the MP3, and Audacity is more picky about them than than most other applications. At least it used to be… I haven’t seem that problem here on the forum for awhile.
P.S.
I fixed your title to say “MP3”. 
There must be some other problem. I could open/import the MP3 with Audacity 3.6.4 (on a Mac) without any problem. So, in this case it is not the “usual” problem - but what? Is version 3.7.5 the problem?
How can such errors (if confirmed) be brought to the attention of the developer team?
I think it might be the problem. A friend who also uses Audacity has recently had the same problem and was advised to change file to .WAV which they did. I am going to google “how do I report errors on Audacity”