Windows 7, Audacity 2.1.2. When exporting 1 hour 34 minute recording, resulting WAV file looks to be proper size, but VLC shows only 1 minute 2 seconds of play time. Likewise Magix editor also only shows just 1 minute 2 seconds of audio. Recording is mixed from two original stereo WAV files. Exporting as" WAV (Microsoft) 32-bit float PCM". The entire 1 hour 34 minutes plays properly in Audacity. I figured a way to get around the problem, by changing the Selection Start time to 2 minutes. Then the entire remaining 1 hour 32 minutes of the exported WAV file plays. Fortunately the initial two minutes is composed of just audience noise prior to the start of the recorded concert. However, this seems an awkward process. Any thoughts on how to export the entire WAV file so that all it will play? I have had this problem with two different concert recordings. Is it possible that Audacity is sensing a section of the recording with no noise at all, and inserting some sort of stop or end indication into the WAV file?
Why are you exporting as 32-bit float WAV?
What is the sample rate and file size?
Exporting as" WAV (Microsoft) 32-bit float PCM".
You’ve most-likely exceeded the 4GB WAV file size limit. If you don’t need WAV but you want lossless you can use FLAC, or you can try 16-bit or 24-bit WAV.
There is a 32-bit file-size field in the WAV header and if you (the software) tries to write a larger number, the most significant bit(s) can get thrown away and the header can show a much smaller file.
DVDdoug correctly analyzed this problem. The 32-bit WAV file was somewhat over 4GB. Choosing 16-bit output created a smaller file, which played properly. Deleting some of the initial audience noise also reduced the file size enough to stay under the 4GB limit. Perhaps Audicity could check for this condition and issue a warning.
Yes it should do so. But if you export as RF64 (choose it in “Other uncompressed files”) or FLAC there won’t be a practical size limit. Both those file formats are still lossless.
RF64 16-bit files will have the same file size as WAV 16-bit, and FLAC 16-bit is about half the size of WAV 16-bit. You may not be able to play those files in Windows Media Player without extra codecs though.
Gale