Lost sound in saved .wav file

Audacity 2.1.0, Windows 7 Home Premium, Service Pack 1.

I saved a recorded LP to an audio track. I inserted labels, which appeared in a label track. I saved as a .wav file to my hard drive and then copied it successfully to a CD using Window Media Center.

When I tried to reopen the .wav file in Audacity so that I could continue to edit the audio track, I can no longer hear the sound. The CD plays sound and the speakers attached to my computer work with other programs. No other changes have occurred, I simply saved the file and it was not working when I re-opened it.

Any advise would be appreciated.
Regards, SB

Can you play the WAV file in Windows Media Player? Is the file size about right? (About 10MB per minute for a “CD quality” 44.1kHz, 16-bit, stereo WAV file.)

If that WAV file is still OK, I’m pretty sure Audacity can open it… Maybe it got corrupted or over-written, or something “strange” happened to it.

Worst case, you can "rip"s the CD and make new WAV files.

Thank you for your reply. Let me clarify my situation, the file plays in Windows Media Center, but it does not play in Audacity. The file size of the Audacity (.au) file is 567 MB, the .wav is much smaller.

I wanted to re-open the file so that I could continue to edit the tracks. Perhaps this is functionality that is not permitted?

Any other suggestions to restore the sound?

Thank you in advance for your assistance. SB

What happens when you try to open the WAV? Do you get an error? Nothing? A “flat line” silent file? If you get a silent file, is the playing time correct?

Are you trying to open the WAV on your hard drive, or on the CD? If you made a regular audio CD it doesn’t have WAV files and Audacity can’t read audio CDs.

Since you have the AUP project, have you tried making a new WAV (with a different file name)?

I am guessing you are saying that the _data folder for the Audacity project is that size.

If you can see the blue waves in the track, then the problem is that you cannot hear Audacity playback. Look in Audacity’s Device Toolbar and choose the playback device you have your speakers or headphones connected to.

Play your song in Audacity then click the speaker icon by the Windows system clock, then click Mixer. Make sure the Audacity slider is not muted.

Reboot the computer if the problem persists.


Gale