Is this a Bug: file export looses properties?

[kelargo]

Hello,

I have a file I am opening, normalizing, and then exporting. The file properties disappear.
I am not sure why.

I am using XP. Audacity is version 1.2.6.
The file is a wav file. Before opening it, it has properties
In windows browser: right mouse-> properties-> summary
below are the properties:

Bit rate =64Kbps
Audio Sample Size= 8 bit
Channels= 1(mono)
Audio Sample Rate 8 kHz
Audio Format CCITT u-Law

After opening the file in Audacity, I select
Edit -> preferences -> File Formats.
and have "uncompressed export format" set to "Other, WAV Microsoft, U-Law"

Which is all I want to do.. I want to normalize the sound volume and then export in this format.

I export the file. then in Browser, right mouse-> properties -> summary.
The display tells me "Summary properties are unavailable for the selected sources(s)."

Is this a bug in the Export feature for this file format??

TIA!

[steve]

There are various ways that file types can be determined. The obvious one is by file extension, but this is obviously limited to very general types.
Another way is by reading header block information (I think this is how Windows does it) - if there is no header block information, it does not mean there is a problem (unless the file type specification says that there should be information here), it just means that no information has been added.
A third method is by analysing the file - this is what "SUPER" does, so it is able to give you detailed information about the file type, whether it has header block details or not.
So no, it does not sound like a bug to me - just a feature of that file type that is not supported by Audacity (It's a bit like exporting an MP3 without "MetaTag Data" does not mean that anything is "wrong" with the MP3).

[kelargo]

Hmm.. the info is in the original wav file.. and missing after the export...

sounds like a bug to me..

[steve]

What's the difference between a "Bug" and an "Unsupported feature"?

µ-law is a companding algorithm rather than an actual file format - I've not found anything to say whether a µ-law WAV file should include descriptors or not, but as long as it is a valid file in the format that you have selected, does it really matter?