MP3 import stopped working!!!

[Siggy62]

Hi, first post. I've been editing our podcasts for a year and all of a sudden the first podcasts of 2021 and I can't get the music (mp3) files to load into audacity. I've tried reloading the Lame and FFMpeg libraries and nothing. HELP!!!

[DVDdoug]

There was a change that makes Audacity more picky about imperfect MP3s... They fixed one problem but then it turned-out that there are lots of "invalid" (but still working) MP3s floating-around....

Until that's "corrected" there is a work-around using FFmpeg.

[Siggy62]

Awesome!!! Many, many, thanks! I was going crazy!!

[Siggy62]

Uh OH! Now I can't upload MP4 files like I used to. I get a different error now. Is there another rule I need to make that work now?

[steve]

Now I can't upload MP4 files

"Upload"?
Do you mean "Import" into Audacity, or "Export" from Audacity, or something else?

I get a different error now.

What is the full and complete error message?

[Siggy62]

Sorry, normally I drag and drop my raw mp4 files into audacity. Now I get an error stating that it's "an advanced audio coding file. Without the optional FFMpeg library, audacity can not open this type of file.

[steve]

Look in "Edit menu > Preferences > Libraries".
Which version of FFmpeg does it say you have?

[Siggy62]

Lame MP3 Export Library version: 3.1 (built-in)

[steve]

Please try this:

1. Exit Audacity
2. Restart Audacity
3. "Help menu > Diagnostics > Show Log"
4. Copy and paste the contents of the log into your reply.

[Siggy62]

13:57:23: Audacity 2.4.2
13:57:23: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries...
13:57:23: mLibAVFormatPath ('C:\Users\Signol\Documents\Applications\Lame_v3.99.3_for_Windows.exe') is not empty. Loading from it.
13:57:23: Looking up PATH environment variable...
13:57:23: PATH = 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\windows\system32;C:\windows;C:\windows\System32\Wbem;C:\windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\windows\System32\OpenSSH\;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Users\Signol\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;'
13:57:23: Checking that 'C:\Users\Signol\Documents\Applications' is in PATH...
13:57:23: Warning: FFmpeg directory 'C:\Users\Signol\Documents\Applications' is not in PATH.
13:57:23: Temporarily prepending ';C:\Users\Signol\Documents\Applications' to PATH...
13:57:23: Checking for monolithic avformat from 'C:\Users\Signol\Documents\Applications\Lame_v3.99.3_for_Windows.exe'.
13:57:23: Error: Couldn't find symbol 'avutil_version' in a dynamic library (error 127: The specified procedure could not be found.)
13:57:23: Error: Couldn't find symbol 'avcodec_version' in a dynamic library (error 127: The specified procedure could not be found.)
13:57:23: avformat not monolithic
13:57:23: Loading avutil from 'avutil-52.dll'.
13:57:23: Error: Failed to load shared library 'avutil-52.dll' (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
13:57:23: Loading avcodec from 'avcodec-55.dll'.
13:57:23: Error: Failed to load shared library 'avcodec-55.dll' (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
13:57:23: Loading avformat from 'C:\Users\Signol\Documents\Applications\Lame_v3.99.3_for_Windows.exe'.
13:57:23: Returning PATH to previous setting...
13:57:23: Error: Couldn't find symbol 'avutil_version' in a dynamic library (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
13:57:23: Actual avutil path
13:57:23: Error: Couldn't find symbol 'avcodec_version' in a dynamic library (error 87: The parameter is incorrect.)
13:57:23: Actual avcodec path
13:57:23: Error: Couldn't find symbol 'avformat_version' in a dynamic library (error 127: The specified procedure could not be found.)
13:57:23: Actual avformat path
13:57:23: Importing symbols...
13:57:23: Error: Failed to load symbol av_register_all
13:57:23: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries from system paths. File name is 'avformat-55.dll'.
13:57:23: Looking up PATH environment variable...
13:57:23: PATH = 'C:\Users\Signol\Documents\Applications;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\windows\system32;C:\windows;C:\windows\System32\Wbem;C:\windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\windows\System32\OpenSSH\;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Users\Signol\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps'
13:57:23: Checking that '' is in PATH...
13:57:23: FFmpeg directory is in PATH.
13:57:23: Checking for monolithic avformat from 'avformat-55.dll'.
13:57:23: Error: Failed to load shared library 'avformat-55.dll' (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
13:57:23: Loading avutil from ''.
13:57:23: Error: Failed to load shared library '.dll' (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
13:57:23: Loading avcodec from ''.
13:57:23: Error: Failed to load shared library '.dll' (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
13:57:23: Loading avformat from 'avformat-55.dll'.
13:57:23: Error: Failed to load shared library 'avformat-55.dll' (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
13:57:23: Error: Failed to load FFmpeg libraries.
13:57:23: Error: Failed to find compatible FFmpeg libraries.