Hi everyone,
I use Audacity 2.3.3 as packaged in Debian Bullseye.
When I import a call record from Linphone, which is an opus-encoded MKV container, Audacity plays the record correctly, but doesn't let me split any parts of it. The menu field "Edit → Clip Boundaries → Split" is greyed out and remains like this as long as my selection is smaller than the entire track.
This behaviour doesn't change by converting the MKV file to WAV with ffmpeg before opening it in Audacity. With an "original" WAV file that was never converted from any other format, splitting works fine.
What are the technical reasons for this behaviour? I am not happy editing compressed files, but I got them, so now I have to use them.
Thank you for your suggestions,
Carl
Problem with compressed audio file
Forum rules
This forum is for Audacity on GNU/Linux.
Please state:
Audacity 1.2.x and 1.3.x are obsolete and no longer supported. If you still have those versions, please upgrade (see https://www.audacityteam.org/download/).
The old forums for those versions are now closed, but you can still read the archives of the 1.2.x and 1.3.x forums.
Please state:
- which version of Linux you are using,
- the exact three-section version number of Audacity from Help menu > About Audacity,
- whether you installed your distribution's release, PPA version, or compiled Audacity from source code.
Audacity 1.2.x and 1.3.x are obsolete and no longer supported. If you still have those versions, please upgrade (see https://www.audacityteam.org/download/).
The old forums for those versions are now closed, but you can still read the archives of the 1.2.x and 1.3.x forums.
Re: Problem with compressed audio file
You are misinterpreting the problem.
When an audio file is "Imported" into Audacity, the audio data is copied from the file into the Audacity project. By default the imported audio is converted to 32-bit float PCM. Thus the format of the imported file is irrelevant to actions within Audacity because Audacity is working on a copy of the data, not on the file.
Note that "Split" is not available when playback is paused. Click the "Stop" button or press "Space" to stop playback.
When an audio file is "Imported" into Audacity, the audio data is copied from the file into the Audacity project. By default the imported audio is converted to 32-bit float PCM. Thus the format of the imported file is irrelevant to actions within Audacity because Audacity is working on a copy of the data, not on the file.
Note that "Split" is not available when playback is paused. Click the "Stop" button or press "Space" to stop playback.
9/10 questions are answered in the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)