Can't import wav file....File Error: Unknown File .wav

R

ronin99

Active member
Got the final sound mix files from the post sound team.


There 90 min long wav files and when I try to import any one of them into FCP7,
I get this error:


File Error: Unknown File .wav


Very similar to this post
http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/8/1180926


The files were exported from Pro Tools with the following specs:

shwWzvk.png



I tried opening the file in Adobe Audition and I get this error which might be the problem but I'm not sure how to solve it?

VmwxoTA.png
 
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It appears to be a poly file from the PTs spec graphic: "5.1 LCR LFE Ls Rs"
Confirm that FCP supports that type wave file. Some systems also have a max file size limit of 2GB. You could ask the post folks to send multiple mono files or convert them yo'self. (Wave Agent, ect) The monos would be no different than the poly once in place. The multi-track poly file is just easier to deal with... unless your NLE can't open it.
 
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The Multi track Poly bis probably the problem. Have then send it in discrete files. You probably need this anyway since FCP works in the DVD layout natively L R C Ls Rs Lfe where ProTools works in the film standard L C R Ls Rs Lfe, so you probably will need to remap channels.
 
I'm not sure the poly issue is the problem. I've worked with polys before and prefer to.

I think it might have to do with the file size. I read .wav files are only limited to 4GB or some programs as Rick says 2GB.
So having them sent as separate files could help due to the reduced size.
 
I sometimes resort to changing a problematic file's extension to <.raw> and open in Sound Forge Pro.
OTOH, if a file is very large, I'll save them as WAVE 64 <.w64>..which is not limited to size like the typical wave format.
 
It could be any of the things listed so far. I've seen all of these things be problems. My gut reaction is file size. With a 2 pop just have them give you mono files, but with 90 minutes files (no reels?) you could still run into issues. I'd have the stems broken down into shorter files as well.
 
48/24 runs just under an hour per gig (stereo) so 90 min mono is not going to be a problem. You don't even need a pop since they will all be the same length.

Could be a wonky file. We at one point always compressed sound files before sending because sending them raw was causing unreadable files. That was a long time ago and I haven't been doing that as a rule for awhile. Also some programs especially if you are crossing OS's will write files that are not signed the way another program likes. Mac for instance didn't use extensions so files would show up wrong on Windows machines. OSX though I think always uses extensions, some times it doesn't show them but I believe they are still there. I'm assuming this one does or FCP wouldn't see it as a WAV file. BTW if that happens simply typing ".wav" or whatever is appropriate and saying YES to use new extension, will make everything happy.
 
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48/24 runs just under an hour per gig so 90 min mono is not going to be a problem. You don't even need a pop since they will all be the same length.
Click to expand...

Really? Mine is 48/24 and 90 minutes in length and is over 4GB.


It ended up being the file size. I asked them to break it up and it imported fine.

But what a unnecessary headache. First I had no idea about this limit and
neither did the sound team, is this common knowledge? They said they never
encountered this issue before when delivering a full file.

Do most sound people deliver their final mix in reels? Because if anyone delivers
a final mix as one file, most feature projects would be over the 4GB limit. So I just
don't understand how more people are not running into this issue.
 
"But what a unnecessary headache. First I had no idea about this limit and neither did the sound team, is this common knowledge?"
> for most pro audio folks.

"They said they never encountered this issue before when delivering a full file."
- If your "sound team" was not aware of these limitations, I would question their overall competency in audio.. Sorry
 
They probably had managed to squeak in under 4 gigs.

Quick time used to have a 2gig limit and I believe OMF still does. Heck file systems didn't deal with files that large till fairly recently.

I suspect though that you sound folks not knowing it has more to do with youth. File sizes were something you had to pay attention to once upon a time since storage was so limited and transfers were slow and lots of systems had very strict and somewhat small file size restrictions. A 2 gig limit is not a big deal if hardly anybody has a hard drive over 2 gigs. And Mac not that long ago only allowed a 2 gig partition so if you had one of those rare 4 gig drives you had to split it in two (actually three - one little one so the other two were below 2 gigs). We used to store or FX library s on Pinnacle MO cartridges. 320 megs per side and it took 20 min to format one side.

In an era where you can download 2 gigs off the internet faster than you could format a 320 meg drive it's probably not something folks think about a lot.
 
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