Topic: Open a 6gb WAV file?

[Cheesecadet]

So I am unable to open a 6gb WAV file on my Mac???  It is a 24/44.1 file.  I know about the 2hour limit, etc...but it shows the file as 6gb, when it opens its only 2 hours. 

Anyone have a program or work around so i can open the file and split it down to smaller files so they can be opened individually?

TIA

[page]

what program have you tried it in? I just tried one of mine that is 3.5gb (24/44.1) in Audacity and it worked fine.

(I'm assuming your on osx and not os9)

[scb]

So I am unable to open a 6gb WAV file on my Mac???  It is a 24/44.1 file.  I know about the 2hour limit, etc...but it shows the file as 6gb, when it opens its only 2 hours. 

Anyone have a program or work around so i can open the file and split it down to smaller files so they can be opened individually?

TIA

there is no "2 hour limit"

Wave use a 32 bit integer to store the file size, so the max file size of the wav format is 4 GB.  If the application you're using interprets this integer as a signed integer, then it'll only open files of size 2GB or less.

What made this 6GB file?

[Cheesecadet]

Audacity v1.3.12b was used to record the 6gb file.  Any idea on how to open it?  I didn't cut it to separate tracks before saving so now it only openes the first 2 hour segment of the file but the whole file still seems to be there???

Tried Wave Editor, Audacity, and Audition

[scb]

can you try to open it as a RAW file using one of your editors?

maybe change the extension to .raw?

[it-goes-to-eleven]

"W64" are 64 bit wav files and are not constrained by the 32 bit limitations.  W32 supports 4GB files, but some programs get it wrong and can only support 2GB.

Not many editors support W64.  Sound forge supposedly does.

You could treat the file as binary data.  Split it into 2GB or less pieces, and add a header or import as raw.

On linux, I would split the file using the split command:

split -b 2000000000 file.wav

[bombdiggity]

Audacity v1.3.12b was used to record the 6gb file.  Any idea on how to open it?  I didn't cut it to separate tracks before saving so now it only openes the first 2 hour segment of the file but the whole file still seems to be there???

Tried Wave Editor, Audacity, and Audition

Audition would open and manipulate it if it were all there.  I've edited a 5+ GB 24-96 file (appended together from smaller pieces) in Audition 3. 

I've seen Audacity make a hash out of larger than 2GB files.  Audacity will basically only save the first 2 GB from any file larger than 2GB (as it crashes on the save operation).  So don't try to edit a 24-96 4GB file in it since it will not save the result (even though it looks like it is editing it - thereby wasting any time you put into it). 

I suspect the output you have may be corrupted if it came from Audacity. 

[Marshall7]

I've saved files larger than 2 GB any number of times with Audacity, and never had any issues with it saving them.

[bombdiggity]

I've saved files larger than 2 GB any number of times with Audacity, and never had any issues with it saving them.

The issue I and others here personally had are with 24-96 files.  I know anything larger than 4GB (not sure if 24-96 is a factor or not but that's usually how they would be so large) will not save in Audacity.  Others have independently confirmed the same result (one of those on Mac rather than PC). 

YMMV but the first time it blew up a considerable amount of my editing time was the last time I used it. 

[F.O.Bean]

WaveLab 6 is what I use, and it supports files up to 4gb

[taperdave]

wavelab 7 and vegas pro 12 both support W64
Dave