4.1GB WAV file, how can I break into smaller pieces?

[Muse]

When I go to save this very large recording, my program (Total Recorder Standard Edition) suggests breaking it into smaller pieces because sound editors, etc. generally are not able to deal with files larger than 2GB. I'm on a PC with NTFS file systems. Audacity doesn't seem to be able to deal with the file as is. How can I divide the ~4.1GB file into smaller pieces?

 

[sweenish]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAV#Limitations

Looks like that file is just borked.

But I wouldn't take my word. I would ask at an actual audio creation forum, though.

 

[Mike64]

ETA: sweenish was posting while I was typing, so I hadn't seen the bit about .WAV file size limitations. But if the the file didn't somehow get "saved" in some sort of corrupt state:

You said Total Recorder "suggests breaking it up," won't that program itself do it?

 

[TheRyuu]

When I go to save this very large recording, my program (Total Recorder Standard Edition) suggests breaking it into smaller pieces because sound editors, etc. generally are not able to deal with files larger than 2GB. I'm on a PC with NTFS file systems. Audacity doesn't seem to be able to deal with the file as is. How can I divide the ~4.1GB file into smaller pieces?

Does your editor not support W64? You can just use foobar2000 to convert to that.

 

[Mike64]

Does your editor not support W64? You can just use foobar2000 to convert to that.

I've never tried to work on a file that big with Audacity (or any other editor, for that matter) and don't have one handy to test it out myself, but I can't tell whether Audacity supports W64 or not. The latest version of the manual seems to suggest it doesn't, but Web searches yield what appear to be other "official" references that seem to go both ways.

 

[Muse]

I copied the temp file to a different location and renamed it, then closed Total Recorder. Audacity evidently wasn't successful in opening the file, it doesn't show up graphically or play sonically.

When I just tried to open the file (renamed and copied to different location) with Total Recorder, it gave me this message:

The file "D:\Watts too big, maybe....wav" is not a valid sound file or the format of the file is not supported. To convert the file, play it with an appropriate player and record it with Total Recorder.

It was a recording of Alen Watts, hence the name.

 

[flexy]

That audicity cannot work with such a big file I have a hard time to believe, given sufficient ram and temp file space - but then I don't think I ever loaded a 4GB something wav.

What about any of those tools that come up in a search?

https://www.google.com/search?q=split+wav+file&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=MghUVpCNFYSfU9nukOAG

 

[ninaholic37]

It was a recording of Alen Watts, hence the name.

Which recording is it? Find an mp3 version?

 

[Mike64]

That audicity cannot work with such a big file I have a hard time to believe, given sufficient ram and temp file space

If it can't, it's because it's a format-compatability issue, probably not so much a question of memory resources. The "manual" for the latest version of Audacity refers only to WAVs, without specifically mentioning the W64 format either way. A few years' old post from someone connected with the project said it can't ((or at least a previous version, not specifically identified in the post, couldn't) handle the latter format, but then I also came across another post (don't remember exactly where) from someone who seemed to know what she was talking about, complete with a source code reference, that says it can. In this particular case, since the the recorder didn't formally finalize the file - the OP is trying to work with a temp file - it may just be that the file is incomplete or got corrupted somehow.

If the the recording is from a source that can't be replicated, it might be worth looking at the file in raw form to see if it can be "repaired" enough either to let Audacity read it, if possible, or at least convert it to W64 format. Otherwise, it's probably easiest to just re-record with a program known to be able handle W64 files, or splitting the file at a convenient point in the performance.

 

[jkauff]

Can't you convert the WAV64 file to AIFF using something like dBpoweramp? Audacity should be able to handle an AIFF file that size.

 

[Muse]

Can't you convert the WAV64 file to AIFF using something like dBpoweramp? Audacity should be able to handle an AIFF file that size.

Thanks, I'll try that.

 

[PliotronX]

You might be able to break it up with my favorite file splitter. Rename the extensions to WAV and see if they will then open in Audacity. WAV usually doesn't contain header information that is vital to playback so I'd imagine it should work.