Unable to read some rar files

2020-07-29 14:24:59

Both in foobar2000 1.5.1 and foobar2000 1.6 beta 8, some rar archive files I put in my media library folder are not read. The music files in these rar files don't show up in the Library --> Album List window. With WinRAR or 7zip, I can open these rar files without a problem.

Could you please have a look at this issue?

I will attach 2 example files: 1 rar file that isn't read by foobar2000. and 1 that is. Both contain the same mp3 file.

Thanks in advance for looking into this!

Regards,
Frank

Re: Unable to read some rar files

Reply #1 – 2020-07-29 17:06:40

Your problem "rar" file is actually zip.

Re: Unable to read some rar files

Reply #2 – 2020-07-30 07:42:10

Thanks Case, you are right. I could solve the problem by renaming the first rar file to zip.
It would be nice if foobar2000 could recognize the archive type by reading the contents, instead of relying on the file name. But I understand if such functionality is not going to be implemented.

Re: Unable to read some rar files

Reply #3 – 2020-07-30 13:49:47

I just found out that I have a number of other rar files that are indeed rar files, but are not read by foobar2000 anyway.
If I can manage to get the copyright-protected material out of these rars without making them unusable for solving this bug, I will post hem here.

Re: Unable to read some rar files

Reply #4 – 2020-07-30 16:47:37

FYI: 7-Zip extractor can open zip archives with rar extension

Re: Unable to read some rar files

Reply #5 – 2020-07-31 03:27:00

The only reason it doesn't is purely an artificial restriction on the archive readers. They can technically just perform "magic bytes" header analysis and try to parse every single file extension, or they can do this in combination with only parsing a mix of supported archive extensions.

But don't forget, no other foobar2000 inputs handle file types by their contents, either. Everything does file name extension checks.

Re: Unable to read some rar files

Reply #6 – 2020-07-31 10:29:16

It's a design decision of mine that format of file is determined by mime type (in case of HTTP) or file name extension. This is exactly what file name extensions are for. I do not intend to support every imaginable pattern of strangely renamed files - blame whatever software created the archive for the confusion.