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Topic: Foobar & AIFF files (Read 13001 times) previous topic - next topic
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Foobar & AIFF files

Been very happy using Foobar and am on version 1.0.

Never previously had occasion to play an AIFF file but when I tried I got 'Could not load info (Unsupported format or corrupted file)'

The same sample plays in Ableton, Traktor, VLC, WinAmp and Quicktime.

Strange thing is these AIFF files do not show up in the foobar album list but if I use foobar itself to create AIFFs out of MP3 or WAV there is no problem either playing or viewing these locally created files.

I did a search and all it came up with was to use another program/utility and convert problem AIFFs to WAV before use in foobar.

Is this still the only option?

I suspect these AIFF files are particularly high quality.

Thx.

Foobar & AIFF files

Reply #1 –
As far as I know foobar2000 handles files which do not fulfil exactly their file type specifications less tolerantly than other audio players - what I always did appreciate for example for security reasons. So I had some aiff files which were played by former foobar versions, however its console said something like "extra garbage at the end" and newer foobar versions then refused to play this files with the same error messages as you cited (Unsupported format or corrupted file).

It might help to analyze the situation if you add the files in question to foobar's Media Library and check the console for additional information.

Quote
I suspect these AIFF files are particularly high quality.

For that case I think you could list here the relevant information, provided by the audio players which do play that files.
This is HA. Not the Jerry Springer Show.

Foobar & AIFF files

Reply #2 –
Robertina. Thx for your response.

Quote
It might help to analyze the situation if you add the files in question to foobar's Media Library and check the console for additional information.


As I already mentioned these files do not show up in foobar's media library so I cannot extract additional information via that route. Plse see above for ull details.

Winamp describes them simply as standard signed AIFF 16 bit PCM 2 channel(s) 44100 Hz.


The reason I suspected they might be high quality is because I downloaded them from Bob Katz Website

I have heard Bob's book 'Mastering Audio' Focal Press ISBN 9780240808376 recommended several times on this site and am grateful as it's an inspirational and informative read. Bob provides down loadable examples of his work (pre and post mastering) in several different genres. I had hoped to use foobar and foo_abx to to directly compare the influence a true master craftsman can have on recorded audio.

Converting the files to a different format obviously invalidates that intention. No big deal however. I can do something similar in a different player. Just not as well or as easily.

btw I am 100% supportive of Peter's stand on strict adherence to published standards. You cannot expect a dedicated proffesional to bodge his own work to cover for the deficiencies of the less scrupulous.

Does seem a shame however that the standards of two of the most respected names on the entire forum appear to be at odds. 




Foobar & AIFF files

Reply #3 –
It might be worth mentioning that the AIFF files in question are only available for download from the Mastering Demos category, which requires a free registration.

Foobar & AIFF files

Reply #4 –
Quote from: RonaldDumsfeld on
As I already mentioned these files do not show up in foobar's media library so I cannot extract additional information via that route.

The background to my suggestion was that foobar's console provides hints also for files which are rejected. So although that files are not added to the media library the console might help you nevertheless because in some cases it delivers more detailed information why foobar refuses to add them than the popup window with the error message (unsupported or corrupted file). That is my experience with some older aif(f) and ogg files.
This is HA. Not the Jerry Springer Show.

Foobar & AIFF files

Reply #5 –
That is what is so impressive about foobar's behavior in this regard. Foobar recognises that it does not like these files way before it actually attempts to play them. Dispite in all other respects looking like 'ordinary' AIFF files they simply never show up in the monitored media library Album list although IAFF created in foobar do.

If I try to force a load using the file > open commands the following text appears in the bottom left of the foobar window.

AIFF | ? kbps | ? Hz | N?A? | 0.00

Foobar & AIFF files

Reply #6 –
These are little-endian PCM AIFF files, which would be what QuickTime/iTunes now save instead of the original big-endian format. They are marked as AIFC or AIFF-C, using a "compression" FOURCC of "sowt", or twos spelled backwards. They will be supported in the next release.

Also note that WMP supports plain AIFF, but not this crap at all. Clearly, WMP is not cool enough to support these newfangled Apple "standards."

Foobar & AIFF files

Reply #7 –
Quote from: kode54 on
These are little-endian PCM AIFF files, which would be what QuickTime/iTunes now save instead of the original big-endian format. They are marked as AIFC or AIFF-C, using a "compression" FOURCC of "sowt", or twos spelled backwards. They will be supported in the next release.

Any update on support for these "sowt" aiff files in foobar2000?

I've downloaded a video from Vimeo, it was .mov format with AVC video, MediaInfo gives this info for the audio:
Code: [Select]
Audio
ID                               : 2
Format                           : PCM
Format settings, Endianness      : Little
Format settings, Sign            : Signed
Codec ID                         : sowt
Duration                         : 4mn 58s
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 1 536 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                        : 16 bits
Stream size                      : 54.6 MiB (11%)
Any tips on the best way to get this into WAV/FLAC/MP3/anything else? I've used YAMB + the latest MP4box to demux it as a raw stream, can't find anything to handle this though.