WAV To FLAC Conversion Error

[knirpslinn]

Because HDTracks doesn't always QC their files, I've had problems in the past with FLAC files being corrupt. I can sometimes fix this by converting FLAC to FLAC, but since they now offer WAV downloads, I've switched to that format and convert them to FLAC with dMC. No problems forever, until I tried converting the recent Astral Weeks release. I get the following error, regardless of whether I convert from WAV to FLAC or WAV to WAV. It's the same for all eight tracks.

Warning 'RiffSizeLeft != FileSizeLeft' must be extra data on end of file. [clRIFFHandler::ScanFile]
Warning Chunk is out of RIFF area (but still inside file). [clRIFFHandler::ScanFile]
Error calculated total RIFF chunk size differs from file. [clRIFFHandler::ScanFile]


I can't really tell if this is strictly some sort of metadata issue or if the files are damaged. Any thoughts?

[Spoon]

Re: WAV To FLAC Conversion Error

The file is potentially damaged...with WAVE you cannot know if the audio is corrupted, with FLAC you can, you would be best to have a flac download and convert to wave.

[astral1964]

Re: WAV To FLAC Conversion Error

I have received exactly the same error messages for a number of WAV files I converted to FLAC:

Warning 'RiffSizeLeft != FileSizeLeft' must be extra data on end of file. [clRIFFHandler::ScanFile]
Warning Chunk is out of RIFF area (but still inside file). [clRIFFHandler::ScanFile]
Error calculated total RIFF chunk size differs from file. [clRIFFHandler::ScanFile]

I converted a batch of around 100 GB of WAV files to FLAC using dBpoweramp around a year ago, some of which threw these error messages. However, testing with AudioTester v1.6 *all* of the converted FLACs for which there existed putative errors with the original WAV, in no case did any FLAC fail and no errors were reported. In addition, I checked a number of the FLAC files by playing them with Windows Media Player and VLC Media Player and -- perhaps unsurprisingly considering they'd passed testing with AudioTester -- they appeared to be okay. Converting these files to FLAC to free up some disc space, I did all this in a hurry, saved the list of the files which threw errors and subsequently forgot some of the files had given errors. I initially saved a copy of the original WAV files but I recently stumbled across the text file with the list of files that threw errors and realised I must have afterwards deleted these WAVs. With the WAVs no longer available, I had a few questions.

Firstly, and most importantly, I assume the fact that dBpoweramp converted the WAVs to FLACs and the FLACs passed tests, dBpoweramp effectively resolved any issues that had been present in the original WAVs in the process of converting them to FLAC? I am assuming the issues that had existed with the WAVs may have had to do with non-audio related data within the WAV file such that these error messages are effectively irrelevant in so far as the audio is concerned.

Secondly, and leading from my first question, I noted that *all* the WAV files that threw errors related to CDs I had ripped around 2003 using Steinberg WaveLab (a version from around the time) and as a result, I wonder if the errors had to do with the way WaveLab encoded these WAVs. The WAV files for which no errors were detected related to audio, either *recorded* using Steinberg WaveLab, i.e. not ripped from CD, or ripped using other software. The WAV files with putative issues had been played over the past decade without an issue on various software and until I converted them to FLAC using dBpoweramp last year, I had never been aware that any issues existed with them. Whilst no expert on the topic, I am aware that non-audio related data may be written in WAV files in different ways by different encoding software -- some software not following specified standards -- and as such, it is possible that the WAV files I am talking about may have been written in such a way that dBpoweramp -- a version released some ten years after the files were encoded -- didn't like these files. Does anyone have any comments?

[Spoon]

Re: WAV To FLAC Conversion Error

>effectively resolved any issues that had been present in the original WAVs in the process of converting them to FLAC?

Correct

>I wonder if the errors had to do with the way WaveLab encoded these WAVs.

Yes this will be it, the error means the wave file is not as it should be, but I think all the audio has been correctly recovered, it is just a bug in WaveLab not writing the correct headers.

[astral1964]

Re: WAV To FLAC Conversion Error

Many thanks for your answers and quickly response!