Can't read .AIFF files

smhontz wrote on 9/5/2006, 7:03 PM
I have some AIFF files that I can open and use in iTunes, FCP, iMovie, etc. on my Mac but when I try to put them in Vegas, it doesn't know the format. I get the error "The file is most likely corrupted or of an unknown format." Windows media player won't play them, either. I have another .aif file, also from the Mac, that does open fine in Vegas, so I know my Vegas install is working okay. (Vegas says it is using aifplug.dll, version 1.2 (build 3767) as the plug-in to handle this type of file.)

I believe the files in question were generated in this manner: From ProTools, burned to an audio CD; ripped into iTunes; converted by iTunes to AIFF. I can take the same audio CD and pull it directly in Vegas with no problems.

Any idea what the problem is? I was trying to show my friend that Vegas is format-agnostic but it choked on this one.

Comments

bStro wrote on 9/5/2006, 8:10 PM
Is it possible, rather, that the AIFF file was created in ProTools or some other audio app? I ask because you will get that error in Vegas if it's a 32-bit AIFF, and iTunes can't create 32-bit AIFF files. I know almost nothing about ProTools, but I would presume that being the badass program it is, it can. ;-)

Solution: Open it in something that can do so (Audacity, for example) and save as something Vegas can use -- 16-bit AIFF, 16-bit WAV, or 32-bit WAV. (Unless there's something that can be done to get Vegas to open the original file, in which case someone else will have to help. ;)

Rob
smhontz wrote on 9/6/2006, 9:30 AM
Here's a funny thing. QuickTime player in Windows can play these files just fine. If I look at the file info (for the files Vegas can't read), it says Format: 16-bit Integer (Little Endian), Stereo, 44,100 khz. The file that I can read is identical except it says (Big Endian).

So, does this mean that Vegas doesn't support Big Endian AIFF files?
smhontz wrote on 9/6/2006, 9:36 AM
Oops, I said that backwards. Vegas can't read little endian files.
smhontz wrote on 9/6/2006, 9:48 AM
Ok, one more thing I found out. Sound Forge 6.0 can't read the files directly either, but if I open the file using Raw mode, I CAN read the file.

Does Vegas have an equivalent of opening AIFF files in raw mode?
bStro wrote on 9/6/2006, 9:54 AM
I'm not entirely convinced that "endian" is the issue, or if it is, it's probably in conjunction with other one. This webpage lists more info, and I see other "little endian" formats that Vegas supports just fine.

Maybe the trouble is specifically with AIFFs -- it's no surprise that Quicktime might have better support, given that AIFF is an Apple format. Dunno.

At any rate, did you try converting the file?

Rob
smhontz wrote on 9/6/2006, 10:33 AM
If I open it in Sound Forge as a raw file, and tell it the format is 16-bit, 44.100 khz, stereo, little-endian, and just save the file out to another file as AIFF format, it writes the file as big-endian, and Vegas can open that just fine. So, the only difference, I guess, does come down to the fact that Vegas can't read little-endian AIFF files.

Incidentally, if I use Vegas to write out an AIFF, it writes it out (according to Quicktime Player, anyway) as Big-Endian.

So, I can work around the problem, but I wish Vegas had a way (like Sound Forge) to bring in a RAW file and tell it what format it was.