Go Pro audio gaps between clips

clarkerza wrote on 12/24/2025, 6:59 AM

Since upgrading to Vegas Pro 23, I’ve started experiencing a small but noticeable audio dropout at the point where GoPro clips join.

I run a 3‑camera setup around my aircraft and edit everything using Vegas multicam. I’m aware that GoPro’s encoding isn’t always ideal, but this issue only appeared after moving to VP23 — VP22 never showed this behaviour.

At the moment, the problem makes Vegas Pro 23 unusable for my GoPro workflow. From what I’ve learned, the root cause seems to be related to how VP23 handles GoPro AAC audio padding, rather than Vegas itself being “broken”, but the end result is the same: I can’t reliably use VP23 unless there’s a workaround. I have tried legacy encoders but it makes not difference.

Copilot explains it like this:

Vegas Pro 23 switched to a newer AAC engine that is:

More accurate
More standards‑compliant
Less forgiving of GoPro’s padding metadata
Less tolerant of discontinuities between clips

This means:

When two GoPro clips meet, the padding is preserved
When Vegas re‑encodes to AAC, the padding becomes a tiny silence
You hear a “blip” or “dropout” at the join
So the difference isn’t your workflow — it’s the audio engine upgrade.
🎯 Why this affects GoPro specifically

GoPro AAC audio includes:

Encoder delay
Priming samples
End padding
Sometimes spatial audio flags (MAX)

Comments

Gid wrote on 12/24/2025, 9:15 AM

@clarkerza Hi, I haven't upgraded to VP23 yet, I'm still on VP22 so can't test it but just for the sake of sharing - My Gopro 11 Black is always 3-4frames out of sync with the audio.. I'm pretty sure it's the camera not VP but I always have to offset the audio.

Like I say, just sharing, no idea if it's related to your problem 🤷‍♂️

clarkerza wrote on 12/24/2025, 10:11 AM

Thanks Gid. I’ve been using these cameras for years and this issue isn’t in VP22. I re-edited the project in VP22 and it’s working fine 👍

Dexcon wrote on 12/24/2025, 4:27 PM

... a small but noticeable audio dropout at the point where GoPro clips join.

Is it something like this?

Since 2017, I've owned GoPro Hero Black 5, 8 and 11 and have always got a 4 to 5 frames gap at the beginning of each and every GoPro recording regardless of the computer being used or the version of Vegas Pro being used over those years. The audio gap also shows in daVinci Resolve.

To overcome this, I usually edit out the first 5 frames or, if video is wanted from the start of the shot, use the Clone Stamp tool in SpectraLayers Pro to copy/paste a selection of 'active' audio to replace the gap.

I wasn't aware that the Vegas Pro 23 has an updated AAC engine - it's certainly not mentioned in VP23's release notes:

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/release-vegas-pro-23--149552/

Major changes have definitely been made to the video engine, the only audio changes listed are the introduction of an AC-3 decoder, a new audio plug-in, and fixing an issue with 192,000 Hz audio

john_dennis wrote on 12/24/2025, 6:12 PM

For many years, I used a camera that didn't record audio for four frames at the beginning and the end of each clip. Dealing with that was made much less tedious with a free script from @wwaag called Trim Frames.

Before

After

clarkerza wrote on 12/26/2025, 3:23 AM

... a small but noticeable audio dropout at the point where GoPro clips join.

Is it something like this?

Since 2017, I've owned GoPro Hero Black 5, 8 and 11 and have always got a 4 to 5 frames gap at the beginning of each and every GoPro recording regardless of the computer being used or the version of Vegas Pro being used over those years. The audio gap also shows in daVinci Resolve.

To overcome this, I usually edit out the first 5 frames or, if video is wanted from the start of the shot, use the Clone Stamp tool in SpectraLayers Pro to copy/paste a selection of 'active' audio to replace the gap.

I wasn't aware that the Vegas Pro 23 has an updated AAC engine - it's certainly not mentioned in VP23's release notes:

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/release-vegas-pro-23--149552/

Major changes have definitely been made to the video engine, the only audio changes listed are the introduction of an AC-3 decoder, a new audio plug-in, and fixing an issue with 192,000 Hz audio

Hi Dexon,

No the audio appears continuous. IBut the same clips drop out in VP23 but not in VP22.

clarkerza wrote on 12/26/2025, 3:40 AM

For many years, I used a camera that didn't record audio for four frames at the beginning and the end of each clip. Dealing with that was made much less tedious with a free script from @wwaag called Trim Frames.

Before

After

Thanks John,

Will take a look. If it actually trims the frame then that might cause me an issue especially if there is speech across the split clips. I know Go Pros are a bit naff, but it would costs a fair amount or replace all 3. For now I'll just continue with VP22.

Actually I've just noticed something really weird. In VP22 you can see an audio gap at the end of the first clip, but you cannot hear it. In VP23 there is no visible gap but you can hear it.

I have just downloaded the latest free version of Davinci and there is no gap, audible or visible.

I suppose as it works in VP22 I'll just be happy with that.

Thanks

Andy

Dexcon wrote on 12/26/2025, 5:53 AM

In VP22 you can see an audio gap at the end of the first clip, but you cannot hear it. In VP23 there is no visible gap but you can hear it

A very interesting observation. I've now checked a lot of GoPro 11 video on both VP22 and VP23 timelines and there is in both 22 and 23 a very small audio silence gap at the end of all GoPro events. Mostly, the silence gap is less than 1 frame (at 25 fps) but in a few cases the gap is a maximum of 1 frame. I've not noticed that before no doubt because I've not used GoPro video in editing up until the last recorded frame.

Indeed, in the image (from VP23) I uploaded here earlier, you can see a very small audio silence space at the end of the outgoing GoPro audio event. However, what I do notice from the waveforms in both VP22 and 23 is that the beginning of the GoPro recordings has a very short fade-in (2 frames ???) whereas there is no fade-out at the end of the recording - it's just a hard cut from active audio to silence.