flac dev - May 2007 - Adding support for .w64 (wave64) format

I use Sony (previously Sonic Foundry) Sound Forge, which allows me to save
audio files in .w64 (Wave 64) format to get around the 2GB .wav file
limitation.  W64 was invented by Sonic Foundry, and is an open format as far
as I know.  The only programs I know about using the .w64 format at the
moment are Sound Forge and Steinberg Nuendo, although there may be others
out there.  With increasing number of tapers recording concerts in 24bit,
which takes up 50% more disk space than 16bit files at the same sample rate
(about 1GB per hour), it is easy to blow past 2GB for a single file, which
is roughly 2 hrs of audio.  Some audio editors will stop after the 2GB limit
is reached, or start recording a new file, but Sound Forge will keep on
trucking when recording in .w64 format.  I can see this format becoming more
popular in the future.  I can then edit the raw .w64 file in Sound Forge and
convert it to 16bit-44Khz for tracking/burning to a CD.  The problem comes
when I try to archive the raw audio .w64 files to DVD - sometimes I need to
compress them to make it fit.  Right now I have to break a .w64 file up into
2 .wav files with Sound Forge, then compress each .wav file individually
with flac.  Or burn extra DVDs.

 

So I would like to request adding .w64 support to flac.  It would make
archiving these files easier.

 

Thanks,

Chris

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Chris Cantwell wrote:
> I use Sony (previously Sonic Foundry) Sound Forge, which allows me to save
> audio files in .w64 (Wave 64) format to get around the 2GB .wav file
<snip>
> compress them to make it fit.  Right now I have to break a .w64 file up
into
> 2 .wav files with Sound Forge, then compress each .wav file individually
> with flac.  Or burn extra DVDs.
libsndfile ( http://www.mega-nerd.com/libsndfile/ ) reads W64 and
writes FLAC.

libsndfile also ships with a command line program (sndfile-convert)
which should do the conversion you're after by doing:

    sndfile-convert somefile.w64 somefile.flac

The FLAC stuff in libsndfile was updated recently but has not been 
released yet, so I suggest that you grab the latest pre-release:

    http://www.mega-nerd.com/tmp/libsndfile-1.0.18pre10.tar.gz

HTH,
Erik
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Erik de Castro Lopo
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"If you have one apple and I have one apple, if we exchange, each will
have one apple. If you have one idea and i have one idea, if we exchange
them, each will have two ideas!" -- Attributed the George Bernard Shaw

Our DAW REAPER (www.reaper.fm) supports W64 as well. We'd be happy to
share our W64 reading/writing implementations if someone wishes to
integrate them into flac...

-Justin

Chris Cantwell wrote:
>
> I use Sony (previously Sonic Foundry) Sound Forge, which allows me to 
> save audio files in .w64 (Wave 64) format to get around the 2GB .wav 
> file limitation.  W64 was invented by Sonic Foundry, and is an open 
> format as far as I know.  The only programs I know about using the 
> .w64 format at the moment are Sound Forge and Steinberg Nuendo, 
> although there may be others out there.  With increasing number of 
> tapers recording concerts in 24bit, which takes up 50% more disk space 
> than 16bit files at the same sample rate (about 1GB per hour), it is 
> easy to blow past 2GB for a single file, which is roughly 2 hrs of 
> audio.  Some audio editors will stop after the 2GB limit is reached, 
> or start recording a new file, but Sound Forge will keep on trucking 
> when recording in .w64 format.  I can see this format becoming more 
> popular in the future.  I can then edit the raw .w64 file in Sound 
> Forge and convert it to 16bit-44Khz for tracking/burning to a CD.  The 
> problem comes when I try to archive the raw audio .w64 files to DVD - 
> sometimes I need to compress them to make it fit.  Right now I have to 
> break a .w64 file up into 2 .wav files with Sound Forge, then compress 
> each .wav file individually with flac.  Or burn extra DVDs.
>
>  
>
> So I would like to request adding .w64 support to flac.  It would make 
> archiving these files easier.
>
>  
>
> Thanks,
>
> Chris
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Flac-dev mailing list
> Flac-dev@xiph.org
> http://lists.xiph.org/mailman/listinfo/flac-dev
>

I realize that it isn't much of an improvement, but AIFF supports 4GB  
recordings, and flac is compatible with this.  Being an avid "taper"  
myself, I have, on many occasions recorded up to this limit, and I  
always back up my original recordings using flac.

W64 support is more than welcome, but AIFF support gets you twice the  
length right away.

Brian Willoughby
Sound Consulting


On May 29, 2007, at 23:00, Justin Frankel wrote:
Our DAW REAPER (www.reaper.fm) supports W64 as well. We'd be happy to
share our W64 reading/writing implementations if someone wishes to
integrate them into flac...

Chris Cantwell wrote:
> I use Sony (previously Sonic Foundry) Sound Forge, which allows me  
> to save audio files in .w64 (Wave 64) format to get around the  
> 2GB .wav file limitation.  W64 was invented by Sonic Foundry, and  
> is an open format as far as I know.  The only programs I know about  
> using the .w64 format at the moment are Sound Forge and Steinberg  
> Nuendo, although there may be others out there.  With increasing  
> number of tapers recording concerts in 24bit, which takes up 50%  
> more disk space than 16bit files at the same sample rate (about 1GB  
> per hour), it is easy to blow past 2GB for a single file, which is  
> roughly 2 hrs of audio.  Some audio editors will stop after the 2GB  
> limit is reached, or start recording a new file, but Sound Forge  
> will keep on trucking when recording in .w64 format.  I can see  
> this format becoming more popular in the future.  I can then edit  
> the raw .w64 file in Sound Forge and convert it to 16bit-44Khz for  
> tracking/burning to a CD.  The problem comes when I try to archive  
> the raw audio .w64 files to DVD - sometimes I need to compress them  
> to make it fit.  Right now I have to break a .w64 file up into  
> 2 .wav files with Sound Forge, then compress each .wav file  
> individually with flac.  Or burn extra DVDs.
>
> So I would like to request adding .w64 support to flac.  It would  
> make archiving these files easier.