.aiff files won't play in finder (and some programs)

Question

Level 1

4 points

.aiff files won't play in finder (and some programs)

Mac Pro 4.1

Doing some long-overdue file cleanup, and when I preview some .aiff files in the finder they won't play. The Apple .aiff sound effect files play, but things I've recorded won't play, although they will play if imported into iTunes. Other audio formats are playing fine in Finder.

Also, a recording program I sometimes use called Tracktion will play files in other formats, but my .aiff files are silent or pure harsh static.

Is there a global setting that might be corrupted somewhere? Could this be the fault of my recent Mavericks installation?

Thanks!

Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), 4.1

Posted on Jan 23, 2014 9:08 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 27, 2014 6:43 AM in response to daveemac

I came across the same problem in Mavericks, some wav files played, others didn't. I found that adding '.wav' to the end of files that didn't audition in Finder cured the problem.

As I have many thousands of sound fx files in different formats, changing them individually was not possible.

There are batch conversion apps which will add the .wav (or other format endings) when batch converting - this is what I have been doing. Export them with no change to format but the filename is now correct to audition.

Mavericks broke the two things I liked most - auditioning sounds, movies, pictures etc from Finder, and the file/folder highlight colours. Just a stupid coloured dot now.

SJ Hills.

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Answer 2

Feb 18, 2014 1:48 PM in response to daveemac

I found that .aiffs were not playing in the Mavericks finder as well. Testing showed that additionally, some.... .wav and mp3 files would not play. We've also found that some .aiffs will play.

This prompted stepping back to more global parameters. We changed the playback hardware and solved the issue.

Yes, the hardware in question did work with previous OS, and all file types played via the Finder, so this is a change brought about by Mavericks.

Long shot, but I hope that helps.

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Answer 3

daveemac Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 24, 2014 12:22 AM in response to gapdigital

Thanks for your reply.

Yeah, some .wavs and some .aiffs play back and some don't--weird. If I import the ones that don't play in the finder into itunes they play fine there.

Can't change my hardware. Maybe I'll just start a new itunes folder or something. Drag, because I don't want them in my itunes, they're just little audio bits I want to audition.

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