FLAC files have been referred to as among the finest and the highest-quality audios used by people. As the audio file format is becoming more common among you, multiple complaints have been lodged against the operability of the file format itself. Are you one of those you facing issues with their FLAC files?
Before coming onto the solutions that would essentially guide you to figure out a remedy for your FLAC file, it is also essential to figure out if there's actually a problem existent across them. This article has been set as a guide explaining how to check FLAC files for corruption.
Table of Contents
Part 1: What Could Be Wrong With Your FLAC Files?
This article is written to provide you with a definitive set of techniques that can be implemented to confirm problems with FLAC files. However, before we proceed to the methods that check FLAC files for corruption, we will come across some causes that direct FLAC files to bribery. With knowledge of these reasons, you can actually know what to do with their files once they confirm their state.
The file is Completely Corrupted
Out of the multiple things that can go wrong for a FLAC file, there are certain thing that corrupts the complete file and the elements within it. Virus attacks and malware can be a tentative reason for such problems across your FLAC file. Along with that, if the file has been tried for accidental conversion or compression, it can also get corrupted due to unprecedented reasons.
Damages Across the File Structure
If you might be facing issues with opening your FLAC files across a platform, there is a clear chance that the internal components of the file have been severely damaged. You might also see the error message "FLAC__STREAM_DECODER_ERROR_STATUS_FRAME_CRC_MISMATCH" on your computer, which explains quite a lot about the damaged file structure of the FLAC audio.
Missing Audio Codec
A FLAC audio file won't run if there are specific issues with the dedicated audio codec across your computer. As it directly aligns with the synchronization issues that can occur across a FLAC file when it is started, you might find the error message "FLAC__STREAM_DECODER_ERROR_STATUS_LOST_SYNC" on your computer, which shows that the software was not able to run the FLAC file due to reasons, such as missing audio code.
Issues With the Header
Another tentative concern that involves a corrupted FLAC file is its faulty header. Considering your FLAC file is not functioning correctly, you may discover its header to be forcefully changed or damaged, which corrupts the audio file. You will also find this error message "FLAC__STREAM_DECODER_ERROR_STATUS_BAD_HEADER" across your computer.
Part 2: Check FLAC Files on Windows
You might have several errors and problems while operating your FLAC files; however, the file cannot be stated as corrupt until you have actually checked out its status. The question then comes across how one can check FLAC files if corrupted? In this part, we will go through two effective and unique methods that will provide a clear overview of the status of the FLAC file.
1. Use The Software "FLAC Frontend"
The first technique that can be applied for checking the status of the FLAC files on Windows is through the dedicated tool "FLAC Frontend". This GPL-licensed open-source software program has been designed as an alternative to going across the command line, which turns out to be more difficult for many you. If you are a beginner who is not aware of checking the status of FLAC files, this program is undoubtedly the right direction to access.
FLAC Frontend provides convenience to you who look to check corrupted FLAC files. While it accepts WAVE, W64, and RAW files for encoding, it provides FLAC or OGG-FLAC files as an output. Multiple functionalities can be directed through this program, including decoding FLAC files, testing them across the program, fingerprinting them, and re-encoding them with ease.
Even though FLAC Frontend caters to your functionality, it is still important to figure out if the FLAC files are corrupted. Go through the steps provided to understand the functionality of FLAC Frontend:
Step 1: Download the official FLAC Frontend program from this link.
Launch the application as you successfully install the software on your Windows desktop.
Step 2: On opening the application, click on the 'Add Files' button to add the FLAC files you have to check for corruption.
On adding the files, click on the "Test for errors" button to initiate the process.
Step 3: A command line interface will open up and display the complete list of information.
The files that would be perfectly fine would show the "OK" message adjacent to them. The error and associated data would be displayed across the interface in detail for the corrupt FLAC files.
2. Use Command Line Program
If you have a cohesive knowledge of managing command line programs, you could indeed look for this inclusive method for checking the FLAC files. Although the technique is quite challenging to execute, it provides a detailed overview of the problems that may exist across the FLAC file you are testing. We shall discuss the flac command line file encoder and decoder for this purpose.
This command line file encoder currently supports the RIFF WAVE, Wave64, RF64, AIFF, FLAC, or OGG-FLAC format as an input and outputting RIFF WAVE, Wave64, RF64, AIFF, or RAW Interleaved samples across the decoder. Not only is this program more extensive than the other methods existing for checking the FLAC files for corruption, but it is also definitive and absolute in processing.
You can invoke flac in four ways, considering the functionality that is being accessed for the command line program, which are mentioned as follows:
- Encoding: flac [
] [ ] [ ] [inputfile [...]] - Decoding: flac -d [
] [ ] [ ] [FLACfile [...]] - Testing: flac -t [
] [FLACfile [...]] - Analyzing: flac -a [
] [ ] [FLACfile [...]]
As we dive deeper into the command line program and its functionality, it has also been discovered that the encoding options across it affect the file's compression ratio and encoding speed. The formatting options define the input file as a RAW file for flac. Considering if it is not a RIFF WAVE, Wave64, RF64, or AIFF file, the format options are not required for the program as they are read from the header of the respective audio file.
You can find flac acting in decode mode if it's operating across the test mode. This, however, does not return with any output file. The decode and test modes across flac are used to detect the errors across the stream; however, they also detect errors when the MD5 signature of the decoded audio is not matching with the store signature, even though there are no issues with the bitstream.
You can also use flac for re-encoding FLAC files. While you specify a FLAC file or an OGG-FLAC file across the encoder as an input, it saves all the metadata if not overridden with other options. The program has been tuned to provide a better speed and compression tradeoff for the inputs provided.
Checking the FLAC Files Across the Command Line Program
We shall now look ahead to how a user can check FLAC files for corruption across the command line program:
For an Individual File:
Use the following command line to test a single FLAC file:
flac -wst flac_filename.flac
To understand the command line:
- -w represents the warnings-as-error command that treats all warnings as errors.
- -s is referred to as Silent, where no encoding and decoding stats are displayed across the command line.
- -t as Test, where it is considered that the exit codes are the same as in decode mode of the command line.
This process is only applicable for a single FLAC file, casting out the availability of checking multiple FLAC files simultaneously. For that, you should look across the next set of the command script used for this purpose.
For a Collection of FLAC Files:
Use the following command line to test a single FLAC file:
flac -wst flac_filename.flac
flac -wst flac_filename.flac
To understand the command line:
- -w represents the warnings-as-error command that treats all warnings as errors.
- -s is referred to as Silent, where no encoding and decoding stats are displayed across the command line.
- -t as Test, where it is considered that the exit codes are the same as in decode mode of the command line.
This process is only applicable for a single FLAC file, casting out the availability of checking multiple FLAC files simultaneously. For that, you should look across the next set of the command script used for this purpose.
#!/bin/bash
cd ~/Music
if [[ -f flac-errors.txt ]]; then
rm flac-errors.txt;
fi
touch flac-errors.txt
shopt -s globstar
for file in ./**/*.flac; do
flac -wst "$file" 2>/dev/null || printf '%3d %s\n' "$?" "$file" >> flac-errors.txt;
done
While you have used this script across your command line, it will operate in the following chronology. We have explained to you the essential commands that are relevant to the process and have a part to play in its success.
- The commands are used to redirect the script across the Music folder, where a file named "flac-errors.txt" has been created. This file would delete and recreate itself consecutively as the program is operated in a loop.
- The "shopt -s globstar" command directs to the Bash script that performs the recursive action during the testing. It ensures that all the files and directories within the current position of the filesystem are tested and processed, leaving behind no file in the process.
- The "for" loop within the command line goes through the complete Music folder and the subfolders for checking the FLAC files across it. If a particular file is OK, the output command is sent across /dev/null that deletes the output. However, if a particular FLAC file has any respective problem, the errors would be printed across the flac-errors.txt file.
- As the file recreates across every new entry through the command, it would be perfect to open the flac-errors.txt file for reading it across another console. This will help you figure out the status of all FLAC files across the folder. Use the following command for this purpose:
tail -f /home/User_Name/Folder_Name/flac-errors.txt
This is how you will test a set of FLAC files across the flac command line program.
Part 3: How to Repair FLAC Files on Your Windows/Mac?
What if your FLAC audio file is corrupted? Since you've gone through the techniques explaining how to check FLAC files if corrupted, it is time to go across the details on how one should repair the file if it's corrupted? Wondershare Repairit features itself as a coherent solution that resolves all current concerns across your FLAC file.
The Audio Repair tool offered by Repairit stands as one of the best tools for repairing corrupt audio files. While showing support for multiple file formats, the software features a high success rate, giving it the autonomy to restore the audio quality out of all typical scenarios that can cause file corruption. Wondershare Repairit is not only simple, but its functionality is so sublime that it does not require any particular effort from the user. The following are the main features of Repairit:
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Support to repair damaged audios with all levels of corruption, such as clipping audio, humming audio, rumbling audio, sibilant audio, out-of-sync audio, etc.
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Support to repair audios of diverse formats, including MP3, M4A, FLAC, WAV, etc.
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Repair damaged or corrupted audios from mutiple devices: portable voice recorder, recording software, shooting apparatus, SD cards, phones, USB flash drives, etc.
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Compatible with Windows PC, Mac OS, and supports PC to mobile transferring/sharing.
Steps to Repair FLAC Files Using Wondershare Repairit:
Step 1: Launch Repairit and select Audio Repair.
Launch Wondershare Repairit on your desktop, open it and proceed to the "Audio Repair" in the "More Types Repair" section. Next, click on the "+Add" button to import the corrupt FLAC file or files.
Step 2: Include Sample and Repair.
As you add the corrupted files, click on "Repair" to open a new pop-up window. Next, you need to provide a supporting reference file to help Repairit automatically repair the corrupt FLAC file. After adding the reference audio, click "Start Advanced Repair" to initiate repair.
Step 3: Preview to Check and Save.
Find the repaired audio on the next window. Click on "Preview" to check whether the file has been repaired or not. If so, click "Save" to export the repaired FLAC file.
Conclusion
The article has provided an in-depth overview of how a user can check FLAC files for corruption. With the right set of methods, you can go through all your FLAC files and determine if they're actually corrupted. If the files are corrupted, it would be perfect for downloading Wondershare Repairit across your desktop to easily repair all corrupted FLAC files.
