Some years ago, on this forum, I was told that Wavelab 6 generates files that strictly conform to the WAV specification. Recently I began using a software to validate files I have stored. According to this software a few hundred (of the thousands) of files that I have created using Wavelab 6 do not conform to the WAV spec. Has anyone else identified invalid WAV files generated by Wavelab?
The software I use was created for the U.S. Federal Government. It is available here.
I am going to reply to my own post. In working with the creator of the software mentioned in the original post we have determined that Wavelab is generating files that do not adhere to the WAV specification. To be precise the file is improperly written for Microsoft’s RIFF definition. According to the specification chunks must have a padding byte if the chunk length is odd. The ‘data’ chunk in the files we have tested from Wavelab are odd length but not padded to an even length (the file ends before the pad byte is expected). The file does not have any problems being played but could exhibit problems if one were to try to add metadata to it. For instance if a piece of software tried to add LIST-INFO tags to the file by placing them at the end of the file, then the start of those tags would be one byte past the end of the files in question. To bring the file to RIFF spec one would have to add a zero-filled padding byte to the end of the file and increase the chunkSize of the RIFF chunk by one byte. Wavelab has not done this.
I think the fact that Wavelab is generating WAV files that do not adhere to the Microsoft spec is a serious matter. I wonder if anyone else, including Wavelab, is concerned?
No I have not. I read the Help explanation about what that option is intended to do but am not sure how it could impact the issue I have raised. Also, I have the “Warn when opening files with a malformed header” option selected and the files in question do not elicit a warning.
I think it is pretty sad that no one from Steinberg has commented on this thread. The fact that they haven’t defended themselves or sought to clarify the situation can only mean it is true and they have no defense. It is troubling to know that Wavelab is generating files that do not conform to Microsoft’s WAV specification. I think all users should be concerned about that and want to hear what Steinberg has to say.