Maximum File Size in Elements

WaveLab
1

Just tried to render a montage in Wavelab Elements 7 and get a pop-up telling me the maximum file size is 2GB. Is this really the limit for Elements? This gives me serious headaches as I need to save my 3:30 long montage as a 16-bit WAV file…

Mike

2

This is a limitation of WaveLab Elements. In WaveLab PRO, you can use the RF64 extension, or the w64 file format.

3

Thanks for the reply PG. This limitation comes as a surprise to me as this is not mentioned on the product page (all it says that the full version has unlimited file size), I certainly did not expect the maximum file size to be that low, this really spoils this otherwise great product…

4

The 2GB limit is a limitation of the WAV file format… not of Elements itself.

If you need to go beyond that limit, choose Wav64 or RF64 file format instead of WAV but as PG says it may require to upgrade to the “full release” of Wavelab 7 to be supported.

Cheers,
Bernard

5

To my knowledge the theoretical limit for WAV is 4GB and not 2GB (you can find, for example, this information at Wikipedia), so Steinberg limits the use of the format. I did expect that Elements allows to use the full 4GB for WAV when I purchased the prodcut as there was no mention of this limitation.

6

Yes, theoretically the WAV format can handle files up to 4 GB if the file length value is handled as an 32 bit unsigned number (ie: from 0 to 4,294,967,295); but in practice the treatment of this value is usually not properly implemented (mostly for historical reasons I guess) in many programs and is interpreted as a signed integer (ie: from - 2,147,483,648 to + 2,147,483,647) causing program errors once the file exceeds 2 GB. Therefore those have limited the length of WAV files up to 2 GB only. Don’t ask me why.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Bernard

7

Thanks for the explanation Bernard.

But what to do now? I’m stuck with my montage in Wavelab Elements and have no way to save it in lossless (uncrompressed) quality :frowning: Sorry to repeat myself, but when I purchased the product there was no word of this limitation, so I feel betrayed by Steinberg. Also, telling me to purchase the PRO version to get around this limitation cannot be the answer (might be an option for professionals but not for people like me who do this as a hobby and cannot afford the PRO version).

8

Something that could work: render it in WMA Lossless format.

But what do you want to do with your final file of 3h30?

9

Yes, WMA 9.2 Lossless works, the file is around 1.34GB. Let me explain what I do with Elements:

Every week I do a ~80 minute non-stop mix for my website. I then create a montage, on track 1 I put the mix, on track 2 I add a jingle in the middle of each track in the mix (this way people do not copy the music as I get lots of msuic that is not available to the masses for a few more weeks). This procedure allows me to archive the mix as WAV - once without the jingles, once with the jingles. Just yesterday I did a 3h30 long retrospective mix of 2010 and wanted to do the same, and for the first time I came across the 2GB limitation…

10

Hi MikeFossati
There is a free VST plug in:FREE VST Plugins, AU, and AAX Plugin Downloads - Voxengo if you need some kind of other “protection” :exclamation:

(this way people do not copy the music as I get lots of msuic that is not available to the masses for a few more weeks).

Voxengo Beeper free
Version 2.3, Feb 22, 2010
Beeper is an auxiliary processing AU and VST plugin which you can use to insert short beep, noise burst or silence signals to any sound material. This may help you protect your work from theft.

11

Thanks for the suggestion, but I prefer my own “SpiritOfHouse.com Netmix” jingle (this way people know where the mix comes from).