Importing Audio

Peter 23Dec13: ToDo-2 would this page benefit from a custom-TOC? Thoughts?

• Gale 23Dec13: Probably, but I've changed the section order so let's agree that first.
• Peter 24Dec13: Gale, I probably won't get time to read this in detail until after Christmas. BTW the manner in which we construct custom-TOCs by pointing to divids means that changing the section order is normally accommodated without too much fuss.

This page is about importing audio files into Audacity (like WAV or MP3) that other programs on the computer can play.

• If you have already saved your audio as an Audacity Project, use File > Open or File > Recent Files to open the <my_project_name>.aup. Do not attempt to open, import or manipulate any individual AU files. See Audacity Projects for more information.

Audio File Formats Supported by Audacity

The audio formats importable by Audacity as shipped are:

• Uncompressed audio formats: most WAV and AIFF files including all PCM variants.

• Compressed audio formats: Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, MP2 and MP3.

You can install the optional FFmpeg library to import a much larger range of audio formats including AC3, AMR(NB), M4A, MP4 and WMA (if the files are not DRM-protected to work only in particular software). FFmpeg will also import audio from most video files or DVDs that are not DRM-protected. On Mac only, Audacity can import M4A, MP4 and MOV files without FFmpeg.

• Older uncompressed file types such as WAV with U-Law or IMA ADPCM encoding are normally supported provided they contain correctly formatted header information.
• If files do not have header information (such as RAW or VOX ADPCM) or have non-standard header information, you can normally import them using File > Import > Raw Data....
• WAV files from portable recorders may contain proprietary compressed audio. These should not be imported as Raw Data, but by installing the FFmpeg library.
• LOF files (lists of files) are also supported if the list is correctly formatted and contains supported files.

Four Ways to Import Audio

No matter which method you use to bring an audio file into Audacity, the file is always imported into a saved or unsaved Audacity project. The imported file always appears in a new track in that project.

1. File > Import > Audio...

If you select the File > Import > Audio... command, then choose one or more audio files, Audacity will import the selected file(s) into the existing project. This is useful to bring the content of one or more audio files into a project that already contains audio (for example, to mix several audio files together).

2. File > Open

This command behaves differently according to whether the project window in which you use the Open command has ever contained tracks of any type.

• If the project contains or has ever contained tracks at some point in its history (so that Edit > Undo and Edit > Redo are not empty), Open imports each file you select into its own new project window. For example, selecting three files would create three new project windows, each containing one of the files and each a separate project with its own history. This is handy if you want to apply different actions to different (or even the same) files and easily compare the results of each.
• If the project is empty and has never contained any tracks (for example, you used File > New to create a new, empty project or used File > Close to close an existing project), Open imports the first file into the empty project window, then imports each subsequent file into its own new project window.

As with the other three import methods, Open does not directly open your selected file(s) but converts them to a large number of small files in its own lossless, uncompressed audio format (AU). This occurs even if you never explicitly save your work as an Audacity project.

So to save your edits to an audio file for the computer you always have to choose an Export command from the File Menu, even if you want to overwrite the exact same file that you imported.

Gale:As someone who understands the distinction in the first place, the above note div just confuses me. Better to attack this further up the article IMO, explaining that any of the four actions that bring audio into the project window are regarded as "importing". The point of importing in the sense of the menu item of that name is that it always brings audio into the same project.

• Bill: The issue I was trying to address is users who "open" a WAV file and then wonder why they can't "save" it. I've tried it both ways for comparison. What do others think?
• Peter 26Apr11: seems perfectly clear (and necessary) to me. But note that the need for this will go away if James' recent proposal incorporating the restriction of "Open" to operate only on projects and not audio files is implemented. See Menu Reorganization in the Wiki.
• Peter 23Dec13: ToDo I tried to clarify the note - is this better?
• Gale 23Dec13: Only a little, because the user may never save a project. My attempt above. Perhaps we don't want all the detail, but mentioning the conversion to AU may get the point across.

3. File > Recent Files (Open Recent on Mac)

This command imports a single file from a list of the 12 most recently imported files or recently saved projects. The file opens in a new window exactly as File > Open.

4. Drag and drop

• On Windows and Mac OS X
  • Drag and drop one or more audio files into an open Audacity project window: this is equivalent to File > Import > Audio.
  • Drag and drop one or more audio files onto the Audacity icon: this is equivalent to File > Open.

• On Linux:
  • Drag and drop files into an open Audacity Project window: this is equivalent to File > Import > Audio.
  • Drag and drop one or more audio files onto the Audacity icon: only the first file will open. More than one file dragged and dropped onto the icon will do the same as the File > Open command for the first file, but the other files will generate an error message saying that Audacity is already running.

Using the file type drop-down menu in the Open and Import Audio Dialogs

Gale 04Aug11: Wouldn't an image of the menu help?

This menu (called "Format" on Mac) contains a list of different file types. Choosing a particular file type in the menu performs two functions.

• The file type choice filters the list of files in the window by restricting it to files of that type.

• The file type choice determines which importer attempts the file first when using the Open or Import Audio dialogs. For example, a WAV file could be imported by Audacity's native WAV importer or by the optional FFmpeg library if this was installed.

Additionally, rules for the order in which different importers attempt files of particular types can be created at Extended Import Preferences with an option to over-ride the Open and Import Audio file type choice. See Import Filtering and Importer Order for more details.

Importing Uncompressed Audio Files

The two most common uncompressed file types you will encounter are WAV and AIFF.

Warning Dialog when Importing Uncompressed Audio Files

The first time you import an uncompressed audio file into Audacity, you will see this dialog.

For each imported file, you can choose:

• Whether to copy the imported file's data into the project or to read its data directly from the file, as described below.
• Whether to make your copy or read directly choice permanent and never show this warning again.

Import Methods

• Make a copy before editing (safer)
  • This is the default setting. When this option is chosen, Audacity copies the imported file(s) into the project's audio data. It is essential that files are copied into the project if the Audacity project is to be moved, opened on another computer or sent to someone else, or if you need to to move, rename or delete the original files.
  • This option does not make a backup copy of the original file in its original location. If you don't want to lose the original content of the file when exporting to the same file name and location, please change the file name when exporting.
• Read directly from the original (faster)
  • When this option is chosen Audacity always reads imported files from the folder you first imported them from, without copying them into the project. Therefore with this option set, you must not move, rename or delete imported uncompressed files, or the folder they are in. The advantage of this option is that you can begin editing a long file almost immediately, since On-Demand Loading will be used to import the file.
  • If you export to the same file name and location as the original file, Audacity will make a copy of the original file's content (renamed to include "-old" and a number) and will then read the project from this "-old" file. Therefore you must not move, rename or delete any "-old" files until you have completely finished working on the project.

You can change your import preference at any time in Import / Export Preferences, and you can turn the warning dialog on and off in Warnings Preferences.

Dependencies

If you import any uncompressed audio files into your project using the "read directly" option, then your project depends on those files remaining available. At any time you can check which files your project depends on by clicking on File > Check Dependencies.... See the Dependencies Dialog page for details.

When you save a project you can choose whether or not to copy dependent files into the project. See the Projects Preferences page for details.

Importing Compressed Audio Files

When you import a compressed audio file into your project such as MP2, MP3, Ogg Vorbis or FLAC, there is usually no choice between "safer" and "faster" - the file's data is always copied into the project.

By default on Linux, the lossless FLAC compressed format is imported by the Audacity importer for uncompressed files. Therefore the warning for "Importing uncompressed audio files" will appear with the choice to copy in the audio or read it directly, the latter choice permitting quicker On-Demand Loading.