wavfix v0.1

Wavfix is able to repair broken wav files while preserving metadata.

Wavfix is built upon real case scenarios where files are corrupted during recording. Its ability to preserve metadata (all non-audio chunks) ensures software compatibility and workflow integrity, making wavfix useful in professional and broadcast environment.

Wavfix will never overwrite your original files, but will instead create new ones if needed. Using it is completely safe.

Features

Works on Linux, MacOS and Windows.

Wavfix currently supports the following :

• All standard RIFF / WAVE PCM files.
• Preservation of ALL healthy chunks.
• RIFF header size recovery.
• <data> chunk size recovery.
• <data> chunk reconstruction if missing or corrupted.
• <fmt > chunk reconstruction if missing or corrupted.

Options

wavfix, version 0.1 by Adrien Gesta-Fline

wavfix can repair corrupted wave files while keeping all meta-chunks intact.
Its  ability  to  preserve  metadata  ensures  software  compatibility  and
workflow integrity.

usage : wavfix <options> broken_file.wav

    audio options :
        -f, --frequency   <n>     set frequency to n Hz (44100, 48000, etc.)
        -b, --bit-depth   <n>     set bit-depth to n bits (16, 24, 32, etc.)
        -c, --channels    <n>     set channels number to  n  channels (1 for
                                  mono, 2 for stereo, etc.)

        -F                        force using previous values instead of the
                                  ones contained in <bext> chunk if present.

    output options:
        -s, --suffix              repaired file names will  be  the same  as
                                  the broken ones plus this suffix.  Default
                                  is '_REPAIRED'.

    misc options :
        -N, --no-repair           use this option to only investigate files.
        -h, --help                display this help

Examples

Simple file analysis, no repair :

$ wavfix -N file.wav

Analyse all files and repair if needed :

$ wavfix *.wav

If <fmt > chunk is missing and wavfix cannot detect audio parameters :

$ wavfix -f 48000 -b 16 -c 1 corrupted_file.wav

Output Examples

Example from a malfunctioning Sound Devices 552 mixer :

$ wavfix ./SD552.wav

> Processing './SD552.wav'
| Current file structure :
| ======================
|     <bext> chunk [offset: 0000000012; size: 0000000858 + 4 + 4;]
|     <iXML> chunk [offset: 0000000878; size: 0000005226 + 4 + 4;]
|     [NULL] chunk [offset: 0000006112; size: 0006696988 + 0 + 0;]
|
| [w] Missing <data> chunk. recovering..
|  |  Trying to locate the biggest unknown bytes block..
|  |  Got 6696988 bytes begining at offset 6112.
|  |  Assume these are audio data. Rebuilding <data>..
|  |  done.
| [w] Missing <fmt > chunk. recovering..
|  |  Found <bext> chunk with coding_history data.
|  |  Using it to retrieve audio parameters. Rebuilding <fmt >..
|  |  done.
|
| Recovered file structure :
| ========================
|     <bext> chunk [offset: 0000000012; size: 0000000858 + 4 + 4;]
|     <iXML> chunk [offset: 0000000878; size: 0000005226 + 4 + 4;]
|     <fmt > chunk [offset: 0000006112; size: 0000000016 + 4 + 4;]
|     <data> chunk [offset: 0000006136; size: 0006696948 + 4 + 4;]
|
| [i] Saving repaired file to './SD552_REPAIRED.wav'
| File successfully recovered.

Example from a crashed parecord recording :

$ wavfix ./PARECORD.wav


> Processing './PARECORD.wav'
| [w] Wrong RIFF size: 0000000008 B + 8 [file size: 0003140248 B;]
| Current file structure :
| ======================
|     <fmt > chunk [offset: 0000000012; size: 0000000016 + 4 + 4;]
|     <data> chunk [offset: 0000000036; size: 0000000000 + 4 + 4;]
|     [NULL] chunk [offset: 0000000044; size: 0003140204 + 0 + 0;]
|
| [i] Checking <data> chunk..
|  |  Chunk size is 0 byte. That is very unlikely..
|  |  A block of 3140204 unknown bytes comes after <data> chunk.
|  |  Assume those are audio data. Merging them with <data> chunk..
|  |  done.
|
| Recovered file structure :
| ========================
|     <fmt > chunk [offset: 0000000012; size: 0000000016 + 4 + 4;]
|     <data> chunk [offset: 0000000036; size: 0003140204 + 4 + 4;]
|
| [i] Saving repaired file to './PARECORD_REPAIRED.wav'
| File successfully recovered.

Install

Download binary for Linux, MacOSX or Windows from wavfix/releases or clone/download and build from source with :

$ make
$ make install

How to contribute

Feel free to report any bug, any recovery failure (or success !) so i can adapt the code to new cases.

License

Copyright © 2016, 2017 Adrien Gesta-Fline
Wavfix is released under the GNU AGPLv3 : http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.txt