The recording stopped unexpectedly. The WAV file is still on the drive, but your player shows no duration or refuses to open it. A file with bytes in it may contain audio, silence, metadata or damaged data; its size alone cannot tell you which.
Keep the original and note the recording settings
If possible, stop writing new recordings to the same card or drive. Copy the file to another location and work on a copy. Keep any recorder project, backup or separate track: a saved session can contain material that never made it into the WAV. Do not reformat the card or save a repair over your only copy.
Write down the recorder or app, sample rate, bit depth and whether the recording was mono or stereo. If another clip from the same session opens, its properties may help you identify the settings, but do not assume a different session used exactly the same ones. Try the damaged copy in the device or app that made it and another player. If the original recorder offers recovery, consult its instructions before changing anything.
A file that is actually zero bytes contains no audio samples inside that file. A nonzero file is not proof of a complete recording either. In an Audacity issue report, an exported PCM file had a substantial size yet played silence; this was a report about a particular export problem, not evidence about your recording.
What an interrupted WAV can lose
A WAV container describes its audio format and contains chunks of data. Some recorders update length information when recording ends. If that update is interrupted, a player may read the wrong extent even when some audio bytes remain. QSC describes this possibility for TouchMix recordings after a power interruption; other devices and failure modes can behave differently.
File length fields are only one possible problem. An unreadable format chunk, missing audio, a damaged storage device or silent source can produce a different outcome. If the original media is failing to copy, avoid repeated writes and consider a data-recovery specialist before experimenting further.
Try a separate copy when the WAV format is still readable
Before using this command, know its tradeoff: FFmpeg warns that ignoring the declared data length can treat later non-audio chunks as sound. If you do not know whether such chunks follow the audio, the result may include loud clicks or noise; turn down the volume before listening. A longer output does not prove that the recording is complete.
If FFmpeg is already installed and you accept that risk, this command asks its WAV reader to ignore the declared audio data length and copy the first readable audio stream to a new file:
ffmpeg -n -ignore_length 1 -i "recording-copy.wav" -map 0:a:0 -c:a copy "recovered-copy.wav"Run it in the folder containing your copy, or supply paths to the files. -n prevents overwriting an existing output; choose a new output name if one already exists. The command does not alter its input. It requires enough intact format information for FFmpeg to identify an audio stream, and it will not rebuild bytes that were never written or were overwritten.
If the command reports an error, preserve the message and the original rather than repeatedly changing the only copy.
We checked this command with FFmpeg 8.1.2 on a one-second synthetic mono PCM WAV whose data-length field had been set to zero. The resulting decoded audio matched that synthetic control and the input stayed unchanged. This is a narrow test, not a result for a real damaged recording; other files can fail or contain misleading data.
When the format information is missing
A raw import can sometimes let an audio editor interpret uncompressed bytes when the header is missing or incorrect. Audacity's import documentation lists the relevant choices: encoding, byte order, channels, start offset and sample rate. These are properties of the original recording, not values to choose because a file happens to open. Wrong settings can change speed or pitch, swap or scramble channels, or turn data into loud noise. Lower your listening volume before trying a candidate and compare it with reliable notes or a recording from the same session.
Raw import is not a general fix for compressed files or a way to recover an absent recording. A WAV can contain non-audio chunks before or after audio; an arbitrary offset can turn those bytes into noise. Save every candidate separately and keep notes about the settings used.
Check the result before relying on it
Open the candidate in more than one player or editor. Listen at the beginning, middle and end, including the expected ending; check for silence, sudden jumps, distortion and the expected channel layout. A playable file and plausible duration do not prove that every part survived. Compare against any independent track, timeline or notes from the session.
Where a repair attempt fits
If the format is identifiable but its length fields are damaged, MendVid's audio repair attempts recovery for certain PCM or floating-point WAV files; it does not guess unknown sample rates or channels. According to MendVid's pricing and repair terms, checked 3 November 2026, the price is US$9.99 per file for an attempt, with applicable taxes shown at checkout. Payment must be confirmed before upload, repair and any preview; unsuccessful, incomplete or post-start cancelled attempts are not refunded, subject to non-waivable rights and applicable payment-processor rules. Recovery is not guaranteed. Read the price and repair terms before deciding, and retain the original even if a candidate plays.