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I am editing my wedding video and have a mp3 for the music I am using. Took a break and came back to it and mp3 no longer playing; waveforms are still there in the timeline but the audio won't play. Even when I try to re-import the music, it doesn't play and the waveforms have disappeared, but it will play in quicktime. All other audio in the project will play. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 13.2
I had the EXACT SAME issue. I renamed my mp3 file to .mov, and it worked. It now shows up under the waveform audio category.
I had the EXACT SAME issue. I renamed my mp3 file to .mov, and it worked. It now shows up under the waveform audio category.
Actually, MP3 files should automatically be "optimized" after import and converted into QuickTime .mov files containing 16-bit LPCM audio at the original sample rate. So, I wonder if the issue is related to the conversion, the converted/optimized file, or something else... ???
Tom's right about MP3 being a poor quality format, especially for use in editing. There are so many ways that MP3 files are encoded, it may be possible that FCP has a problem in some cases...
As Tom recommends, it's always good to convert "lower quality" audio (particularly MP3 files) used with FCP, or any NLE, into uncompressed/LPCM AIFF or WAVE 16- or 24-bit files with a sample rate of 48kHz.
I can’t quite remember why I made it a compound clip; I think I cut it and put it back together? It’s just the mp3, still doesn’t play if I open the compound clip. I was able to make my mp3 a mov and it will play that, but not sure why the mp3 format would be the problem.
Just to clarify things a bit...
24-bit WAVE files at 48kHz sample rate are the current gold standard for post-production audio (at least for/during picture editing and delivery), though some versions of higher quality WAVE/AIFF files may also work in FCP).
Once the file is MP3, converting it to another format does not improve it. There's no way to magically add data that doesn't already exist. I've done tests comparing MP3 encode files in my own recording studio (I've worked pro recording studios my whole life), with the same files encoded to other formats. It's very difficult for the average listener to tell the difference. If you got the file originally as MP3, nothing wrong with using that. Converting it won't improve anything. And MP3 should play back in FCP just fine, EXCEPT if you got it from the iTunes store (do they use MP3 any longer?), then it'll be DRM protected and not play in FCP.
Press Command-Shift-2 to open the Timeline Index, then see if all the Roles are checked.
Thank you for responding! I did that already unfortunately and all roles are checked.
Any reason why this is a compound clip? What is inside the compound besides the mp3 clip?
It’sa really old crappy format. You shouldn’t use it with video.
Oh ok. What format for music would you suggest?
Uncompressed AIF or WAV with a sample rate of 48K.
Ok great, thank you!
Thanks! That would make sense if that’s the issue. Def will use a different file type.
I had the same issue. The audio waveforms show up but the audio wasn’t working. It played everywhere else but inside FCP. Converted it to .m4a using QuickTime and it worked.
MP3 no longer playing in FCPX
