best way to add a header to a large file

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What 's the best way to add a header to an existing file if the file size is around 1-2GB

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Posted 2-Apr-11 23:34pm

Du Sijun

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OriginalGriff · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-03T00:18:00

Solution 1

1-2GB. Source? In one file? :WTF:

I think you have bigger things to worry about than adding anything, even a header, to that file...

Posted 3-Apr-11 0:18am

OriginalGriff

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mbue 3-Apr-11 6:54am

The op didnt talk about a c-file. this could be a mp3 file or somthing else. The mp3 header (version1) is appended to the end of the file (i.e.).
Regards.

Du Sijun 3-Apr-11 6:57am

Oh, It's raw PCM, and I would like to add a wave header to it.

OriginalGriff 3-Apr-11 7:09am

AFAIK, PCM does not have a header, and adding a WAV header block will not make it a .WAV file! PCM is raw, uncompressed samples - Wav is compressed and block oriented.
I suspect you need to run it though a converter, or write your own.

Out of interest, just what audio are you using that is *that* big?

Albert Holguin 3-Apr-11 12:00pm

actually, the wav header specifies the format, including pcm

OriginalGriff 3-Apr-11 15:56pm

I learnt something new - Thank you!

Albert Holguin 3-Apr-11 17:02pm

that's the whole point right? learning something new from time to time while you help others... :)

OriginalGriff 4-Apr-11 4:29am

I couldn't put it better myself!

Du Sijun 3-Apr-11 10:18am

Hi, that's meeting recording, 2-3 hours. 48000hz 32bits, and there are total 9 recording channel,so after each meeting I have 9 big files.

I am using the simplest Microsoft wav format, here is the link

https://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/422/projects/WaveFormat/

So in this case a 44 bytes header can make the PCM playable.

OriginalGriff 3-Apr-11 15:54pm

I'm with Albert Holguin: break the damn thing up and use a playlist! :laugh:

mbue · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-03T00:59:00

Solution 3

You can do it like mp3 (v1) files do: append a fixed size header at the end of the file.
Otherwise like mp3v2-header you have to move all content of the file to make room for the header. mp3v2 reserves some extra space for changes. Thats why you must not move all the content again for minor changes in your header.
Regards.

Posted 3-Apr-11 0:59am

mbue

Comments

Du Sijun 3-Apr-11 10:21am

Sounds good, I will ask them reserve more spaces for me.

Albert Holguin · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-03T06:06:00

the problem with adding the wav header to a file this big is that any player will attempt to load the entire file to memory when playing it, completely bogging down a computer, what I would suggest is first breaking up the file into fixed size blocks (lets say 256MB, with the last file containing whatever data's left) and then add the header to each file individually... after all that, you can create a playlist to playback the audio continuously