# Many .WAV files are in "ERROR: ..."
**URL:** https://community.mp3tag.de/t/many-wav-files-are-in-error/71064
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [April 16, 2026, 2:59am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/many-wav-files-are-in-error/71064 "2026-04-16T02:59:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@aybe](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/aybe)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2026, 2:59am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/many-wav-files-are-in-error/71064/1 "2026-04-16T02:59:53Z")
Two categories of issues:
- ERROR: RIFF data size X differs from adjusted file size Y; ID3…
- ERROR: Unsupported format or corrupted file;
After using a hex editor, the causes:
- for 1st, RIFF chunk size does not include the ID3 tags after ‘data’
- for 2nd, JUNK chunk size is 1024, but in reality it’s 1025 in hex-editor
I wrote a very naive WAV parser in C# to try read them, with a little trick:
Whenever a chunk ID starts with `\0`, I count them, skip that many bytes from original chunk header position; then try to read the chunk header again.
That works fine as far as I can tell, all chunks are fully read.
Maybe you could try to do the following?
- fix RIFF header size so it accounts to anything after ‘data’
- friendly header reading, try read it again starting a bit further (3 bytes max)
I can provide you a bunch of faulty WAVs if you want to try address these issues.
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@Doug\_Mackie](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/Doug_Mackie)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2026, 7:05pm UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/many-wav-files-are-in-error/71064/2 "2026-04-16T19:05:26Z")
I'm unclear why you think that Mp3tag should support these two fixes. There are already free programs that can repair all sorts of corruption in WAV files. From what I have read, they work very well. Have you tried them?
[Fix a Corrupt Wav Audio File in Audacity - Data Recovery Using VLC](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaVr_WLikqs)
[How To Repair A Corrupted Audio WAV File In Windows](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICYwdJUi1bw&t=121)
The Audacity Forum is another resource:
> **[Search results for 'WAV corruption' - Audacity Forum](https://forum.audacityteam.org/search?q=WAV%20corruption)**
>
> The Audacity Help Forum
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### Author:  [@poster](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/poster)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2026, 6:06am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/many-wav-files-are-in-error/71064/3 "2026-04-17T06:06:42Z")
> [@Doug\_Mackie](#):
>
> There are already free programs that can repair all sorts of corruption in WAV files.
and:
> [@User-defined Tools](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/user-defined-tools/966/7):
>
> Example — Re-encode WAV using ffmpeg Some WAV files [have an invalid structure](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to-check-files-for-errors/44633) or extra junk bytes at some RIFF chunks so re-encoding the file might fix the problems. You can use the excellent [ffmpeg](http://ffmpeg.org/download.html#build-windows) command line utility as a user-defined tool from within Mp3tag. Name wav2wav Path Please locate the path of your ffmpeg.exe Parameter -i "%\_filename\_ext%" "%\_folderpath%\%\_filename%\_out.wav"
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### Author:  [@system](https://community.mp3tag.de/u/system)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2026, 6:06am UTC](https://community.mp3tag.de/t/many-wav-files-are-in-error/71064/4 "2026-05-15T06:06:59Z")
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