"Reading Windows Media Foundation" when opening a simple WAV file

[LaSalamander]

Can anyone tell me what's happening here? I'm openning a SESX file in Audition that loads a bunch of different WAV files. It'd been behaving very normally until today, when it's now taking a long time to load these WAVs and gives me this "Reading Windows Media Foundation" message while doing so. Any idea what's up with that?

[SuiteSpot]

I would need to see the sesx file before offering advice

[LaSalamander]

Sure! Here's one: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZpALs5Rb50cyltK-eXYSN8KOCHdCumIy/view?usp=drive_link

[LaSalamander]

Additional information! Whenever I make a change to one of these otherwise ordinary WAV files and then save the session, I'm presented with this dialog box which I've never seen in all my decades working in Adobe Audition. What on earth is happening??!

[SuiteSpot]

I'm seeing some things I've never seen before - it looks like some sort of support for large/huge files - not sure
I think the key is in the media file(s) - where did they come from?

eg

<file absolutePath="F:\WORK\LOVE, DOG\09 Kathy Murphy, Part 2\Kathy Murphy episode(s)\Kathy INTERVIEW.wav" id="25" importerPrivateSettings="AudioBlockAlignment:0:2230;AverageBytesPerSecond:0:6003;BitDepth:0:16;Bitrate:0:128000;BitrateMode:0:0;ContainerGuidA:0:1573940444;ContainerGuidB:0:-280964935;ContainerGuidC:0:1660564925;ContainerGuidD:0:-1968039380;FormatGuidA:0:269877248;FormatGuidB:0:268435456;FormatGuidC:0:-1442840448;FormatGuidD:0:1905997824;NumChannels:0:1;SampleRate:0:48000;VBRQuality:0:90;" mediaHandler="AmioMF" relativePath="Kathy Murphy episode(s)/Kathy INTERVIEW.wav"/>

[LaSalamander]

Interesting! The odd thing is that I've been working with these files (and files just like them for a while, and nothing like this has happened before). Ultimately, the files came from Riverside. But again, I'm working with loads of other files from Riverside in various different Audition sessions, and nothing like this has ever come up. 

What do you mean by "some sort of supprot for large/huge files"?

[SuiteSpot]

'Support'
I saw "LargeFileSupport"
What is the difference between these 2 files

<file absolutePath="F:\WORK\LOVE, DOG\07 Kathy Murphy, Part 1\Drew INTR0, +12dB..wav" id="0" importerPrivateSettings="Compression:0:0;LargeFileSupport:0:0;SampleType:0:40;" mediaHandler="AmioWav"

And
<file absolutePath="F:\WORK\LOVE, DOG\09 Kathy Murphy, Part 2\Kathy Murphy episode(s)\Drew INTERVIEW_ _12dB.wav" id="23" importerPrivateSettings="AudioBlockAlignment:0:2230;AverageBytesPerSecond:0:6003;BitDepth:0:16;Bitrate:0:128000;BitrateMode:0:0;ContainerGuidA:0:1573940444;ContainerGuidB:0:-280964935;ContainerGuidC:0:1660564925;ContainerGuidD:0:-1968039380;FormatGuidA:0:269877248;FormatGuidB:0:268435456;FormatGuidC:0:-1442840448;FormatGuidD:0:1905997824;NumChannels:0:1;SampleRate:0:48000;VBRQuality:0:90;" mediaHandler="AmioMF" relativePath="Kathy Murphy episode(s)/Drew INTERVIEW_ _12dB.wav"/>

The first is "AmioWav" and the 2nd is "AmioMF"

[LaSalamander]

Man, I have no idea!  I've never heard of  either AmioWav or AmioFM before. Totally unfamiliar to me. 

[SuiteSpot]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest this (try it at your own risk)

1. Take a copy of your session including media and put it somewhere safe

2. Use a text editor like NotePad (not a word processor) and edit your sesx file and replace AmioFM with AmioWav.
these will be found down in the <Files> section toward the bottom of the sesx

3. Save the sesx and exit

4. Open the sesx in Audition

If it all turns to custard replace your session with the backup

Or you can send it all to me and I'll try it

[LaSalamander]

Thank you so much for this suggestion. I tried it, changing every instance of AmioMF to AmioWav in the SESX file. But it made no difference. It still went through the process of very slowly opening certain files along with that Windows Media Foundation message. It's so strange!

And in case you missed it, the other symptom is that instance on converting the files to 4800 Hz Nibim 16-bit, everytime I make a change to the WAV itself, as seen here.

[Mike Mlaz]

LaSalamander... did you import these files by dragging & dropping them into Audition?  If so, try importing them by using the File > Open method in the menu, and in the bottom right of the open File dialogue window, in the drop down, select WAV PCM as the file type.

This will force Audition to open the files as .wav fomat, and not whatever other formats are currently using the .wav extension.

[LaSalamander]

I can't say, at this point, how these files might have originally been imported. But I'm dealing with SESX files that have long had these ordinary WAV files in them, since before this issue began.

However, I just tried what you suggest: I simply opened Audition, went to File > Open, loaded in a WAV, and was given this message while the file slowly loaded: 

I noticed that it was a 32-bit (float) file. So I converted it to 16-bit, saved, and closed it. Then I went to re-open it again, using the same method, and I was hit with the "Reading Windows Media Foundation" message again. And once it finishe loading, it was a 32-bit (float) file again. What in tarnation is happening??

[Mike Mlaz]

When opening the files, make sure you have select the .wav format in the bottom right, or else it will default to the other format.