Freesound Forums

Hi, I've been noticing for a few days something very annoying, and I don't know if anyone else has the same problem.

For example, I download a sound that it's 2 minutes long. What happens is that when I download it and reproduce it in my computer it only last 30 seconds. it´s cut, but the download it´s complete with no errors and has the same MB than the original, but the sounds are not the same lenght.

What I usually do is download the sound again, and sometimes even 3 or 4 times until it's ok.

Have you experienced something similar or know what could be happening? Thanks.

Hi Alexis

This sounds very unusual. Is this happening with most of the sounds you are downloading?

Could you provide a link to the sound(s) that gave you this problem?

Cheers

Yes, it happens with most of them, I don't know what could be the reason for this. I use Google Chrome, also the downloads are a bit slow.

Here is a link to a sound I couldn't download properly, I tried yesterday like 6 or 7 times and today again, and it's always shorter, the last time I tried it lasts only five seconds, and the original is 3'50'', but the file is 58MB as the original.

https://freesound.org/people/be-steele/sounds/323052/

Thanks for your help

Find it logical

I downloaded the sound without an issue, it was the full length. I've also never heard of this issue before, which is why i'm going to say it's probably due to your connection being interrupted.

The download is just stalling often before finishing but chrome is reporting it as being complete. This is more likely to happen on larger downloads for you because DL speeds are slow so there's more time for it to occur.

I don't really know what to advise you other than avoid downloading large sound files, which isn't really ideal practical advice i'm sorry.

It's weird because I have 100mb internet connection, and I don't have this problem when downloading from other sites and much bigger files as wetransfer, drive, etc... I will try in other browser and other PC and let you know. Thanks anyway.

Alexis.noise wrote:
... always shorter, the last time I tried it lasts only five seconds, and the original is 3'50'', but the file is 58MB as the original.
Thanks for your help

If the downloaded file size is the same as the original it sounds like it's being corrupted, either by Chrome or your Internet Provider. Long shot: Perhaps a problem with a firewall or anti virus setting?

Why the slowness and this corruption problem is unique to Freesound I haven't a clue.

I don't know how to do a CRC or bit-by-bit comparison between good and bad download versions to see where errors might be. (Hopefully someone reads this who understands this stuff will help.)

Good luck sorting this.

Wibby.

strangely_gnarled wrote:

Alexis.noise wrote:
... always shorter, the last time I tried it lasts only five seconds, and the original is 3'50'', but the file is 58MB as the original.
Thanks for your help

If the downloaded file size is the same as the original it sounds like it's being corrupted, either by Chrome or your Internet Provider. Long shot: Perhaps a problem with a firewall or anti virus setting?

Why the slowness and this corruption problem is unique to Freesound I haven't a clue.

I don't know how to do a CRC or bit-by-bit comparison between good and bad download versions to see where errors might be. (Hopefully someone reads this who understands this stuff will help.)

Good luck sorting this.

Wibby.

I've been downloading some sounds with firefox and apart from the slowness when downloading, all of the files were correct, so it seems to be something related to chrome. Thanks for your help! Maybe someone knows something else about this issue.

Glad things are moving again, even if frustratingly slow. (I have about 4.5Mb/s connection on a good day so patience is my middle name.)

I don't know if Chrome has extensions or add-ons, like my old Firefox does, but sometimes they can interfere beyond their expected function and need to be temporarily disabled. Never seen this on Freesound though, but on lots of other sites.

If you come across the reason or a better fix let us know. It might help the next guy.

Wib.

And so the plot thickens

As strangely_gnarled asked, are you using a download manager extension for chrome by any chance?

By the way, when I said your DL was slow, I meant to add that Freesound does limit download speeds to 250kb/s; per connection I believe. Just FYI.

We have also had reports come through in the past to support which complain of mega slow speeds and failed downloads, so it wouldn't surprise me if this was a multi-layered issue for you that involves both the freesound server and chrome.

If a developer can contribute to this conversation then they might be able to give a more in depth assessment. I'll ping Frederic.

Hi, I've been reading the thread, a strange problem indeed.

As Headphaze says, Freesound limits download speed after some MB have been downloaded for each sound. It is normal that speed starts higher and then goes down. What is not normal is that the download succeeds apparently but audio is not complete. I'd definitely try disabling extensions or any other thing connected to Chrome that could be interfering. Specially if you mention that with Firefox it works fine... Let us know about your experiments so maybe at the end we understand what is happening

Ok, I've been taking a look at my extensions in chrome and nothing related to a DL manager, only documents, spreasheets, presentations and chrome remote desktop. Anyway I'll run some tests, removing these extensions and restoring chrome to default, I'll let you know.

I hope this contributes in any way to help someone in the future or making this site even better. Thank you all for the interest!

By the way, you don't have to uninstall everything. You could just run Chrome in safe mode or "incognito". Which starts it with only integral components. This would be your baseline test, and then if it works fine you can do your elimination.

Go to file in the menu and open a new incognito window

Headphaze wrote:
By the way, when I said your DL was slow, I meant to add that Freesound does limit download speeds to 250kb/s; per connection I believe. Just FYI.

This leads me to wonder: is a VPN being used (and perhaps forgotten about)?

Ok, After several tests is still the same, I run the incognito mode, restore chrome to default, turn off the extensions...I don't know a lot about VPN but I turned off a couple of options I found on the windows config.

For a moment I thought it could be something related to a long directory where I download the sounds e.g.(Sound/Sfx/Libraries/ambience), bc I downloaded a couple of sounds directly in my desktop and they were good, but I tried with a couple more and the problem is still there.

So I haven't found the problem yet...is really weird and annoying, anyway I'm using Firefox now and this has never happened.

Thanks for the interest and help!

A real mystery!

I know you're probably at the end of your tether, but have you tried downloading a previous version of Chrome to see if it's the current build that's causing the issue?