When previewing audio files on Dropbox, the playback skips or drops out. Any ideas?

[Tinlinmusic]

Hello, just wondered if any other music tech-y people have had any trouble with glitchy audio files when using Dropbox to share them?
A track that I have mixed and bounced down on my studio pc, which plays fine with no problems, once shared On DB if you listen to the track on a different device it is full of digital glitches and audio dropouts.
Any ideas?

[kroft]

Hi @Lusil ! Yes, it happens in at least Firefox and Safari, and also in the Dropbox iOS app. So far as I can tell the glitches are in the same place regardless of device or browser.

It happens with both mp4 and uncompressed audio (AIFF - I haven't tried WAV yet). But with mp4 it's specific glitches and clicks, whereas with AIFF it appears as a more general and continuous crackling.

It would be great to get this fixed! It has only recently started happening.

[Lusil]

Thanks for the additional information, @kroft. 

I'd be more than happy to help look into this a bit more in-depth, but we'd have to continue via email. 

Would it be alright if I send you one myself?

[kroft]

Hi @Lusil  - yes, by all means.

[Walter]

Thanks for confirming that for us @kroft.

I've sent you an email to look further into this matter together. 

At your convenience, please take a look at your inbox and we'll take it from there.

[Monumental]

I’m also having the “audio glitch” problem. I’m a long time Dropbox user for audio with a very large Dropbox capacity. Never had a problem until 3 days ago.

I’m working on a major film scoring project with very long files (An hour and 45 minutes long). Each file is 250 gig and an mp3.

I sent my final mixes to a client two days ago. I listened to the mixes on a train ride to NYC to check them. I noticed audio glitches (dropouts in precise places, weird stereo phase shifting, distortion, etc). I thought it was the preview app, so once I arrived in NYC I downloaded the files to my computer. The glitches were persistent and in the exact same places in the downloaded files.

However, when I logged into my studio computer remotely and listened to the original files the glitches were gone!

I tried deleting the files on Dropbox and reuploading. Same problem with glitches in the same places. Finally I resent the files via Wetransfer and everything was fine, so the problem is Dropbox, and in particular something that they have changed that affects audio files.

My files were automatically synced using the Dropbox app for Mac OS. My OS is Mojave.

Anybody else still having this issue?

[kroft]

The problems you describe sound similar to the ones I encountered (and am still encountering from time to time), but in my case it's just playing from Dropbox directly that is problematic. If I download the files or choose "make available offline" the problem disappears. If you are finding that Dropbox is actually changing your stored files, this is much more worrying!

[Monumental]

Yes. I have downloaded the files on multiple machines and found the artifacts to be consistent in exactly the same places on the files. However, the original files, which are not stored in the Dropbox folder, are fine.

This is very worrying because when I send a client a file I want to be able to trust that it is the same file that originated on my computer! It should be an exact copy, and not a proxy. I do not want a compressed version that has been run through some behind the scenes data compression software that I am not aware of. I want them to get the same file, byte for byte.

Worse still, can you imagine backing up to Dropbox, only to find that all your audio files have been changed in random ways!?

[SECRETSOUND]

Wow.  This was going on a year ago and now it's back.  This is why I started using WeTransfer, Google Drive, and all these alternate servers.  Why am I paying Dropbox?  Audio is all I do.  Needs to be right on the other end and hassle free.  I wish they would take the resources away from giving out "badges" because we're on here and rectify this.

[Jay]

Hi @Monumental, @SECRETSOUND, I'd recommend contacting the support team directly for them to investigate this matter in more detail on their end.

Once you get a ticket ID from the automated response, please let me know the number here so I can locate it in our system!

[kroft]

Hi Jay - I’ve had a ticket open for some time about this. No. 12331149

All best
John