In Vault, you can upload audio files as documents and play them back from the Doc Info page.
Audio Renditions
Vault creates an MP3 format rendition file for each uploaded audio file. Audio conversion can take a while, so you’ll receive a notification when it’s complete. Vault automatically opens the audio rendition in the Doc Info page with the audio player. With the appropriate permissions, you can also download these renditions or the original source file.
If album art is embedded in the audio file, Vault uses the album art as a thumbnail. Otherwise, The default thumbnail is a black square. Vault automatically displays the ID3 tag on the thumbnail. Note that Album Art thumbnails are not supported for WAV audio files.
Supported File Formats
Vault supports these audio file formats:
- AAC *.aac
- MP3 *.mp3
- AIFF *.aiff
- Apple Lossless *.m4a
- FLAC *.flac
- WAV *.wav
- WMA *.wma
Vault renders the source audio file up to 128 kbps. You can upload larger files using the Imported Rendition or another rendition type, but you can’t listen to larger audio files in Vault.
Simultaneous Views Restriction
Vault limits the number of users who can listen to the same audio file simultaneously to 30. If you attempt to listen to an audio file that already has the maximum number of viewers, Vault displays a message asking you to try again later.
About Transcoding
Transcoding is a process that happens behind the scenes after you upload an audio file. Although you don’t see the process happen, it is why audio is not immediately available in Vault after uploading. Once transcoding is finished, you and any other users with permission can listen to the audio file in Vault.
The most important reason for transcoding audio files is to convert high quality formatted audio files to a format that is easily sent over the internet and minimizes transmitting bandwidth. In addition, we need to target specific platforms that support a limited set of formats. To do this, we must convert your media into a suitable and supported format.
Comments & Annotations
Inline annotation functionality is not available for audio renditions, but you can use document-level comments to provide feedback on audio files if this feature is enabled for your Vault.
When entering comments, you can include timestamps. If you enter a comment during audio playback, Vault automatically inserts a timestamp in the comment field. When the audio is paused or not playing, you can enter a timestamp manually using the format @MM:SS (@00:32) or @HH:MM:SS (@01:02:32). These timestamps become links which skip to the specific time in the audio file. If the timestamp uses an invalid time (@00:45 in a 30-second audio file) or the format is wrong (@00:35), Vault does not create the link.
Sorting Comments
You can sort audio comments by the creation date or audio timestamps. To sort comments, select Creation Date (Oldest First) or Audio Timestamp from the Sort by drop-down list. Note that Creation Date (Oldest First) is the default selection.
Known Issues
These issues only affect users with Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 11 (IE11). If you experience these issues, we suggest you try another browser.
- After an audio file plays through, you must refresh the page before replaying.
- You can click the play button in the audio player, but the progress bar doesn’t work.