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Audio or video will not play

Symptoms

An audio or video file is catalogued — searchable, perhaps with a waveform or frame thumbnail — but pressing play in the interface fails or produces no sound or picture.

What this usually means

Playback happens in the browser engine that displays ArchiveMind, so it is limited to the audio and video formats that engine can decode. Being indexed and being playable are independent: ArchiveMind can catalogue, fingerprint, and preview a file whose codec the browser simply cannot play. Other causes:

  • The file's drive is offline — playback needs the original file.
  • The file is damaged — try it in a desktop media player to check.

Safe steps to try

  1. Check the drive is connected — see the result's repository state.
  2. Open the file in your usual media player via Reveal in Finder / Show in Explorer. Desktop players (VLC, for example) decode far more formats than browser engines do. If it plays there, nothing is wrong with the file — the format is simply outside what the interface can play, and ArchiveMind saying so is by design.
  3. If the file does not play anywhere, it may be damaged — the catalogue entry is still useful as a record of what and where it was.

What not to delete or change

  • Do not delete the file because the interface cannot play it — check it in a desktop player first.
  • Do not delete the catalogue database.
  • Do not install codec packs from dubious sources on ArchiveMind's account; playing the file in a trusted desktop player is the safe path.

Information to collect for support

  • The file's format/extension (e.g. .flac, .mkv).
  • Whether it plays in a desktop player.
  • What the interface said when playback failed (exact wording or screenshot).
  • Which browser engine displays ArchiveMind on your machine (Chrome, Edge, Brave app window — or a Safari tab).