# Weird computer problem : some FLAC files don't play if the folder title is too long ? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 9, 2018, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-computer-problem-some-flac-files-dont-play-if-the-folder-title-is-too-long/812063 "2018-04-09T09:53:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2018, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-computer-problem-some-flac-files-dont-play-if-the-folder-title-is-too-long/812063/1 "2018-04-09T09:53:14Z")
So, I’ve started converting my CD collection to FLAC and, past the first rookie mistakes, the whole thing has been going rather smoothly. I’ve noticed a very weird, occasional problem that I’m really at a loss to explain, though. A few days ago, I converted a CD that contained 4 tracks. Since the last one was an alternate ending I was not particularly interested in, I decided for the first time to leave it out of the “convert” list. I always listen to a few random tracks when I’ve finished a particular CD but this time I decided to check all of them. The first two played normally but the last one wouldn’t open at all. More precisely, the Windows Media Player popped up but the track wouldn’t play. It didn’t display an error message, but nothing happened. I thought I had messed up the conversion so I re-did it, all 4 tracks this time. By mistake, I sent the new FLAC files to another folder and all three of them played perfectly fine. When I realized that they were not at the right place, I moved them to the correct folder… and track 3 wouldn’t play anymore 😕. I moved them back to the wrong folder, all of them played correctly. Back to the correct folder, track 3 didn’t work :mad:. I tried another player. Groove displayed an error message (something like “missing component 00041581”). However, VLC had absolutely no issue playing the track, even when it was in the problematic folder :dubious:. By then, I thought that the issue was with folder itself, not the file. I created a new folder, didn’t give it a title, put the files in there and all three of them played correctly. I renamed that new folder using the title of the first one, track 3 wouldn’t play :smack:. So, I started experimenting with the title: “Prokofiev” : fine “Prokofiev - Symphony-Concerto” : no problem “Prokofiev - Symphony-Concerto (Mork, Järvi)” : perfectly ok. “Prokofiev - Symphony-Concerto (Mork, Järvi, Birmingham)” : track 3 doesn’t play ! Well, I had a solution, so I renamed the folder using a shorter title. I’ve checked it couple of times since then, and all the tracks played without a hitch. However, I have also found out that other tracks, in different folders were affected, too. Every time, neither WMP, nor Groove would open some of the tracks, while VLC had no issue at all. Every time, using a shorter title for the folder solved the problem, even when the offending one was the main folder and the tracks were buried in some subfolder. So, I guess I have found the solution but I’m baffled both by the seemingly random nature of the problem (some tracks are affected, others not _in the same folder_) and by the weird solution. What does the length of the _folder_ title (not the track title) have to do with WMP’s ability to play a FLAC file? ---
**Author:** ![And\_his\_buzzer\_goes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/and_his_buzzer_goes/32/377_2.png) [@And\_his\_buzzer\_goes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/And_his_buzzer_goes)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2018, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-computer-problem-some-flac-files-dont-play-if-the-folder-title-is-too-long/812063/2 "2018-04-09T10:37:53Z")
I guess it’s this Windows limitation: [https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365247(VS.85).aspx#maxpath](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365247(VS.85).aspx#maxpath) > [@](#): > > **In the Windows API** (with some exceptions discussed in the following paragraphs), **the maximum length for a path is MAX\_PATH, which is defined as 260 characters.** A local path is structured in the following order: drive letter, colon, backslash, name components separated by backslashes, and a terminating null character. For example, the maximum path on drive D is “D:\some 256-character path string\” where “\” represents the invisible terminating null character for the current system codepage. (The characters \< \> are used here for visual clarity and cannot be part of a valid path string.) So in short: the sum of every character in your path + the filename can not be longer than 256. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2018, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-computer-problem-some-flac-files-dont-play-if-the-folder-title-is-too-long/812063/3 "2018-04-09T13:42:22Z")
Ah, that makes sense. It looks like it’s the source of the problem indeed, thanks ! ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-computer-problem-some-flac-files-dont-play-if-the-folder-title-is-too-long/812063/4 "2018-04-09T13:46:50Z")
That link indicates that there’s a registry setting to disable the limitation if you’re using Windows 10, so that might be an option.