What the red format warning on audio upload means

You drag a WAV file into the Audio Store, hit upload, and instead of a clean confirmation you get a block of red text telling you the format is wrong. That red warning is not a cosmetic complaint. The Audio Store validates the file after upload, and when it does not match the one shape VICIdial can play, it tells you so loudly. The fix is almost always the Recording format (WAV/MP3) of the source file, not anything in the dialer.

What the warning is actually checking

Asterisk, the call engine under VICIdial, only plays two audio shapes out of the Audio Store reliably. The validator checks your upload against them. A WAV must be PCM mono 16-bit at an 8000 Hz sample rate: one channel, 8 kHz framerate, 16 bits per sample, uncompressed PCM. A GSM file must be 8-bit 8k. Anything else, even a perfectly good-sounding stereo MP3 you exported, trips the red message. The validator runs only on WAV uploads, so a malformed WAV is where most people see this.

The usual culprits are stereo audio (two channels instead of one), a 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz sample rate straight from a recording app, or 24-bit depth. Most recording software defaults to one of those because they sound great on a laptop, but a telephone line carries a narrow 8 kHz mono signal and nothing more. The store is enforcing the limits of the phone network, not being fussy. Each one is a single reformat away from passing. If you want the deep version on the two accepted shapes, the Audio Store file formats walkthrough covers exactly which settings to use, and GSM vs WAV audio explains when to pick one over the other.

How the validator decides

flowchart TD
  A[Upload WAV file] --> B{Is it WAV?}
  B -->|No| C[GSM checked as 8bit 8k]
  B -->|Yes| D{Mono one channel?}
  D -->|No| E[Red warning]
  D -->|Yes| F{16 bit PCM?}
  F -->|No| E
  F -->|Yes| G{8000 Hz rate?}
  G -->|No| E
  G -->|Yes| H[Accepted plays cleanly]

Read the chart top to bottom: the moment any check fails, you get the red message. Pass all three and the file is ready for any prompt slot, whether that is a Welcome message on an inbound queue, a hold loop wired into a Music on hold class, or a recorded line a Voicemail drop plays when nobody picks up.

Clearing the warning

The fix sequence is short:

1. Open the source file in any audio editor and export it as WAV, mono, 16-bit PCM, 8000 Hz.
2. Re-upload it to the Audio Store. Uploading a file with the same name replaces the older copy in place.
3. Confirm there is no red message this time, then play it back from the file list to hear it.

If you are still finding your footing with the store itself, setting up the VICIdial Audio Store covers the basics, and the full audio prompts, voicemail and TTS guide ties every piece together, including how TTS (text to speech) fits when you would rather generate a prompt than record one.

One more thing worth knowing: a red warning does not mean the file failed to land. It can still sit in the store while being unplayable, which is why playing it back from the file list is the real proof. Reformat, re-upload over the same name, and play it once to confirm. Three steps and you never ship a silent prompt to a caller.

Format errors are a small tax on running your own audio, but they add up when you are mid-launch. VICIfast ships a fully configured dialer with the Audio Store ready to use, so you can focus on the prompts instead of the plumbing. See /pricing for plans.