Why a growing MP4 file does not prove a finished recording
Receiving more file bytes and finishing the container are separate events. An interrupted normal MP4 recording can lack information required for playback.
The journal
The viewing journal — page 52
Practical reading about streaming, devices and the decisions behind a better prepared setup.
Why a FLAC audio checksum and a file checksum can disagree
The FLAC stream information checksum covers unencoded audio samples. A checksum of the entire file covers a different byte sequence.
Why Ogg Opus pre-skip is not automatically a missing introduction
Ogg Opus can contain decoded padding that the player is meant to discard. Compare intended output timing before treating every decoded sample as programme content.
Why 48 kHz Opus output does not prove a 48 kHz original
A decoder output rate and the original input rate describe different stages. Ogg Opus has an input-rate metadata field precisely because those stages need not match.
Why a long WAVE export can hit a format limit on a large disk
The traditional RIFF size structure and the filesystem impose separate constraints. Free disk space alone does not establish that a chosen WAVE variant can hold a long export.
Why a stream-copy clip can start before the requested point
An input seek may land at an earlier seek point. FFmpeg treats the intervening material differently when copying streams and when accurately transcoding.