Sample MP3, WAV and MP4 files — free download
Small audio and video fixtures: silent MP3s with and without an ID3 tag, silent and tone WAVs, a very short clip, a minimal MP4, and the broken cases, including a truncated header, a declared-length mismatch, and an MP4 whose magic bytes are wrong.
9 ready-made audio and video test files
| File | Size | What it catches | |
|---|---|---|---|
| empty-ftyp-only.mp4 | 28 bytes | Probing code that checks only the ftyp box and reports the file as playable video. Duration and track enumeration should fail cleanly, not return NaN. | download |
| truncated-header.wav | 30 bytes | Parsers that read fixed offsets without bounds-checking and throw an out-of-range error instead of reporting a malformed file. | download |
| very-short-10ms.wav | 926 bytes | Decoders with a minimum frame or window size, and duration formatters that render this as "0:00" or divide by a zero-second duration. | download |
| no-id3-raw.mp3 | 31.4 KB | The other half of MP3 detection. A parser that only recognises files beginning with ID3 will reject this perfectly valid stream, and one that assumes a tag exists will read the first frame as metadata. | download |
| fake-mp4-wrong-magic.mp4 | 64.0 KB | Transcode queues that accept a job based on the extension and only discover the file is not video after burning a worker slot on it. Validate the ftyp box at upload time. | download |
| silence-5s.mp3 | 77.9 KB | Audio upload and metadata handling. Starts with the ASCII marker ID3 rather than an MPEG sync word, which is exactly what trips signature checks that only look for 0xFFFB. Also confirms a reader skips the syncsafe-sized ID3 tag before hunting for the first frame. | download |
| declared-length-mismatch.wav | 172 KB | Decoders that trust the declared chunk length and either read past the buffer or hang waiting for data that never arrives. A robust decoder clamps to the actual file size. | download |
| tone-5s.wav | 431 KB | Baseline playback and waveform rendering. An audible tone makes silent failures obvious. | download |
| silence-30s.wav | 2.5 MB | Transcription and voice-activity pipelines that hang or return an empty result without distinguishing "no speech" from "processing failed". Also normalisation code that divides by peak amplitude - here, zero. | download |
Every file is generated from source — no third-party copyright — and each has its own page with a published SHA-256 you can verify after download.
Questions
Where can I download a short sample MP3 file?
There are two below. Both are 5 seconds of silent MPEG-1 Layer III at 128 kbps. One carries an ID3v2.3 tag with title and artist frames, the other is a raw frame stream with no tag at all, which is the case metadata readers usually mishandle.
Why does one MP3 have no ID3 tag?
Because plenty of real MP3s do not have one, and a player or uploader that assumes every file starts with "ID3" will either skip valid audio or crash. The raw file lets you prove your reader finds the first 0xFF 0xFB sync word instead.
Where can I download a short sample WAV file?
There is a 30-second silence, a 5-second tone and a 10-millisecond clip below, all tiny and generated from source.
How do I test media error handling?
The truncated-header WAV and the declared-length-mismatch WAV both look valid at first glance but fail during decode, which is exactly where most media bugs live.