Why can't wav files play in Gmail?
Our VoIP system automatically forwards WAV files to email addresses, and we have a hosted gmail solution. Unfortunately, most of the time we cannot play the embedded wav files. Google has some proprietary system in place for this, and doesn't use the QT plugin or anything else. I can get it to work if I click on the address bar's warning icon (about secured links), and click on a couple of headers within it. I can then play the wav file within Gmail at least a couple of times, before I have it stops playing again. And just to give some info - when Gmail goes to play the WAV file, if it's not going to work, the window goes black, the play button appears, but no time stamp for duration of message appears. If I close the message playback window, go to a different email, click in the warning icon in the address bar, then go back to the voicemail system email and click on the message, it'll usually play. Works fine in both Safari and Chrome, but not Firefox. Any ideas? Fixes?
All Replies (4)
Please ignore this reply
Mozilla does not include certain audio and video technologies in Firefox because they are patented. Sometimes principles can be annoying... but WAV should be supported by the "native" HTML5 audio player, which I believe is what Google is using in Gmail these days.
Could you try this test page and see whether you can play WAV files in the native HTML5 audio player there?
Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
Sorry, I didn't read your message carefully. You can play the WAV files, but only after a series of shenanigans. If you are getting the "shield" icon, it seems that your Gmail has a mixed content problem, which I don't think has been mentioned before in this context. Do you recall having to add any security exceptions for Google sites recently? This could be part of a different problem.
Thanks for the reply. The answer is no, haven't had to add any security exceptions recently. But then again, we've only switched to gmail in the last 30 days as well, so we've been on v26 of Firefox. Also a detail I didn't mention was that we're on OSX 10.9 as well. I also tried it on the latest Firefox beta, and same result. I agree, if definitely seems to be something security related. Any other ideas for a fix? Thanks!
Did you check the Browser Console or Web Console (Firefox/Tools > Web Developer) for error messages?