What causes "cannot get the audio sample rate" in TeamNewPipe/NewPipe?

Use a different/known-good source WebM whose audio track exposes a valid sampling frequency.

TeamNewPipe/NewPipe · error · RuntimeException

cannot get the audio sample rate

Error message

cannot get the audio sample rate

What it means

OggFromWebMWriter parses a WebM Audio track and calls getSampleFrequencyFromTrack(track.bMetadata) to extract the sampling rate. If the result is 0.0f the audio configuration is unusable (Ogg/Vorbis needs a real sample rate for granule positions) and a RuntimeException is thrown. The metadata blob lacked or had a corrupt SamplingFrequency element.

Source

Thrown at app/src/main/java/org/schabi/newpipe/streams/OggFromWebMWriter.java:173

        source.close();
        output.close();
    }

    public void build() throws IOException {
        final float resolution;
        SimpleBlock bloq;
        final ByteBuffer header = ByteBuffer.allocate(27 + (255 * 255));
        final ByteBuffer page = ByteBuffer.allocate(64 * 1024);

        header.order(ByteOrder.LITTLE_ENDIAN);

        /* step 1: get the amount of frames per seconds */
        switch (webmTrack.kind) {
            case Audio:
                resolution = getSampleFrequencyFromTrack(webmTrack.bMetadata);
                if (resolution == 0f) {
                    throw new RuntimeException("cannot get the audio sample rate");
                }
                break;
            case Video:
                // WARNING: untested
                if (webmTrack.defaultDuration == 0) {
                    throw new RuntimeException("missing default frame time");
                }
                resolution = 1000f / ((float) webmTrack.defaultDuration
                        / webmSegment.info.timecodeScale);
                break;
            default:
                throw new RuntimeException("not implemented");
        }

        /* step 2: create packet with code init data */
        if (webmTrack.codecPrivate != null) {
            addPacketSegment(webmTrack.codecPrivate.length);
            makePacketheader(0x00, header, webmTrack.codecPrivate);

View on GitHub (pinned to 9e8be09156)

Solutions

Use a different/known-good source WebM whose audio track exposes a valid sampling frequency.
Re-encode the source with ffmpeg so the audio track metadata is well-formed.
Pre-parse the track metadata and reject tracks whose sample frequency is 0 before invoking the writer.
Provide the audio track from a different extractor itag that includes complete metadata.

Example fix

// before
new OggFromWebMWriter(source, out).write(); // throws if metadata lacks sample rate

// after — pre-check the track before writing
WebMReader r = new WebMReader(source);
r.parse();
WebMTrack t = r.getAvailableTracks()[0];
if (getSampleFrequencyFromTrack(t.bMetadata) == 0f) {
    throw new IOException("audio track has no sample rate; pick another source");
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Pre-parse the audio track metadata and reject a zero sample rate before writing.
WebMReader r = new WebMReader(source);
r.parse();
WebMTrack audio = selectAudioTrack(r);
if (getSampleFrequencyFromTrack(audio.bMetadata) == 0f) {
    throw new IOException("audio track exposes no sample rate; choose another source");
}

Type guard

public static boolean audioTrackHasSampleRate(WebMTrack t) {
    return t.kind == WebMTrack.Kind.Audio
        && getSampleFrequencyFromTrack(t.bMetadata) != 0f;
}

Try / catch

try {
    writer.write();
} catch (RuntimeException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("sample rate")) {
        // metadata lacks sample rate — pick a different source/itag
        selectAlternateAudioSource();
    } else throw e;
}

Prevention

Validate the audio track's sample rate before invoking the writer.
Prefer well-formed WebM sources from major platforms.
Re-encode malformed sources with ffmpeg to repair metadata.
Filter tracks by kind==Audio before selection.

When it happens

Trigger: Writing Ogg from a WebM audio track whose codec-private metadata block does not contain a parseable sampling frequency. This happens for audio tracks missing the SamplingFrequency EBML element or with a zero value.

Common situations: An Opus/Vorbis WebM where the track metadata is incomplete; a malformed WebM from a buggy encoder; a track extracted incorrectly from a higher-level container; an unusual codec whose metadata this writer does not parse.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of TeamNewPipe/NewPipe@9e8be09156 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9f34c3d52d114a48. Report an issue: GitHub.