Emailing MP3's

[Bob Davis]

I emailed an MP3 file to a person recently and it was received as a TMP
file. I tried sending other files to him and all were received with
filenames like ATT177.TMP, ATT178.TMP, etc. When he changes the extension
to MP3 the file plays normally. How is the filename being changed and what
is the source of this change, the sending or receiving computer? I'm
sending via Outlook 2000 and he also has Outlook 2000.

 

[PA Bear]

How large is the MP3 file?

[Emailing isn't a very efficient way of transferring such a large amount of
data. Adding an attachment to an email adds a markup of roughly 37%;
therefore, e.g., a 1.5MB MP3 attachment to a 10KB email becomes a 1.78MB
message.]

Does the copy of your sent message show the same thing in Sent Items folder
or if you send it to yourself?

Have /both/ of you tried deleting Temporary Internet Files and all TEMP
files (cf. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=312351; applies to OL, too)?

Have you tried sending via a Plain Text-formatted message?

Outlook-specific newsgroups include:

 

[Allan]

How large is the MP3 file?

[Emailing isn't a very efficient way of transferring such a large amount
of data. Adding an attachment to an email adds a markup of roughly 37%;
therefore, e.g., a 1.5MB MP3 attachment to a 10KB email becomes a 1.78MB
message.]

It would certainly be much better to upload to a password protected website
and let the recipient download it directly. Many ISPs now offer free online
storage of 10GB and up. Examples are BT, Earthlink.

 

[Bob Davis]

This MP3 was 2.4mb, but I don't think size is a factor. I routinely send
even larger JPG's, up to 5mb, to clients through this email account with no
problems. The subject email that contained the offending MP3 was also sent
to five other people (all BCC), and I just checked with two of them and both
did not have the filename changed, and nobody else complained about this.
In trying to diagnose, I sent the problem recipient several MP3's of about
the same size with the same result (filename change), but no files with
other extensions, all being smaller, were changed (TXT, small WAV).

I don't think file size is the problem, as the size is unaltered, and after
changing the extension to MP3 the file can be played normally. The only
alteration seems to be filename and extension.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I emailed an MP3 file to a person recently and it was received as a TMP
file. I tried sending other files to him and all were received with
filenames like ATT177.TMP, ATT178.TMP, etc. When he changes the extension
to MP3 the file plays normally. How is the filename being changed and
what is the source of this change, the sending or receiving computer? I'm
sending via Outlook 2000 and he also has Outlook 2000.

This is being done by either the sender's or recipient's email client or
mail server, not by XP.

You will need to do some testing to see where exactly the change is
occurring, and the IT staff should be able to help you.

It is important in tracking this down to know what the mail servers in use
are - are they Exchange or Notes servers, for example?

HTH
-pk

 

[Bob Davis]

It would certainly be much better to upload to a password protected
website and let the recipient download it directly. Many ISPs now offer
free online storage of 10GB and up. Examples are BT, Earthlink.

I have an FTP site that I use mostly for business and very large files (up
to several GB), but I didn't think it necessary for a 2.4mb file. As I said
earlier, I send larger (5mb seems to be the limit) JPG files through this
email account regularly without problems. BTW, both I and the problem
recipient have the same ISP and both are POP3 accounts. Also, two other
recipients of the same email (all BCC) reported no filename or extension
change on their end. It appears to be this one recipient who has this
problem.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

This MP3 was 2.4mb, but I don't think size is a factor. I routinely send
even larger JPG's, up to 5mb, to clients through this email account with
no problems. The subject email that contained the offending MP3 was also
sent to five other people (all BCC), and I just checked with two of them
and both did not have the filename changed, and nobody else complained
about this.

So it's likely, then, that the other recipients are using different mail
servers, probably running different server software.

Have the problem recipient check the web interface for the email account.
If the attachment extension is changed there, it has nothing to do with the
email client.

In trying to diagnose, I sent the problem recipient several MP3's of about
the same size with the same result (filename change), but no files with
other extensions, all being smaller, were changed (TXT, small WAV).

Then the problem is very likely with the mail server used by that one
recipient. This is something you have no control over.

The recipient needs to contact the mail server administrators if you wish to
send files in this way.

While these days email servers do support larger attachments, it isn't
really a good idea to distribute files this way if you are sending them
regularly.

Larger attachments tend to slow down mail transfers, and create bottlenecks
not just for that user but for other users of the server. And no other
mail is coming in while yours is downloading.

Better to find some small web or FTP space and send the client a link for
download, and delete the file once it's been retrieved if it is sensitive.

I don't think file size is the problem, as the size is unaltered, and
after changing the extension to MP3 the file can be played normally. The
only alteration seems to be filename and extension.

Yes, you've pretty much established that the location of the change is the
receiving server.

HTH
-pk

How large is the MP3 file?

[Emailing isn't a very efficient way of transferring such a large amount
of data. Adding an attachment to an email adds a markup of roughly 37%;
therefore, e.g., a 1.5MB MP3 attachment to a 10KB email becomes a 1.78MB
message.]

Does the copy of your sent message show the same thing in Sent Items
folder or if you send it to yourself?

Have /both/ of you tried deleting Temporary Internet Files and all TEMP
files (cf. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=312351; applies to OL,
too)?

Have you tried sending via a Plain Text-formatted message?

 

[Allan]

This MP3 was 2.4mb, but I don't think size is a factor. I routinely send
even larger JPG's, up to 5mb, to clients through this email account with
no problems. The subject email that contained the offending MP3 was also
sent to five other people (all BCC), and I just checked with two of them
and both did not have the filename changed, and nobody else complained
about this. In trying to diagnose, I sent the problem recipient several
MP3's of about the same size with the same result (filename change), but
no files with other extensions, all being smaller, were changed (TXT,
small WAV).

I don't think file size is the problem, as the size is unaltered, and
after changing the extension to MP3 the file can be played normally. The
only alteration seems to be filename and extension.

How large is the MP3 file?

[Emailing isn't a very efficient way of transferring such a large amount
of data. Adding an attachment to an email adds a markup of roughly 37%;
therefore, e.g., a 1.5MB MP3 attachment to a 10KB email becomes a 1.78MB
message.]

Does the copy of your sent message show the same thing in Sent Items
folder or if you send it to yourself?

Have /both/ of you tried deleting Temporary Internet Files and all TEMP
files (cf. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=312351; applies to OL,
too)?

Have you tried sending via a Plain Text-formatted message?

Bob, have you tried compressing the .mp3 into a .zip archive and sending the
archive as the attachment instead of the .mp3 file directly? I have noticed
people do this often to send pictures as email attachments.

 

[Bob Davis]

Bob, have you tried compressing the .mp3 into a .zip archive and sending
the archive as the attachment instead of the .mp3 file directly? I have
noticed people do this often to send pictures as email attachments.

No, I haven't tried that, but since MP3 is a compressed format it probably
wouldn't compress further using ZIP, so there would be little or no size
change--thus no real advantage. I might try it to see if the ZIP extension
allows it to go through without the filename/extension change, though.

None of this is causing big problems, as all the affected recipient has to
do is change the filename and extension and all is well. I'm just curious
about the cause.

 

[Bob Davis]

Since three others on the list for that email (all BCC's) did not have the
filename/extension change, it seems likely the source of the problem is that
one recipient's email account.

 

[PA Bear]

Tell the recipient who had the problem run Disk Cleanup.

This MP3 was 2.4mb, but I don't think size is a factor. I routinely send
even larger JPG's, up to 5mb, to clients through this email account with
no
problems. The subject email that contained the offending MP3 was also
sent
to five other people (all BCC), and I just checked with two of them and
both
did not have the filename changed, and nobody else complained about this.
In trying to diagnose, I sent the problem recipient several MP3's of about
the same size with the same result (filename change), but no files with
other extensions, all being smaller, were changed (TXT, small WAV).

I don't think file size is the problem, as the size is unaltered, and
after
changing the extension to MP3 the file can be played normally. The only
alteration seems to be filename and extension.

How large is the MP3 file?

[Emailing isn't a very efficient way of transferring such a large amount
of data. Adding an attachment to an email adds a markup of roughly 37%;
therefore, e.g., a 1.5MB MP3 attachment to a 10KB email becomes a 1.78MB
message.]

Does the copy of your sent message show the same thing in Sent Items
folder or if you send it to yourself?

Have /both/ of you tried deleting Temporary Internet Files and all TEMP
files (cf. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=312351; applies to OL,
too)?

Have you tried sending via a Plain Text-formatted message?

 

[NoConsequence]

I emailed an MP3 file to a person recently and it was received as a TMP
file. I tried sending other files to him and all were received with
filenames like ATT177.TMP, ATT178.TMP, etc. When he changes the extension
to MP3 the file plays normally. How is the filename being changed and what
is the source of this change, the sending or receiving computer? I'm
sending via Outlook 2000 and he also has Outlook 2000.

Ask in an email group corresponding to YOUR email software. XP has
ZERO emailing capabilities and as such your question is out of place
here.

 

[Bob Davis]

Ask in an email group corresponding to YOUR email software. XP has
ZERO emailing capabilities and as such your question is out of place
here.

I did, but received little response. You must be a neophyte. OE is a part
of IE, which is part of XP. Thus, XP has links to email. This problem is
irrelevant to specific email software.

 

[Allan]

No, I haven't tried that, but since MP3 is a compressed format it probably
wouldn't compress further using ZIP, so there would be little or no size
change--thus no real advantage. I might try it to see if the ZIP
extension allows it to go through without the filename/extension change,
though.

None of this is causing big problems, as all the affected recipient has to
do is change the filename and extension and all is well. I'm just curious
about the cause.

I know that the compression advantage in saving space is negligible but
there may be a reason that MS itself does this with downloads of Technet
podcasts. The disadvantage to the recipient is that they have to decompress
(extract) the .mp3 after receiving your email.

 

[Bob I]

The problem exists only at a particular destination. It isn't a problem
caused by your software, your ISP, or your operating system. It is a
problem caused on the recipients end.

 

[NoConsequence]

I did, but received little response. You must be a neophyte. OE is a part
of IE, which is part of XP. Thus, XP has links to email. This problem is
irrelevant to specific email software.

NO, IE and OE are programs SEPARATE from the OS. Hence, XP HAS NO
MAIL CAPABILITIES.

Oh, and OE is NOT a part of IE.

 

[Bob Davis]

NO, IE and OE are programs SEPARATE from the OS. Hence, XP HAS NO
MAIL CAPABILITIES.

Oh, and OE is NOT a part of IE.

IE and OE are packaged with Windows and integral to it. Try uninstalling IE
or OE. Then, get a life.

 

[NoConsequence]

IE and OE are packaged with Windows and integral to it. Try uninstalling IE
or OE. Then, get a life.

It can be done - due to MS problems in Europe, they market Window
there that does NOT have IE installed it in at all.

Now who needs to get a life - or maybe get a grasp on how to do
research properly before correcting others?

Oh, BTW, my computer does NOT have OE on it. It works just fine, by
the way.