I have sometimes got audio files that are simply a grey rectangular box that plays back audio, rather than having a large audio file document. How do I send an audio document that way?

Have you tried just dragging one into an email and sending it to yourself to see what happens?

It seems like regardless of their appearance, they've got to be files of some sort.

I can do that but it remains a 178.MB file....too large for the ISP's system.

The box I'm talking about, and have received from others, is a narrow rectangle with a start arrow that is just played inside the email.....like clicking on a link.

Having never done this, I don't know if this would work. Select the file (you may have to move it to the desktop so that you are in Finder) and in the File menu, select Compress. Perhaps that will make it small enough to send. Worth a try...

First, Jon's idea sounds good, but music files can't be compressed that way.

Are you able to move the "box" from the email to your desktop?

Maybe it is just a link?

Your best bet may be to ask the sender how it was created.

There is no sender yet. I wish to find out how this is done so that I can be the sender.

I have the ability to compress within my Amadeus Pro but it can't get it small enough to go through the ISP's size limitations. It's a three hour meeting 173.MB.

Can you upload it to Dropbox or Imgur? If so, you can provide a link.

Sorry, ryck, but I'm confused.

You said "I have sometimes got audio files that are simply a grey rectangular box that plays back audio...."

From where did you get them if they weren't sent to you?

They were. Instead of "I have sometimes got audio files that are simply..." perhaps I should have said "I have sometimes had audio files sent to me that are...."

Which gets us back to if you can identify a sender you can ask how it was done.

Therein lies the rub.....it's been quite a while and I don't recall who. I just figured that there might be someone here who is familiar with it.

Are these things stored on your Mac as freestanding items, are they in saved emails, or are they merely memories, i.e. can you examine them in any way?

Even if they're in emails you should be able to learn something about them.

I understand that iCloud can be used to send large audio files. I send large video files myself.

jaybass

Without an actual example to examine I can only guess how your large audio file was handled, but my guess is the "grey rectangular box" was an image file with a link to the actual audio file stored shared from a streaming server. There are different ways that can be done using HTML, or javascript that would "play" in most email clients. The object size would be pretty small and the audio content could be relatively large but that would not be noticed unless you were on a cellular network.

The simplest way of sharing your three hour meeting, I can think of, would be to copy the file to iCloud (if you have an Apple ID you have an iCloud account whether you know or use it or not) then control click on the file on iCloud and select Share from the context menu. You can then share the file to anyone with the URL, or only those you invite. Then send the url to your intended recipients in an email.

By-the-way since your file is of a meeting if you reduce the audio to monaural and the old AM radio bandwidth of 800Hz to 8 KHz I suspect the audio file size could be reduced by as much as 50 to 75% without significant loss of comprehension. It would not be ideal for a symphonic orchestra concert but more than adequate for the spoken word.