Preview Mode

Preview Mode is the standard way to open content in Orbit. Use the file selector (or drag-and-drop) to open a single ADM BWF or IAMF file for inspection and playback. This is the right mode for quick QC passes where you're stepping through one file at a time.

For working across multiple tracks in one session, see Sessions.

Opening a file

There are several entry points, all equivalent — they just suit different points in the workflow:

Welcome screen → Open File… — when you launch Orbit with nothing loaded, the Welcome screen offers a single-file open as one of its main actions.
File → Open File… (⌘O) — the standard menu path. Available with or without a session active; loading a file from this dialog when a session is active loads the file into the session (not preview mode).
Drag-and-drop — drop an ADM BWF, IAMF, or MP4-wrapped IAMF file onto the main window. Same result as the menu path.
Recent files — File → Open Recent → Files lists recently-opened files (sessions are listed separately). The Welcome screen also surfaces them in its Recent panel.

The file you open is not copied anywhere — Orbit reads it in place. Moving the file on disk while it's loaded is fine; Orbit holds a security-scoped bookmark, not a hard reference.

Supported formats

ADM BWF (.wav) — Broadcast Wave with embedded ADM metadata (axml + chna chunks). The canonical Dolby Atmos master format.
IAMF (.iamf) — raw IAMF bitstreams.
MP4-wrapped IAMF (.mp4) — IAMF carried in an ISOBMFF / MP4 container. Orbit recognises and routes these through the IAMF decode path automatically.

If a file looks like it should work but doesn't, the loader surfaces a specific error rather than failing silently — most often it's a missing AXML chunk in a .wav that wasn't authored for ADM.

What you can and can't do

In preview mode, most of Orbit's features work the same as inside a session — the audio engine, monitoring modes, meters, 3D visualizer, waveform views, head tracking, and binaural rendering are all live.

What's missing in preview mode (because it's a single file, not a project):

Playlists — preview mode is one file at a time; there's no "next track" to advance to.
Saved markers and loops between launches — you can place markers and define a loop region in preview mode, but they live only with the active untitled session (see below) and don't follow you to the next file you open.
Pro-only Sessions features — the Sessions menu items (Save Session, Save Session As, Close Session) are inactive when you're not in a session. They light up the moment you promote preview to a session.

The Preview Mode pill

When you've got a file loaded but no session open, a small Preview Mode pill appears in the header next to the file name. It's a status indicator and a one-click action both:

Indicator — confirms you're in preview mode and that any markers / loops / monitoring tweaks you make are ephemeral (they live in an untitled session — see below — but won't follow you to the next preview load).
Action — clicking the pill (Pro only) promotes the current file to a full .orbsession bundle via Create Session from Preview…. The file you've already loaded and any waveform render Orbit has done for it move into the new bundle without re-importing — see Sessions: Creating a session.

The pill disappears once a session is active.

Crash recovery

Behind the scenes, every preview-mode file load creates a temporary "untitled" session in Orbit's temp directory. You don't see it in the UI — it's a crash-recovery scaffold that auto-saves regardless of the Auto-Save preference. If Orbit (or macOS) drops out unexpectedly, the next launch can recover where you were.

When you load a different file in preview mode, the previous untitled session stays on disk. Over time these accumulate; clean them up via Preferences → Sessions → Clear All (see Sessions preferences).

When to graduate to a session

Preview mode is the right tool for one-off QC passes. Reach for Sessions when:

You're working through more than one or two files in a sitting and want playlist navigation.
You want to preserve markers, loops, monitoring config, or routing across reopens.
You're sharing a project with another QC engineer and want a self-contained bundle.
You're using video sync, where the video edit list and sync settings need to persist.

Promotion is one click — the Preview Mode pill, or File → Create Session from Preview….

Preview Mode ​

Opening a file ​

Supported formats ​

What you can and can't do ​

The Preview Mode pill ​

Crash recovery ​

When to graduate to a session ​

See also ​