diff --git a/js/ui.js b/js/ui.js
index aea595a0..cc345cf1 100644
--- a/js/ui.js
+++ b/js/ui.js
@@ -983,15 +983,9 @@ function filterFilePaths(filePaths) {
     const filteredPaths = [];
     filePaths.forEach(filePath => {
         const baseName = p.basename(filePath);
-        const hasQuestionMark = filePath.includes('?');
         const isHiddenFile = baseName.startsWith('.');
-
-        if (hasQuestionMark) {
-            generateToast({type: 'warning', message:`<b>${filePath}</b><br> contains an invalid '?' character. It will not be opened`})
-        }
-
         // Only add the path if it’s not hidden and doesn’t contain '?'
-        if (!isHiddenFile && !hasQuestionMark) {
+        if (!isHiddenFile) {
             filteredPaths.push(filePath);
         }
     });
diff --git a/js/worker.js b/js/worker.js
index f46eada1..9107370a 100644
--- a/js/worker.js
+++ b/js/worker.js
@@ -612,7 +612,7 @@ const getFiles = async (files, image) => {
             file_list = [...file_list,...dirFiles]
         } else {
             const filename = p.basename(path)
-            filename.startsWith('.') || file_list.push(path) // Exclude hidden files
+            filename.startsWith('.') || file_list.push(path) // Exclude hidden files (in subfolders)
         }
     }
     // filter out unsupported files
@@ -940,7 +940,7 @@ const getDuration = async (src) => {
     let audio;
     return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
         audio = new Audio();
-        audio.src = src.replace(/#/g, '%23'); // allow hash in the path (https://github.com/Mattk70/Chirpity-Electron/issues/98)
+        audio.src = src.replaceAll('#', '%23').replaceAll('?', '%3F'); // allow hash in the path (https://github.com/Mattk70/Chirpity-Electron/issues/98)
         audio.addEventListener("loadedmetadata", function () {
             const duration = audio.duration;
             audio = undefined;
@@ -1382,7 +1382,7 @@ const getPredictBuffers = async ({
     let chunkStart = start * sampleRate;
     return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
         let concatenatedBuffer = Buffer.alloc(0);
-        const command = ffmpeg(file)
+        const command = ffmpeg('file:' + file)
             .seekInput(start)
             .duration(end - start)
             .format('wav')
@@ -1505,7 +1505,7 @@ const fetchAudioBuffer = async ({
     end = Math.min(end, METADATA[file].duration);
     // Use ffmpeg to extract the specified audio segment
     return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-        let command = ffmpeg(file)
+        let command = ffmpeg('file:' + file)
             .seekInput(start)
             .duration(end - start)
             .format('wav')
@@ -1843,7 +1843,7 @@ const bufferToAudio = async ({
     
     return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
         const bufferStream = new PassThrough();
-        let ffmpgCommand = ffmpeg(file)
+        let ffmpgCommand = ffmpeg('file:' + file)
         .toFormat(soundFormat)
         .seekInput(start)
         .duration(end - start)
@@ -3654,7 +3654,7 @@ async function convertFile(inputFilePath, fullFilePath, row, db, dbArchiveName,
     const boundaries = await setStartEnd(inputFilePath);
 
     return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-        let command = ffmpeg(inputFilePath);
+        let command = ffmpeg('file:' + inputFilePath)
     
         if (STATE.archive.format === 'ogg') {
             command.audioBitrate('128k')