Editing at a higher sample rate than the imported file - any negative effects?

Audacity 3 Help Forum Windows
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Hello,

I edited a bunch of audio files (their rates being 16-bit/44.1 kHz) on Audacity, but only now realized that the sample rate set in Audacity while I was making my edits was at 192,000 kHz. [I know the default behavior is for Audacity to change it to the file’s native rate, but somehow, this time, it didn’t do that. Perhaps because I dragged and dropped the files instead of manually importing.] I did export my files at 16-bit/44.1 kHz as intended. The edits I made also didn’t have any processing involved. I simply cut certain parts (mostly silence) out of the audio.

Is this something I have to worry about? Has the audio information changed due to me not selecting the correct sample rate while editing? Do I now have to re-edit all of my files?

Thank you so much. I’ll appreciate the answers.

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I wouldn’t worry about it. Usually up-sampling or down-sampling is audibly transparent as long as you stay at “CD quality” or better.

But of course, it is “good practice” avoid “unnecessary” re-sampling.

It’s not “bit perfect”. The data has changed slightly but usually not the sound.

Note that Audacity normally works internally at 32-bit floating-point. The bit-depth conversion and back is lossless and perfectly mathematically reversable (with original integer data up to 24-bits).

Normally if you open a file the sample rate isn’t changed (only the bit depth). But if you have one file open and you import a 2nd track, the 2nd track will be re-sampled to match the 1st track (if necessary). I don’t know about “dragging-in” a file.

If you want to keep the unchanged parts bit-perfect, turn-OFF dither. Dither is added noise that’s supposed to sound better than the “natural” quantization noise and the rule is to dither ONLY when you reduce the bit depth and I’m not sure if Audacity is smart enough to do it automatically… As far as I know, it doesn’t remember the bit depth of what you imported. It’s not really a big deal because you can’t hear dither (or the lack of dither) at any normal listening conditions at 16-bits or better, but that’s the “rule”.

1 Like
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Thank you so much for the insights! And yes, I turned off dither :slight_smile: I saw your old comments on the forum prior to making my edits, so I followed that. Thank you again, Doug.