Subjects says it all - I have an mp3 that was used for broadcast, and now I want to place it on my website in a lower quality, so my guests listen to it. How do I reduce the quality to get a smaller file size?
If you imported it into Audacity and exported it again, it’s automatically at a lower quality, but the same filesize. To get a smaller file and very much lower quality, File > Export > MP3, Options. Audacity default is 128 and that’s good quality. Minimum for a stereo show is 64. minimum for a mono show is 32. At that point, almost everybody can tell there’s something wrong with it.
Those numbers will be different if you started out with an MP3. MP3 compression damage multiplies as you do production – even at the same file size.
Never do production in MP3.
Koz
Here i go again, but you can also export it out as a WMA file, it will be a smaller file size. and being it is for a web site i don’t think that you will be able to tell the difference in sound
Again just my opinion
Marty
You want to post a Windows Media Audio file to a general web page? I can play them on a Mac because I loaded the money-based conversion software…
WMA, somebody will correct me, is still a proprietary format.
Koz
WMA, somebody will correct me, is still a proprietary format
You might have me on that Koz, I know that Audacity converts to WMA, yes you have to have the FFMPEG add in, but you also have to have the LLAME addin to do MP3, and Windows Media Player converts to WMA, and most of the CD writing programs will write a WMA to CD. So i do not know if it is illeagle, But i also thought that MP3 was Proprietary.
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III,[4] more commonly referred to as MP3, > is a patented encoding > format for digital audio which uses a form of lossy data compression. It is a common audio format for consumer audio storage, as well as a de facto standard of digital audio compression for the transfer and playback of music on most digital audio players
Windows Media Audio (WMA) is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. > It is a proprietary technology > that forms part of the Windows Media framework
Ogg is a free, open container format > maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation. The creators of the Ogg format state that it is unrestricted by software patents[4] and is designed to provide for efficient streaming and manipulation of high quality digital multimedia
Seems like OGG is the only free open container
If i steared some one wrong the i am sorry, but what file formats are not proprietary Even the WAV file is Microsoft and AIFF is apple, I would just like to know for my own knowledge Please
Marty
For compressed audio formats, Mac tends to favour AAC, Windows tends to favour WMA and Linux tends to favour Ogg Vovbis. Everyone does MP3 because it is the most widely used. AAC and WMA are proprietary formats. MP3 is subject to a number of patent and licensing claims that have been hotly debated for years. Ogg Vorbis is free and open source. Regardless of the copious amount of hype, all 4 formats are capable of reasonably good quality sound at “medium” bit rates and very good quality sound at higher bit rates.
I mean WMA is a proprietary Playback format. If you point a Mac at a WMA file, it will just look at you. Koz
Unless you install the Windows Media® Components for QuickTime http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=9442
The case is the same for pure open source distributions of Linux. They will just look at you for any closed source media formats unless “non-free” components are installed (which is usually a one click option to support most common media formats).