Remove track is not removing the track

Audacity 3 Help Forum Windows
1

Audacity 2.2.2. I have stereo programs. For each one, I want to delete the right channel leaving only the left channel as a mono program. After I split the stereo track, then I select the right channel (the whole track) and under “Tracks”, press “Remove track”. But when I export, the new file is still the same size as the original. It should be HALF the size. Also, when I load it into a new instance of Audacity, it’s now 32-bit float instead of my original 16-bit PCM. Shouldn’t deleting a track be very easy?

2

But, Do you see right channel being deleted? If so, the export size is due to something else. You have to ensure that you are exporting as mono.
About the 32-bit float, that’s the native bit depth of Audacity; when importing, you are “converting” the original file into Audacity’s format.

3

But when I export, the new file is still the same size as the original. It should be HALF the size.

Do you see a mono file when you re-open it? (i.e. If one side is silent that doesn’t make a smaller file.)

You are correct. An uncompressed mono file is half the size of a (similar) stereo file. There are 8 bits in a byte so for uncompressed files, File size = Sample Rate x (bit depth/8) x Playing Time in seconds x number of channels.

4

When I load the saved file into another instance of Audacity, it’s full stereo (2 tracks), but the right channel is silent. There should be no right channel. But the fact that it’s there is consistent with the size being the same as the stereo original.

I’d really like and appreciate two things:

  1. Be able to load the 16-bit PCM file into Audacity, and even though internally it works with float, I think it should say “Stereo, 44100hz 16-bit PCM” instead of “32-bit float”. I shouldn’t have to change the format from 32-bit float to 16-bit PCM if 16-bit PCM was what the loaded file is natively.

  2. Exact steps to “Split stereo track” (that part I already know how to do) and whatever else is needed to save the mono with only 1 track.

5

Ah, I solved my main problem! I discovered and experimented with “Split Stereo to Mono”.
Then I reaffirmed it here:
https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/splitting_and_joining_stereo_tracks.html