Audacity Forum

Hi. I am a total noob at this, so I apologize for what may be a stupid question. I have been asked to upload some audio recordings to a church website. The size of some of these in .mp3 format exceeds 100mb. Is there a way that I can use Audacity to reduce this size (to perhaps 50mb) without shortening the length of the .mp3? If so, could you please direct me how?

Recompressing MP3s is not such a great idea as there is always a further loss in sound quality. It is much better if you can work from the original uncompressed audio (WAV file or Audacity Project).

I would recommend that you upgrade to Audacity 1.3.10

These instructions are for Audacity 1.3.10

If the MP3 is all you have access to, then Import the file into Audacity (you will need a LOT of free space on your hard drive - a 100MB MP3 will probably expand to around 800MB before you have done anything else). If the file is stereo, convert it to mono ("Tracks menu > Stereo to mono").

Click on "File menu > Export > "

Enter a file name, browse to the destination directory and select "MP3" as the file type.

Click on the "Options" button and select "Bit rate mode = Variable", "Quality = 9 (smaller file)"

Click "OK" then click "Save".

If the Metadata Editor pops up, click "OK".

<<<The size of some of these in .mp3 format exceeds 100mb.>>>

That's not the number we need. How long is the show? One hour? Two? There's a magic place where MP3 runs out of moxie and the shows start sounding seriously bubbly and gargly -- like a bad cellphone or cheap answering machine.

There are certainly ways of making the digital package smaller, but not in MP3. The iTunes formats will reduce a mono 1-hour show to very good quality 60MB. Smaller if you willing to put up with slight distortion, but that happens in more modern AAC, not MP3.

If you load the show onto the Audacity timeline, do you get a stereo show -- two channels of sound, like this...

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/Audacity1_playback.jpg

In Audacity 1.3, you can easily reduce that to a mono show and re-Export As MP3. If you pick the right settings, the show should be seriously reduced in filesize, although not by half.

However, any conversion between compression formats will create damage. Do you have access to the original captures shows? This is where we urge people strongly to archive WAV files of shows instead of MP3.

Koz

The shows are typically between 1 hour to 1 1/2 hour . They are audio only. They are recorded on an Olympus voice recorder. The root file is in .wma format, which I convert to .mp3. I was told that there are advantages in using this format on this particular host site such as it allows more versatility for the end users. But it has also created some space issues as well as slower downloads for people using 56k.

justvisiting wrote:The root file is in .wma format, which I convert to .mp3.

How did you do that?

How is the file being "delivered"? As a file download? Have you considered splitting the recording into smaller pieces?

Xilsoft audio converter. I'm not sure what you mean by how it is "delivered". I have the voice recorder, download it to my computer, convert it to .mp3, then upload it to the host site.

I'd be inside Zilsoft looking for higher compression numbers before exporting the MP3. You do have two strikes against you right away. Windows Media (WMA) is already a modern H.264 compression type. I bet the shows sound reasonably good and the WMA file is reasonably small.

I bet it's when you convert to the much older MP3 format that the problems come.

I've just been thinking outside the box [brushing snowflakes off shoulders]. l would post two. Post the small WMA file directly for the Windows people and use the free iTunes download to produce a AAC file and post that. Both should come in under 60MB.

Koz

will the windows people be able to use or even stream the AAC file? If so, maybe I can just use that one instead.

besides, I have version 1.2.6 and I am having trouble exporting the file as instructed above

Actually, Scratch the idea of using the AAC only file as it is even larger (83.1 mb) than the .mp3 file (53.1mb) or the .wma file (26.8mb). Obviously, I am using a smaller file for testing.