Audacity Forum

I'm trying to make a ringtone for a voip phone, and it will only take a wav file in 16bit 16khz. When I convert the mp3, it sounds terrible. I understand the quality will decrease when converting from mp3 to wav, but i just need it to be decent enough for a ringtone. Thanks.

ddixonr wrote:it will only take a wav file in 16bit 16khz

Could you be a bit more specific about the required format? For example, do you mean "16 bit 16kHz PCM WAV"?

Converting an MP3 to a WAV file does not reduce the sound quality (all else being equal) - converting from WAV to MP3 does reduce the sound quality.

steve wrote:

ddixonr wrote:it will only take a wav file in 16bit 16khz

Could you be a bit more specific about the required format? For example, do you mean "16 bit 16kHz PCM WAV"?

Converting an MP3 to a WAV file does not reduce the sound quality (all else being equal) - converting from WAV to MP3 does reduce the sound quality.

I open a mp3 (Stereo, 44100hz, 32-bit float), then change sample format to 16-bit and rate to 16000 hz. The result is really slow sounding audio, and increasing the speed seems to be very difficult to get right.

This is a krib sheet I wrote about this. Yes, if you change the wrong numbers, you will get a badly damaged song.

Depth/Rate Conversion
-- Change Project Rate (Hz) lower left > 44100
-- Track Name > Set Sample Format > 16-bit PCM
-- File > Export > Format > Other uncompressed File Types

You said something else in your post that's not quite right.

I open a mp3 (Stereo, 44100hz, 32-bit float)

Probably not. You can have MP3 or you can 32-bit float. Not both. You should probably get Windows to show you file name extensions. A lot of these confusions go away when you do that.

Hidden File Extensions
-- Start > My Computer > Tools > Folder Options > View > [ ] Hide Extensions for Known File Types (deselect)
-- Apply (to this folder) or Apply to All Folders
-- OK

You probably have a WAV file type (not MP3) or you're guessing about the 32-bit float.

Koz