Audacity...Stop Helping Me.

[kozikowski]

The job is to trim an arbitrary amount of work from a show. The show is 48000, 16-bit, Stereo. I changed the Audacity Preferences to 48000, 16-bit, Stereo and turn dithering off. Delete x seconds from the end of the show. I Export a new file at 48000, 16-bit, Stereo and do I get a bit for bit copy except for the trimmed material and maybe certain file housekeeping at either end? Does Audacity still insist on converting to 32-floating in the middle or perform other conversions?

Koz

[billw58]

Does Audacity still insist on converting to 32-floating in the middle or perform other conversions?

It seems nobody knows if Audacity converts to 32-bit float internally when doing an export. But turning high quality conversion dither off should give you a bit-for-bit copy of the unaltered portion of the show.

-- Bill

[kozikowski]

should give you a bit-for-bit copy

It ought, oughtn't it?
Koz

[steve]

It seems nobody knows if Audacity converts to 32-bit float internally when doing an export.

I seem to remember a discussion on the developers mailing list that mentioned that "mixing" is always done 32-bit float.
When Exporting, all non-muted tracks are "mixed" (for "Export Selected" it is all non-muted selections). This happens regardless of the number of tracks - there is no exception for a single track.

It ought, oughtn't it?

You can test that by doing a checksum of a 16-bit wav file, import and export it again, then do a checksum of the new file (but watch out for changed metadata).
On Linux you can use:

Code: Select all

cmp file1 file2

There may be something similar on other operating systems.