Upping bit rate on export on a file that is less on import?

[Kinclad]

Hi there,

Very new to Audacity so apologies in advance. I have searched the forum and found the way to increase the bit rate on output in the options section.

But my question is....is there any point (better quality of sound) in exporting at a bit rate of 320kbps if the file that has been loaded into Audacity is only 128kbps?

Many thanks,

Mark.

[waxcylinder]

Short answer: no.

Once the file has been compressed at 128 the compression damage that it suffered in producing the samll audio file is there forever.

WC

[Kinclad]

Thanks WC,

I listen to a lot of podcasts via Itunes, do I have any control on the degree of kbps in the downloads?

Also is it overkill to search for 320 over 256? Is the quality negligible? I do run a half decent set of inears headphones in the shape of UE10 triples so I like to think i will benifit from any improvment.

edit...appreciate this is a bit off subject but any help would be great ;o)

Many Thanks,

Mark.

[kozikowski]

The act of compressing a sound file burns the damage into the sound. Modern destructive compressors (almost all of them) work by throwing away quality. You can force capture systems to download the music at some very high bitrate, but what you get is a show with very, very good, clear compression damage. Not less compression damage.

The fuzzy numbers for MP3 are 32 minimum for a mono show, 64 minimum for a stereo show and very few people can hear damage over 300. These are the numbers you use for a show where you personally performed into a microphone. If you got the show from somewhere else, then the compression damage is cumulative (MP3 compressing an MP3) and it always adds up the wrong way.

If the original file was a 32, then you would need 300 for the show not to get any worse.

Koz