FFMPEG vs LAME in Audacity 1.3.7

[gonwk]

Hi folks,

I am kind of new to Audacity ... don't use it that often and have few Qs ...

Q1: What is the difference between an MP3 converted to WAV and converted to WMA Using FFMPEG?
- Besides the Size is there any other Difference?
- Also, can FFMPEG WMA generated file be burned onto a CD as is and be Playable in any standard Car CD Stereo?

I have a problem with FFMPEG converted file (WMA) ... although the MP# file that I used I had already cleaned up the Metadata and inputed what I needed using MP3TAG tool ... the output WMA via FFMPEG showed the Old Tag data.

Q2: How in the world is that Possible? Is this a Funtion of FFMPEG conversion ... looks somewhere else in the original MP3 file?

I converted the same MP3 to WAV (Export to WAV Option) with Audacity 1.3Beta and Audcaity 1.3.7 and it yielded TWO Different file size ... I got my info using MediaInfo 0.7.11

- Audacity 1.3 Beta gave me a 21434KB, 705.6Kbps, 44.1KHz, 2 cahnnels, PCM (which I assume it is a WMA Lossless because of it's Bitrate)

- Audacity 1.3.7 gave me a 27835KB, 1411.2Kbps, 44.1KHz, 2 cahnnels, PCM (which I assume it is a WAV Lossless because of it's Bitrate)

I like the smaller file size of the Audacity 1.3 Beta ... so I can get all my 12 MP3s on one Standard CD.

Q3: Is my suspicion correct and the 2 WAV conversions between Audacity 1.3 Beta and 1.3.7 are differnt types? If so, what type?

Q4: How can I lower the Bitarte in Audacity 1.3.7 to get Smaller Size output? Or can it be done?

BTW, THANKS A BUNCH for the GREAT Program!

G!:)

[kozikowski]

<<<Standard CD.>>>

You need to be careful about the English words here. You can't put MP3 files onto a Music CD, so you're preparing an ISO Data CD that your newer car happens to know how to play. Put that disk into an older CD player and the player will look at you funny and not know how to act other than give you an error message "Insert a Music CD" or "Unsupported Disk."

Music CDs always present the music Uncompressed, 44100 Hz, 16-bit, Stereo. No exceptions. That's why the CD wrapper says 80 minutes on it. If you make an ISO Data CD, you use the 700 MB number and get as many compressed music minutes as will fit in 700 MB. If your car will accept h.264/WMA/M4a/AAC you can double or triple what you can do with an MP3.

This quirk is also why making a Music CD in some machines is a challenge. In Windows, Windows Media will cross-compress an MP3 (MPEG1 - Layer III) into WMA format (MPEG4 - h.264), then uncompress it into 44100...etc for the Music CD.

This is why you buy Easy CD Creator or another stand-alone music authoring program.

You also need to be careful not to step into The Compression Wars. "FFMPEG produces a much better MP3 than lame." "No it doesn't..."

<<<PCM (which I assume it is a WMA Lossless because of it's Bitrate)>>>

Audacity has had odd problems with output formats. We assume the later Audacity Versions have more accurate export file structures than the earlier ones. I've been reduced to opening up music files in a hex editor to try and figure out what they really were. This is particularly bad news at the higher bit rates. Somebody exposed 24-bit as merely 16-bit with the extra bits zero'd out. The different flavors of 32-bit cause no end of problems.

Koz

[gonwk]

Hi KOZ,

THANKS!

G!