Audacity Forum

Yes, I realize there was an identical post right below mine on the same topic. I've spent literally hours trying to figure this out and I can't.

Every time I try to export mp3 files, I get the error 'Could not open mp3 encoding library'.

I've tried both versions of Audacity (1.26 & 1.37). I've tried locating the lame_enc.dll file in various locations (the install location of "Program FilesLame For Audacity", the System32 folder, another folder, the Audacity folder). I've tried deleting the audacity.cfg file. I've tried manually entering the path in the audacity.cfg file. I've tried setting the location via the preferences menu instead of waiting until I try to export...

Nothing works! I'd love to use Audacity as I hear nothing but good things about it, but this is a deal-breaker for me.

Can someone help me understand why I can't get the program to recognize the Lame encoding library? It's obvious that this is a common problem as I see numerous posts about it as well as pointed instructions, but I've tried everything and nothing seems to work.

Help!

Hi,
I feel your pain! That's my message you were referring to. I had version 1.3.6 of Audacity and an older version of Lame working just fine on two computers (one XP-SP2 and one Vista) when I got the bright idea to upgrade to 1.3.7 and newer Lame on the XP computer.

I wish now that I'd developed the habit of keeping the download .exe file for 1.3.6! If I had it now, I think it would be easy to uninstall 1.3.7 and reinstall 1.3.6 As it is, the only versions available on the Audacity site are 1.2.6 (which doesn't have some features I like), or 1.3.7 (which doesn't seem to handle mp3 properly).

I gather from your message that you're hoping to try Audacity for the first time. DON'T GIVE UP! You'll like it a lot once you get it working. I'm an amateur musician and I use it every day, either for recording rehearsals (so I have something to play along with when I practice), recording streaming audio and video soundtracks that are not available as downloads. I've learned enough about it to know that it's capable of a lot more!

I'm very grateful for the work that the Audacity and SourceForge community do for our benefit.

Good luck
Tony in Saskatoon Canada

If you really can't get it to work (I know from reading other threads that lately there have been some conflicts bewteen Audacity and Lame versions - but I thought the developers had fixed all that) - then a suitable workaround would be to export as WAV and then find yourself a standalone WAV to MP3 converter. A quick google of t'interweb should probably find you a free one - you can even get iTunes (free to download) to do it for you, but it's a bit fiddly.

WC