Why no mp3?

Hi. I had to step away from my office for a couple of months for family business and when I came back and fired up Audacity to get back to work, it seems things had changed a bit. I updated to 3.0.5 and recorded a test to check my levels, then exported to mp3, but didn’t get an mp3 file: instead, I got TWO files: an shm file and a WAL file! What? Can anyone explain to me what happened and what I need to do to put it back/work around this issue?

That is part of the Audacity Project (temporary data storage). Do not alter these files in any way or the project will be destroyed. On closing Audacity, these files will be consolidated into the .AUP3 project file.

To get an MP3 file, use “File menu > Export > Export as MP3” (see: File Menu: Export - Audacity Manual)

(To save an Audacity project, use “File menu > Save Project > …”)

That’s exactly what I’ve been doing (file > export > export as mp3) but when I find it in my folder on my hard drive, I don’t have an mp3, I have TWO files: an smh file and a WAL file-neither of which will be accepted by ACX. How the heck can I make it so that Audacity just goes back to exporting aup3 files as mp3 files?

In the Export dialog, double check which folder you are exporting to:


It’s in the exact same folder as the other files I’ve been saving mp3’s in. In fact, I’m warned by Audacity that there’s another “test.mp3” there and asked if I want to replace the file before it saves. (an old “test” file which was, in fact an mp3)

what do you do when Audacity asks if you want to replace the file?