mp3 export makes file longer?!

[JohnColeman]

I opened an mp3 file, cropped a few minutes silence from the end and beginning and exported it. The exported version is 8MB longer??

[Gale Andrews]

I opened an mp3 file, cropped a few minutes silence from the end and beginning and exported it. The exported version is 8MB longer??

Because the MP3 bit rate you exported at is higher than the rate of the original MP3. Click "Options" when you export MP3 to choose the bit rate. Reduce the bit rate from what it is now to make the exported file smaller. See http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/fi ... ialog.html .

The lower the bit rate, the more quality you lose in the export.


Gale

[JohnColeman]

Thanks for that. I was using an Audacity v1, so didn't see those options! I've now upgraded to v2 and stored the mp3 as a smaller file. In fact it's smaller than I calculated it should be by making the song play time 10% shorter - perhaps it has lost quality?

Is there a way to see all the settings of the imported mp3 vs the exported one? Obviously I'd like the exported version to maintain the same options.

[Gale Andrews]

Thanks for that. I was using an Audacity v1, so didn't see those options! I've now upgraded to v2 and stored the mp3 as a smaller file. In fact it's smaller than I calculated it should be by making the song play time 10% shorter - perhaps it has lost quality?

All MP3 exports are lossy, even if the original MP3 is 16 kbps and you export at 320 kbps. You just lose a lot less quality by exporting at 320 kbps than if you exported at the 16 kbps of the original file.

Is there a way to see all the settings of the imported mp3 vs the exported one? Obviously I'd like the exported version to maintain the same options.

Audacity can't display the bit rate of the imported MP3 (or full details of any file) but I'll add a feature request for this.

You can download other programs like Mediainfo to give you file details (but be careful with Mediainfo as there is a lot of bundleware with it now).

You can probably also view the bit rate as an additional column in Windows Explorer if you choose the "Details" view (right-click over the name column to choose more columns).


Gale

[steve]

be careful with Mediainfo as there is a lot of bundleware with it now

There is detailed information about this on the MediaInfo web site: http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en/Bundled

[JohnColeman]

I saved at the same bitrate 192k, so I'm figuring some of the other MP3 options were different. I only deleted silence so I figured the file would not end up much shorter anyway. In fact while 10% shorter in play duration it's about 25% smaller in size.

[steve]

I saved at the same bitrate 192k

CBR, VBR, ABR?