Track length varies when exporting audio

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rambomhtri
Posts: 230
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 11:05 am
Operating System: Windows 8 or 8.1

Track length varies when exporting audio

Post by rambomhtri » Fri May 22, 2015 4:32 pm

Hi, I'm using Audacity 2.1.0 in a Windows 8.1 x64 PC, and I've found a bug.

I've imported into Audacity a FLAC audio track, which length is 4m 10s 435ms. I've exported it to mp3 (transcoding) using latest LAME version 3.99.3. The output mp3 file's length is 4m 10s 485ms.

So Audacity is adding 50ms more of silence, from the start/beginning of the song. I've noticed it cause I've zoomed in the 2 tracks (previously imported into Audacity) to compare both and hear to the possible quality loss, and I've seen that the tracks were not matching. I've used 2 output settings: best variable bitrate with standard speed and 320kbps constant bitrate. Both settings have the same result, an mp3 50ms longer.

Not big deal, but I think it's an important bug to fix, since audio sync is really important.

Thanks!

DVDdoug
Forum Crew
Posts: 9278
Joined: Fri Sep 10, 2010 11:30 pm
Operating System: Windows 10

Re: Track length varies when exporting audio

Post by DVDdoug » Fri May 22, 2015 5:14 pm

That's a normal characteristic of MP3 encoding. As I'm sure you know, MP3 is lossy compression so there are changes...

If it's a problem, use a different format. As far as I know, AAC and OGG don't have this issue. Or, use a lossless format.

rambomhtri
Posts: 230
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 11:05 am
Operating System: Windows 8 or 8.1

Re: Track length varies when exporting audio

Post by rambomhtri » Fri May 22, 2015 6:00 pm

DVDdoug wrote:That's a normal characteristic of MP3 encoding. As I'm sure you know, MP3 is lossy compression so there are changes...

If it's a problem, use a different format. As far as I know, AAC and OGG don't have this issue. Or, use a lossless format.
Yeah, MP3 is lossy, it compresses data and the sound quality worsens. But in any way the length of the track should be changed. It's logical.

I'd like to use MP3 cause I'm working with songs.

Gale Andrews
Quality Assurance
Posts: 41761
Joined: Fri Jul 27, 2007 12:02 am
Operating System: Windows 10

Re: Track length varies when exporting audio

Post by Gale Andrews » Sat May 23, 2015 12:45 pm

DVDdoug wrote:That's a normal characteristic of MP3 encoding. As I'm sure you know, MP3 is lossy compression so there are changes...

If it's a problem, use a different format. As far as I know, AAC and OGG don't have this issue. Or, use a lossless format.
AAC does add silence padding, OGG doesn't.
rambomhtri wrote:Yeah, MP3 is lossy, it compresses data and the sound quality worsens. But in any way the length of the track should be changed. It's logical.
Please see http://lame.sourceforge.net/tech-FAQ.txt.

Gale
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rambomhtri
Posts: 230
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 11:05 am
Operating System: Windows 8 or 8.1

Re: Track length varies when exporting audio

Post by rambomhtri » Sat May 23, 2015 3:12 pm

Gale Andrews wrote:
DVDdoug wrote:That's a normal characteristic of MP3 encoding. As I'm sure you know, MP3 is lossy compression so there are changes...

If it's a problem, use a different format. As far as I know, AAC and OGG don't have this issue. Or, use a lossless format.
AAC does add silence padding, OGG doesn't.
rambomhtri wrote:Yeah, MP3 is lossy, it compresses data and the sound quality worsens. But in any way the length of the track should be changed. It's logical.
Please see http://lame.sourceforge.net/tech-FAQ.txt.

Gale
Wow, I didn't know that. I don't understand very well why you need to add silences, but it seems to be that it's necessary in order to playback correctly and MP3?

Thank you very much for the info.

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