Why WMA now gets bigger sizes? I want it like before!

[Paultx]

I remember when I first met the WMA format. Though I knew it would degrade the sound quality a bit, what I most liked was that it reduced my MP3 files to half.

Now, after I convert MP3 files with dMC, I get WMA files almost as bigger as the original MP3 files.

How can I get that good old "reduce to half" thing?

Never mind the quality degradation, I don't care... TIA.

Windows Version: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
If you are running as an Administrator: yes
The version of dMC/dAP you are using: latest.
Format you are converting to, along with bitrates, frequency, channels, etc.: mostly 128 kbps MP3 to 64 kbps WMA, the rest as usual or default.

[dbfan]

Re: Why WMA now gets bigger sizes? I want it like before!

If you mp3 files were 128kbps and you convert to 64kbps the your file will be half size

[Wayne]

Re: Why WMA now gets bigger sizes? I want it like before!

Can you give us a bit more information. What WMA codec settings are you using? I found selecting 2 pass encoding resulted in smaller files.

[RonM]

Re: Why WMA now gets bigger sizes? I want it like before!

I remember when I first met the WMA format. Though I knew it would degrade the sound quality a bit, what I most liked was that it reduced my MP3 files to half.

WMA and MP3 tracks encoded at the same bitrate will be pretty much the same size; there is a claim (by Microsoft) that tracks can be encoded at lower bitrates in WMA and achieve the same reproduced quality as higher-bitrate MP3s. It has specifically been claimed that 64kbps WMA is equivalent to 128kbps MP3, and those WMA files will be half the size of the MP3s. This quality claim is often disputed, and I doubt very much that it is true.

In any event, file size is largely a function of encoded bit rate. Lower the quality settings on your WMA encoding and you will have a smaller filesize. Perhaps your default settings have changed, so that the two codecs are set to similar quality, hence to similar file sizes.

R