Lower than expected bitrate for WAV->WMA conversion

[curiousMonkey]

I am converting 96/24 WAV files to 48/24 WMA lossless and the bitrate is generally around 1700 kbps.
When I reviewed some older files with MP3Tag, I noticed that many 24/48 files have bit rates between 700 and 1000 kbps.

I am trying to determine if I used an incorrect setting when I encoded the files to WMA or if they may have been ripped originally at rate lower than 96/24 and then padded with zeroes.

What is the best way to make this determination?
Is there a freeware tool I can use to easily look at the raw WAV or WMA files and check for padding?

[garym]

Re: Lower than expected bitrate for WAV->WMA conversion

reported bit rate would have nothing to do with padding. I can say that my 16/44.1 FLAC files typically report a bitrate of around 1,000 or less. Not sure if that is comparable to what you're doing.

[curiousMonkey]

Re: Lower than expected bitrate for WAV->WMA conversion

reported bit rate would have nothing to do with padding. I can say that my 16/44.1 FLAC files typically report a bitrate of around 1,000 or less. Not sure if that is comparable to what you're doing.

I was actually thinking that perhaps I somehow recorded at 16/44.1 and then converted to 24/96. Wouldn't samples in that scenario be padded with zeroes as part of the 16->24 bit conversion?

[garym]

Re: Lower than expected bitrate for WAV->WMA conversion

perhaps. not sure of this effect. record a wav at 24/192 or 24/96 and be sure then convert and compare.

I was actually thinking that perhaps I somehow recorded at 16/44.1 and then converted to 24/96. Wouldn't samples in that scenario be padded with zeroes as part of the 16->24 bit conversion?

[Porcus]

Re: Lower than expected bitrate for WAV->WMA conversion

You may also have recorded at 48. Certain soundcards did so, I think (Soundblaster?), and DAT would usually do so.