File Converting ?

[shattered]

what are the best settings with it comes to converting Mp3's to very small kbps? Is there some settings that will help keep mp3's converted to like say 16kbps or smaller and still keep the muisc at a clear level?

[xoas]

Re: File Converting ?

You will have to experiment to see what is acceptable for your purposes.
The Lame encoder does offer (under advanced settings) such presets as "Phone" (16 kbs., 8 kHZ., 1 channel), "SW" (11.025 kHz., 24 kbs., 1 channel) and "AM" (32 kbs., 16 kHz., 1 channel). I could see very limited situations in which I might conceivably find use for one of these settings (such as if I was going to play these on my cell phone and my cell phone had only limited storage and 1 channel playback), Technically, these are encoded as mpeg1, layer 2 (commonly referred to as mp2) rather than mp3 (or mpeg1, layer 3-which encodes at 32 kbs to 320 kbs).

But you will need to check this out for yourself to determine what types of settings suit YOUR taste and your needs.

Best wishes,
Bill mikkelsen

[ChristinaS]

Re: File Converting ?

what are the best settings with it comes to converting Mp3's to very small kbps? Is there some settings that will help keep mp3's converted to like say 16kbps or smaller and still keep the music at a clear level?

I doubt you'll have any audio file at such a lo-fi setting and still have a reasonably good sound. But it all depends where you start.

I started out with a good original cd quality 16-bit 44.1KHz, stereo wav file converted first to mp3 @128kbps, stereo, 44.1KHz, CBR which I then used for the other conversions.

I compressed it to mp3 @8kbps, mono, 8000Hz CBR. It it is OK still, if not too fussy. It sounds like muzak you hear while on hold on the phone.

I also compressed it to WMA @ 5kbps, mono, 8000Hz, CBR and that is proportionately smaller than that smallest lowest MP3, but about as good in audio quality.


Note that I was only able to use CBR in the final compression for all these tests. For WMA I also managed to use CBR 2-pass with the lowest A/V setting but it resulted in a slightly larger wma file, and of course no discernible higher quality.

Your best bet is to try it out yourself and see what's acceptable to you.

For streaming over the web on dial-up connections I find sometimes wma @20kbps, stereo, CBR good enough, while @32 kbps it is very good, not sacrificing much at all. Always assuming I start with a good quality original.