Today, I am happy to introduce the first official Serve The Song video screencast. It’s a short video showing you how to convert a loss-less audio file to a high-quality mp3 file using iTunes. The goal is slim down the file size of a song file while maintaining as much sound quality as possible.
What I mean by “High Quality MP3″ is one with a bit rate of 320 kbps. This is significantly higher quality audio than most mp3s out there, including the ones you can buy from iTunes. For more info on the topic, scroll down below the video…
MP3 File Sizes
The audio track I am converting in the above screencast is 2 minutes and 22 seconds long. Here’s a breakdown of the file size for various bit rates including the name of the setting in iTunes (in quotes):
128 kbps - “Good Quality” - 2.2 MB
160 kbps - “High Quality” - 2.8 MB
192 kbps - “Higher Quality” - 3.3 MB
320 kbps - “Custom Quality” - 5.5 MB
2116 kbps - Lossless AIFF - 36 MB
As you can see, the higher the bit rate, the higher the file size. The original loss-less AIFF audio file is 36 MB. Way too large for any practical use on the web. You won’t be able to email this file or post it at any popular streaming music website.
The quality level I go for is 320 kbps. It’s a bit higher in file size from your every day MP3, but still very manageable. Many users are on broadband connections these days, so an extra Megabyte or two of file size is really not a huge deal.
What’s the difference?
It’s important to pay attention to the quality of your mp3’s because it does affect the sound of your song. An mp3 file is a compressed audio file. Compression limits the dynamic range of your audio. This means the loud and soft points in your music are closer together, dulling down the sound. It also has an effect on the frequency response - the bass, mids, and treble. The lower the quality of the mp3, the more compressed the audio is.
What is kbps and mp3 Compression?
kbps stands for kilobits per second. That’s referring to the data transfer rate. For more info on this and how mp3 compression works, check out this article from Sound on Sound. It’s an in-depth piece which covers everything you need to know including conventional audio file sizes, mp3 sampling frequency, bit depth, and perceptual coding.
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03/29/2009
8:49 pm
Mr. Kraft Singles
Nice, informative breakdown Brian.
I’m vouching for more videos. Definitely a plus for the site and your readers.
03/29/2009
9:00 pm
Brian Casel
Thanks Kraft - More videos are definitely high on the priority list… right after finishing the launch of the new site design!
04/30/2009
1:36 am
Christopher Etorne
hi! i have a 2116kbps wav files and i cant play it on my regular music players such as Windows Media Player or winamp.. it says i have no codec for it, what should i do to at least preview the sound files i have. thanks.
04/30/2009
7:18 am
Brian Casel
@Christopher - You could follow the same instructions for using iTunes to convert your wav file into an mp3. I would assume you won’t have a problem playing mp3’s.
Another program that seems to work for just about any file time (both audio and video) is VLC player.