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General discussion

How to make a small mono file with Audacity

by Todd Cary May 31, 2008 3:55AM PDT

I need to make a small mono MP3 file of a song to be used with a slide show. I had Audacity make a version in memory at 8,000 Hz, 16 bit, mono, however when I save it as MP3, it is 4 MB in size. Is there a way to make it smaller? The AUP file is quite small: ~1.5 KB

Thank you

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2 Posts

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Making fies smaller

by schneid3 Jun 4, 2008 6:42AM PDT

Try playing with the bitrate that you export it at. I believe Audacity will default to 128 kbps so try lowering that to 96, then down to 64 and see what kind of sizes you come up with.
Also I would change the file back to a 44 HZ file as 8,000 may sound a little tinny.

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Export settings

by droolski Jun 4, 2008 6:57AM PDT

Yes... check you MP3 Export Setup under File Formats in the Preferences. The default bit rate is 128 as mentioned, you'll find choices ranging between 16 and 320. Another option would be to take the "bloated" MP3 into iTunes then after setting the preferences there {Preferences > Advanced > Importing... those setting are used for the Convert option under Menu Bar > Advanced > Convert Selection to...) you could "convert" a copy to a lower bit rate version. Good luck!

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