FIGURE 27-1
Changing a WAV file??™s settings can produce a much smaller file without significantly degraded sound quality.
Network-ready audio file types that are specifically created for the Internet, such as MP3 and RealAudio, are
compressed through encoding. Rather than arbitrarily lowering the quality of the file to make it lighter, you
pick a target bit rate, as shown in Figure 27-2, and the encoding software produces the best quality file it
can at that bit rate. If you??™ve ever exported a JPEG graphic from an image editor and specified a target file
size, the principle is the same.
FIGURE 27-2
Choosing a 22-kilobits-per-second (32 Kbps) rate when converting a WAV file to an MP3 file in Audacity.
When working with a compressed audio format, you ideally start with the best master copy that you have
in an uncompressed format, such as AIFF or WAV, and then encode that audio file as MP3 or RealAudio. If
you want your audio to move quickly, even over dial-up connections, choose a low bit rate such as 24
Kbps, but be aware that the sound quality will be less than ideal.
Always keep a master copy of your audio file when you??™re encoding. Encoding a file is often a
lossy compression; in other words, information/quality is lost to create smaller files.
Pages:
1442
1443
1444
1445
1446
1447
1448
1449
1450
1451
1452
1453
1454
1455
1456
1457
1458
1459
1460
1461
1462
1463
1464
1465
1466