Making mp3s with variable bit rates

PG Music Home

Hi all,

I thought I'd pass this information along in case it's useful to someone.

The software "Free Audio Convertor" is great for compressing WAV to MP3. The program is found at this site.

I've found that using variable bit rate on a higher quality setting can create a reasonably small mp3 that sounds extremely close to the original WAV. I also tailor the frequency range so that only 20 Hz - 12,000 Hz is compressed. This, too, helps to reduce the overall file size. (My ears have not yet picked up any real difference by using the above frequency boundaries.)

Encoder configuration is found via the highlighted button below.

Below are the "Free Audio Convertor" settings that I usually use.

I also set the "General Settings" so that the mp3 is rendered in the same directory as the WAV file.

General settings can be found via the below button.

Regards,
Noel

P.S. I also like using "Free Audio Compression" to make WMA and FLACC files

Ha, I always wondered what variable rate was! It's on my bounce options in Logic Pro 9, but I never have used it. I use dithering but I don't know why, just sounded like something I outta have! Thanks Noel!

Several years ago when i last checked, there was a problem playing MP3s with variable bit rates in some players. You haven't encountered this?

MATT
It doesn't seem to be an issue these days. All the songs I've uploaded in the last couple of years have been using VBR and no-one has complained that they don't play. From what I've read, the problem was encountered when VBR was first being developed. Players (including current hardware like sound systems, car radios, etc.) have since jumped on-board.

The "variable bit rate" hyperlink in my original post outlines some advantages and disadvantages.

Here's one of my songs that was created with the VBR compression settings above ... a short song snippet

By the way, if you're curious, try creating a VBR song and then load it into Winamp. As it plays, Winamp monitors the playback and continually changes to show the current bit rate.

TOMMY
Glad to help out

All the best,
Noel

Quote:

Several years ago when i last checked, there was a problem playing MP3s with variable bit rates in some players. You haven't encountered this?

it has been my experience that players are indeed more variable than the files they play!

I've created MP3 play lists for various devices and encountered the following problems:

1) some devices choke on filenames with more than ########.### characters

2) some devices that handle long filenames choke if the filename contains a space or other character that my PC will handle

3) and as stated, they don't all handle the encoding the same way. Apparently the decoding is built into the device, and I suppose not all device designers follow the same decoding standard

But I haven't encountered any of those problems for several years now.

I notice on the 4th graphic there is a check box to enforce strict ISO compliance for streaming. That might have some effect on playability between devices

That could well be true. I have never played with that option. It's always been off when I compressed the files. (There's still a great deal about the various options that I don't understand.)

ISO compliance would likely come into play when burning a disk, and then devices used to play back said disk would likely come into play.

With transfer speeds now I find MonkeysAudio to be great for 'temporarily' reducing file size while working on projects. It is easy to get a bit-for-bit copy at the other end. Then (when done) burning to standard CD is a non-issue. But that's just me. I like knowing that what will be heard on the other end is pretty well covered, rather than hoping for the best.
That said, I have had good results with VBR for the most part. But once it is compressed with any lossey codec it is forever lost, and mp3 is a lossey codec.