We've sent a verification link by email
Didn't receive the email? Check your Spam folder, it may have been caught by a filter. If you still don't see it, you can resend the verification email.
Started October 2nd, 2006 · 14 replies · Latest reply by AlienXXX 8 years, 10 months ago
This is the file: GullsByTheSea.wav (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=13564).
After seeing this I'd be selfish not to reccommend the FLAC audio codec. This baby is not only lossless (don't lose sound quality) but is also free and available to everyone. Though the encoding/decoding window doesn't have any sparkles or bells, in my lowly opinion it is the best available...
Sorted
John
One thing I do when making embedded mp3's is to add 2-5 seconds of silence onto the beginning, because some browsers skip during playback while loading. Not a neccessity, but a good trick if this becomes a problem.
i know a wav compressor call idealshare videogo which can easily reduce wav file size, it even can compress AIFF, AU, APE, MP3, PCM, DTS, Apple Lossless, RA, WMA, AAC, AC3, FLAC, OGG, CAF, and etc.
Wav is an uncompressed (sound) file format, just like bitmap is an uncompressed image format.
Uncompressed formats take a lot more space than compressed. Also, compressed formats often have parameters that can be changed to allow further compression at the expense of quality.
Having said that, the size of wave files can be significantly reduced by changing bitdepth and sample rate. Both of these parameters are accessible from Audacity.
Also, in Windows, you can right click on the target file and check properties to easily find out the file's current bitdepth and sample rate.
Bitdepth of 16 and sample rate of 44,000Hz is regarded as CD quality, so you are unlikely to need anything higher than this. So, if your target file is 24 bit (or 32 float) change to 16 bit. Sample rates of 96,000 (and even higher) are used by samplers and other equipment, but files are rarely saved at such high sample rates. Usual sample rates you are likely to find are 44,000, 48,000 and 22,000.
Reducing from 48kHz to 44kHz will result in a minor reduction in filesize (about 10% reduction).
The other point to consider is if you need stereo.
If you don't, converting from Stereo to Mono will immediately half the size of the file. Again, this can be done easily in Audacity or other sound editors.
If you feel you need to reduce the file further, you can go down to 22kHz sample rate, will lose some definition for high frequencies, but OK for speech and non hi-fi use. (Phone lines, for example and AM radio have much lower quality than this)
To reduce further, you can lower the bit rate to 8-bit. This will make your overall sound quality comparable to old samplers and/or old computers. Still usable for many applications, though.
So, although wave is an uncompressed format, you can achieve an impressive size reduction going from 24-bit 96Khz to 16 bit 44kHz and even more by going to 8 bit 22kHz.
Compressed formats like mp3 allow much more flexibility: you can compress the file much further if you are willing to lose some quality (a 16-bit 44kHz file can easily be converted to mp3 with less than 10% of the original file size). Compressed file formats also allow for considerable filesize reduction (e.g 50% or more) with almost no quality loss.
If your tile is already 16bit 22kHz to begin with, the only reasonable option to compress it without serious quality loss is to convert to mp3 or other compressed format.