Converting Format 'X' to Format 'Y' and Other Information on File Sizes
Problem:
After converting from format X to format Y the file size of the converted file is either similar or much bigger.
Why:
The file size of the converted file depends on a number of factors, such as:
- The format of both the original and the converted files.
- The settings at which the original file was encoded.
- The settings you chose for the converted file.
File formats like WMA, MP3, OGG, FLAC and AAC are all compressed - converting between any of these formats may not give huge gains in terms of file size reduction.
Wave files come in both compressed and uncompressed flavours, depending on what codec they are encoded with. Wave codecs like PCM, A-Law and Mu-Law give uncompressed files, while codecs like GSM and ADPCM are give compressed files. Converting from uncompressed Wave to compressed Wave or another compressed format will normally give larger file size reductions than going from a compressed format to another compressed format.
To get an idea of what the file size of the converted file will be, do the following:
- Determine whether your original and converted files are of a compressed or uncompressed format. If you have read the previous blurb above and still don't know, see the following page for a more comprehensive file formats overview: https://www.nch.com.au/acm/formats.html
- Examine the audio properties of the original file. To do this, follow these steps:
- For Wave, MP3 and WMA files:
- Open Windows Explorer and locate your audio file.
- Right-click on it, select "Properties" from the menu that appears, then click the "Summary" tab in the window that popups up.
- If you see a button labelled "Advanced >>" click it.
- Now scroll to the bottom of the window where you will see a section labelled "Audio". If the file format is MP3 or WMA, take note of the "Bit Rate", "Channels" and "Audio Sample Rate". If the format is Wave, check the "Channels", "Audio Sample Rate", and "Audio Format".
- For other files:
- Open the audio file in Wavepad, and take note of the Sample Rate and Channels in the bottom-right corner of the main Wavepad window.
- Compare the audio properties obtained from the file in part (2) with the settings you are using to create the converted file. Compare the numbers for properties like "Channels", "Sample Rate" and "Bit Rate" (if applicable), and see which of the two files has bigger numbers - that file will ultimately have the bigger file size. If one of the files is uncompressed though, more often than not that file will be bigger than the other. If you do not know how to check what settings you are applying to the converted file, please refer to the program's help documentation for assistance.
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