Problem compressing files- REALLY URGENT.

[Scylax]

I have to submit an assignment to the Open University within the next couple of days. It consists of an essay and an MP3 recording which must be zipped into a single file of under 2mb. My original files amount to circa. 4.8mb. I can create a zip file from them, but the size of this file is still 4.4mb! What should I do? I used Audacity to do the recording btw, as this is recommended by the University.

Please help me out quickly guys- This is a really big deal to me!

Thanks,

Helen.

 

[miles01110]

You need to encode the audio file at a lower bitrate.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

You can play around with the bit rate and the sample rate of the file to alter its size. For instance, an audio file (any format) with ZZZ bit rate and YYY sample rate has XXX size. If you resave the same file, with ZZZ/2 bit rate and YYY/2 sample rate, the size will be approximately XXX/4.

 

[Peace]

If it's voice only change the quality to voice. That will reduce the size a lot.

 

[djdavidgallant]

Throw it into 1 channel mono, instead of 2 channel left and right. It will use the same channel for playback in both of your speakers, instead of having a nearly identical left and right set of channels.

 

[Scylax]

Thanks for all the quick answers everybody- I don't know what I'd do without these forums!

But please could someone tell me if there's a way I can convert my existing file to a lower bitrate in audacity, or do I have to start all over again (Please, no!). I am getting frantic, and I so much appreciate the help.

Thanks,

Helen.

 

[dstearns96]

Ok, what you do is you go to File>Export. It gives you an option of different file types. I would recomend mp3 at 128 kbps, but you can do whatever you want.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Thanks for all the quick answers everybody- I don't know what I'd do without these forums!

But please could someone tell me if there's a way I can convert my existing file to a lower bitrate in audacity, or do I have to start all over again (Please, no!). I am getting frantic, and I so much appreciate the help.

Thanks,

Helen.

You can very easily change the parameters of your audio file in Audacity, assuming you have the original audio file and/or .aup project file. Assuming you take the AUP approach, open the AUP file. You can change the project sample rate using the little pull-down in the lower-left corner. The bit rate is changed in the export settings, when you export as MP3.