[imacgirl]

i was wondering if anyone can tell me how to (or if it is possible) to reduce the file size of mp3's. i have songs that i'm putting on a website and the file sizes are very large (they were originally in aiff format....changing to mp3 did reduce the size somewhat). but i still need them to be smaller.
thanks for the help!

[Mark E]

yeah, re-encode your original aiff's to a lower bitrate mp3

usually the most acceptable rate for music is, at the very very least, 96 kbps. 128 is next, but still not near-cd quality.

what sort of files are you looking to host?

if it's speech, your files can be considerably lower-bitrate.

ask if you need more help!

[imacgirl]

thanks mark. i'm not sure how to "re-encode the original aiff's to a lower bitrate mp3" i was given a cd with aiff's (which i downloaded) and converted them to mp3's in itunes. do i need another program to re-encode them? they need to be a decent quality because they are song links for a band's website. thanks!

[Mark E]

if you have the original AIFF files still, you'll be able to encode them again in itunes. go to itunes > preferences > importing.

itunes has 3 default preferences for mp3 encoding, 128, 160, and 192. if you want something lower, go to 'custom..' and change the settings there.

also, have you considered AAC? since itunes is now available for mac and pc, a lot of people can easily play the AAC files.. the general consensus is that a 182kbps AAC file is more or less equivalent to an 192kbps MP3 - that is, very high quality. you could upload the songs in AAC and put a little not saying "these are aac files that will play in itunes" with a link to the itunes site or something on the web page.

at the end of the day, it's down to experimentation - strike a happy medium between file size and sound quality. i'd say you can't go wrong with 128kbps AAC, personally.

(FYI - a 128kbps MP3 or AAC is roughly 1 MB per minute of audio)

-Mark

[imacgirl]

thanks mark. i appreciate the help

[Talk2Angus]

Yes, it is possible

iTunes has 3 default preferences for mp3 encoding
128, 160, and 192.
If you want something lower, go to "custom" and change the settings there.