Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

jmiddel · Feb 1, 2011, 09:03 PM

If I can only give viewers one choice of an audio file, which format will play in the majority of browsers, and yes, unfortunately including IE? Thank you much

besson3c · Feb 1, 2011, 09:28 PM

I think .wav and .mp3 are both ubiquitous.

turtle777 · Feb 1, 2011, 09:42 PM

MP3 only.

-t

jmiddel · Feb 1, 2011, 10:24 PM

As I feared. My WAV file sounds the same when converted to aif, but with mp3 there is a slight loss of upper range that takes the air out of the sound, in my personal perception.

Thank you besson and turtle for your quick help!

turtle777 · Feb 1, 2011, 10:27 PM

The problem with WAV is that it is UNCOMPRESSED most of the time, which makes it a HUGE file.
You don't want that for internet use.

(Note: You *can* wrap compressed audio in a WAV file, but by default, it would be uncompressed.)

-t

reader50 · Feb 1, 2011, 10:43 PM

Originally Posted by jmiddel

My WAV file sounds the same when converted to aif, but with mp3 there is a slight loss of upper range that takes the air out of the sound, in my personal perception.

Try fiddling with the MP3 codec settings. A higher bitrate is the most obvious solution.

P · Feb 2, 2011, 02:46 AM

Originally Posted by jmiddel

As I feared. My WAV file sounds the same when converted to aif, but with mp3 there is a slight loss of upper range that takes the air out of the sound, in my personal perception.

This can be due to the bitrate (as reader says) or due to the encoder used. Older encoders discard data above 16kHz, which can give the effect you speak of. Which encoder did you use?

OreoCookie · Feb 2, 2011, 03:44 AM

I'd also use mp3, wavs are simply too big for online distribution.

besson3c · Feb 2, 2011, 01:42 PM

I would probably go with mp3 only too. I was just saying that wav should also work.

besson3c · Feb 2, 2011, 01:43 PM

The LAME mp3 encoder produces excellent results and can be run at the command line should you want to automate the audio prep.

jmiddel · Feb 3, 2011, 07:58 PM

I used Max.app and 320kbs, the highest bit rate it offers. Also tried All2MP3, using its highest quality setting. I will look into the LAME encoder, thank you besson, and every one else for your suggestions.

besson3c · Feb 3, 2011, 08:20 PM

jmiddel, check this out: LAME - Hydrogenaudio Knowledgebase

the --preset insane option will give you great results, as detailed here.

jmiddel · Feb 3, 2011, 08:21 PM

Just investigated LAME. If you don't want to fiddle with the command line, you can use Audacity, which is a wonderful free sound editor. It uses LAME, you just have to download the Lame Library, it will install itself into Audacity and you just import the wav file, then export to MP3. Audacity will give you the option to download the LL, and that's it.

jmiddel · Feb 3, 2011, 08:25 PM

besson, our posts crossed, I will experiment with the command line version also. Thank you!

besson3c · Feb 3, 2011, 08:26 PM

Originally Posted by jmiddel

Just investigated LAME. If you don't want to fiddle with the command line, you can use Audacity, which is a wonderful free sound editor. It uses LAME, you just have to download the Lame Library, it will install itself into Audacity and you just import the wav file, then export to MP3. Audacity will give you the option to download the LL, and that's it.

That's right.. The "0" preset option in the export dialog is equivalent to the command line -V 0, or "fast extreme", although it looks like you can produce the equivalent to the extreme preset with a CBR of 320.

besson3c · Feb 3, 2011, 08:29 PM

Originally Posted by jmiddel

besson, our posts crossed, I will experiment with the command line version also. Thank you!

If you are cool with using Audacity, it looks like direct interaction with the CLI is not necessary... You can compile version 3.98.4 of Lame for use with or without Audacity using Macports, FYI.

I hope this helps!

jmiddel · Feb 4, 2011, 02:38 PM

Very much, besson, thank you a lot