MP3 compression

[DKX]

is it possible to compress an mp3 file to make it smaller?
i want to reduce the size of some of my files so that i can fit more on my mp3 player, just wondering if it is possible. if so, how do i do it?

thanks

[khana]

MP3 files are already compressed. You can reduce the quality downwards which will reduce the amount of space they take up, however cd quality is normally expected about 128kps, any less and you will notice the difference.
Of course, it may be that your music has been sampled at a higher rate then this, in whch case by all means drop it down to a level that you still find acceptable.
Alternatively, your mp3 player may also work with other formats such as WMA,AAC,MP3pro or OrgVorbis and as they are newer then MP3 tend to be able to produce better quality at lower sample rates, solving the space/quality dilema.

[DKX]

how do you put the quality down on a file? is there a program for this? i have a few files that are 192, that are 12Mb, so i could do with them shrinking.

thanks again

[wideboy]

There are probably some free programs out there if you do a search but I use MusicMatch Jukebox - this lets you convert one mp3 to another at a different bitrate. What khana was referring to was when you create the files ('ripping') from a CD. A free program to do this is CDex (search on Google).

[stevie21]

foobar2000 can do this for you if you spend 2 minutes on the settings.
http://www.foobar2000.org/foobar2000_0.8.3_special.exe

I'll not outline what you need to type just yet in case you use another program but if you need to know exactly what to put in the settings let me know. One aspect of it is a tiny bit technical :-D

[fo3nix]

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm

my fave music converter. select the mp3 song(s) you want to convert (to a lower bitrate mp3), and just lower the bitrate on th e slider. easy to use and pretty powerful!

[wideboy]

Good one, thanks fo3nix.

[bill107]

Click on this excellent software http://audacity.sourceforge.net/  if you need help reply back

[DKX]

the one called dbpoweramp, when i convert a song to a lower bit rate, the song becomes huge in file size, any suggestions?

cheers

[wideboy]

Bill107, Audacity is a great program (and free!!) but can it change the bitrate of an mp3 file to make it smaller?

[wideboy]

DKX, I just converted a file with dbPoweramp which was 8.6MB at 160 bitrate dropping it down to 128 bitrate made it 6.93MB. Are you sure you converted it to mp3 not the default of wav - this would be a massive file.

[DKX]

hey, cheers guys, perfect stuff :D