MP3 Settings

This setting establishes the general quality, higher values result in higher audio quality, but also result in higher file size. Generally speaking bit rate refers to how much data is available per slice of time (frame).

Bit Rates can range anywhere from 8 to 320. Higher numbers will result in higher quality, but larger file size, which means it will take longer to download and may stutter (audio stops and starts intermittently). Lower number cause the audio to sound it's coming through a tin can.

I recommend keeping the bit rate between 64 and 192. Anything lower than 64 sounds crappy, and over 192 is overkill for internet playback through headphones and/or computer speakers.

There are 2 kinds of sub-settings for bit-rate: Constant Bit Rate (CBR) and Variable Bit Rate (VBR).

CBR causes each slice of time to have the same amount of data.

VBR varies the amount of data based on how complicated the audio signal and allows the bit rate to change along with what's going on in the sound.

For example, silence doesn't require much data, whereas a portion of music that has a high volume and many instruments playing across many frequencies (low notes and high notes) requires more data.

VBR is used to maintain percieved quality while reducing overall file size. Files encoded with VBR generally have a smaller file size of files encoded with CBR.

Sample rate defines how many samples are available for each slice of time (frame). For sounds encoded with 44100 Hz, there are 44100 samples per second. Sample rate is a constant and establishes how frequently, and how much data must be processed for each second of audio.

There are 3 general settings for sample rate: Low quality (11025), CD Quality (22050), High Quality (44100). Each setting is a multiple of the lowest value 11025.

Some browsers can not handle sample rates higher than 44100. Many audio recording platforms record audio using a very high sample rate in an effort to capture as much audio data as possible. For example, audio may get captured at 48000 or 96000 and studios record at 192000

However, many browsers do not support samples rates higher than 44100 because they just don't.

With higher sample rates, you create larger file sizes and impose a higher tax on the CPU for audio playback.

This setting refers to the sample range. Think of it like a gradient going from black to white... how many steps of gray does it take to go from white to black? This is the "range". Higher resolutions yeild higher quality because the original analog sound can be modelled more closely. Another way to think about this is a photo with pixels. The more pixels, the better, less pixels yeilds lower quality.

You'll generally see resolution settings as 8, 16, 24.

When using a value other than 16, you're asking for a world of hurt. 16 is the prescribed value.

This setting refers to stereo or mono. Two channels means "stereo", one channel means "mono."

Joint Stereo (Interleave)
This is what you want, as both channels are combined into a single file.

Dual Channel
Two files will be created, one for the left channel and the other for the right. Dual Channel files are only used for high-end audio mixing people.

You can use "mono" to really reduce the file size. (Using mono instead of stereo will cut your file sizes in half). Most computer speakers are cheap, and crammed into weird corners, so mono may work just fine.