Audio Bitrate

[Froboy7391_99]

Is there a way to convert an audio file with a low bitrate to 320 kbps?

 

[The_Other_One]

Of course! There are quite a few programs that let you resample files. However, you'll just end up with a larger file. The actual quality will not change.

 

[Froboy7391_99]

But I can notice the difference between say a 120 kbps and a 320 kbps song. The base sounds alot better and less "shaky" for lack of a better word. I just found a program to do this called Audio Splitter Convertor.

 

[magicman]

I did a little experiment, just for the hell of it. I took a clip from a track in my library (by the way The Wurzels is not my usually listening habits, but it works to serve the point ), and ran it through some processing.

I took the original 320kb/s track clip... (320 Kbps, 48000 Hz)
Reduced its quality (192 Kbps, 32000 Hz)
Reduced its quality even further (112 Kbps, 12000 Hz)
Then resampled the 112 Kbps clip back up to the original bitrate (320 Kbps, 48000 Hz).

There is a noticable difference when increasing the bitrate of a low quality clip, at least for me.

 

[The_Other_One]

Eh, I didn't download the files... I mean, I guess I have noticed somewhat of a difference when I changed formats(typically for DVDs or whatever) But it's hardly the same as say going for CD-quality to a 320kbps. You can't "add" quality to sounds just as you can't add it to pictures. You might be able to do a few things to make them look better. Sometimes making them larger helps... But typically, if you have a 640x480 picture, it's going to look the same at any res

 

[vetto89]

i used dbPower to do this...

 

[Froboy7391_99]

I agree with your experiment magicman you can actually notice the difference, Especially on my new system in my truck

 

[maroon1]

Is there a way to convert an audio file with a low bitrate to 320 kbps?

If you covert from low bitrate to high bitrate, you might get a lower quality sound because you are recompressing an already compressed music file.

 

[Froboy7391_99]

What if i uncompressed it then recompressed it to 320. Is that even possible?

 

[magicman]

Yes it's very easy to take an mp3, uncompress it to a PCM wav file, then recompress it back to an mp3. But what point would that serve?

 

[Froboy7391_99]

To up the bit rate so it sounds better

 

[Froboy7391_99]

To up the qaulity of the sound

 

[magicman]

To be honest I don't think there's any benefit to doing it that way compared to going straight from low bitrate mp3 to high-bitrate mp3. Most audio conversion programs uncompress the mp3 anyway, as part of the conversion process, as a temp file.

I should stress even in my experiment, there was only a small, albiet noticable, change in quality, but what The_Other_One said is right, when you start with a poor quality raw material, you're basically stuck with it. I think what increasing the bitrate does is analagous to using a smart resize on an image, by creating averaged inbetween pixels. It may look better than increasing pixel size, but you are still left with a poor quality image.

 

[Froboy7391_99]

Ok, well thanks for the help much appreciated.