Howto Shrink Big Mp3 File To Normal Audio File?

[george]

I can not play mp3 CD's in my car stereo... Only normal audio CD's.

I have a music mp3 file (a huge DJ mix file) which is 681 MB on the hard drive, when converting it to normal audio file it is 792MB, and I need to shrink it to fit on a audio regular CD (700MB). How to shrink it?

[astral]

Try writing it to an 800Mb CD.

[onethailand]

Other than using a bigger capacity CD, the only way to reduce the filesize is to reduce the bitrate. When you play it on your computer, you'll usually see an indicator of the bitrate (128K is quite common). If it's higher than this, reduce to 128K using one of a number of audio programs you can download - if it's 128K, lower it in 16K increments until you get the filesize you need.

[Veazer]

Are you sure it's really an mp3 and not a .wav with the wrong extensions..?

the max bitrate for mp3 is 320 kbps = 40 kBps

1 MB = 1024kBps therefore 1 meg = 1024/40 seconds = 25.6 seconds

681mb * 25.6 seconds = 17433.6 seconds = 290.56 minutes = 4.84 hours absolute minimum.

[rgs2001uk]

george

after converting from mp3 to wav, what size was the file, if as you say it was 792 mb it should fit on an 800 mb disc.

how did you save it after converting from mp3, most wav files have a sample rate stereo 44,100 hz, you can try reducing that to 32,000 or 22,050, that would reduce the size of your finished file.

also are you sure it was mp3 and not ogg, as a rule depending on the bit rate the file was saved to mp3 a 681 mb file would normally convert to roughly 10 times its mp3 size.

i have never heard of an mp3 file that was 681mb and converted to 792mb.

some programmes will let you overburn, eg nero, you will get a warning first, most blank cds usually have an over capacity, personally the most i have managed is just under 5 minutes extra playing time, but that depends on the brand, and a few rejects.

good luck

[britmaveric]

http://www.wma-mp3-converter.net/

Use this utility. Normally shrink a file down to 64bit. Then be small enough to convert to a regular ACC (cd disc)

[Veazer]

I don't understand the replies. Everyone is suggestion bitrate reduction, sample rate reduction, changing codecs, etc. He already stated that he needs a standard audio cd.

All we really need to know is the length of the file. If it's around 82 min or less, he's ok. If it's longer than he needs to split the file.

I recommend Burrrn for audio cds from mp3. It's one of the few programs i've used that can create a gapless cd from separate audio files.

[onethailand]

I don't understand the replies. Everyone is suggestion bitrate reduction, sample rate reduction, changing codecs, etc. He already stated that he needs a standard audio cd.

All we really need to know is the length of the file. If it's around 82 min or less, he's ok. If it's longer than he needs to split the file.

I recommend Burrrn for audio cds from mp3. It's one of the few programs i've used that can create a gapless cd from separate audio files.

I think you've missed the point. He wants it all on one CD. Reducing the bitrate will reduce the size of the file. He has already stated the length of files as well.

Once he reduces the bitrate of the MP3, he can then expand it to a normal file which will fit on one CD.

[rgs2001uk]

veazer

i dont think the op is giving us the correct information, either because he doesnt know or he doesnt understand.

there is no way a 681 mb mp3 file will be less than 80 minutes, even if it has a bitrate of 320, if it was 128 it will be even longer after converting to wav.

also i dont know what programme he will use, or the spec of his computer, ram etc.

i have downloaded 200 mb mp3 files, and after converting to wav using cool edit pro the finished wav file was nearly 4 hours long.

yes we can all do the maths, lets work on the worst case it has a bitrate of 64 kbps or a max bitrate of 320 kbps, this will tell us the longest and shortest playing time duration of the file after conversion.

in my humble opinion there is no way he will get it on a standard audio cd, he would probably have to fit it onto a dvd, however if his stereo doesnt play mp3 its unlikely to play dvd.

however until he gets back to us we can only speculate, i agree if the file has a playing time of 80 minutes its probably about 70mb in size and will fit on a standard disc.

[Veazer]

veazer

i dont think the op is giving us the correct information, either because he doesnt know or he doesnt understand.

there is no way a 681 mb mp3 file will be less than 80 minutes, even if it has a bitrate of 320, if it was 128 it will be even longer after converting to wav.

also i dont know what programme he will use, or the spec of his computer, ram etc.

This is what I said in post #4. He needs to tell us what the length of the track is in minutes.

i have downloaded 200 mb mp3 files, and after converting to wav using cool edit pro the finished wav file was nearly 4 hours long.

Why would converting to/from mp3 change the track length?

yes we can all do the maths, lets work on the worst case it has a bitrate of 64 kbps or a max bitrate of 320 kbps, this will tell us the longest and shortest playing time duration of the file after conversion.

in my humble opinion there is no way he will get it on a standard audio cd, he would probably have to fit it onto a dvd, however if his stereo doesnt play mp3 its unlikely to play dvd.

however until he gets back to us we can only speculate, i agree if the file has a playing time of 80 minutes its probably about 70mb in size and will fit on a standard disc.

Right, since we know what final format he wants (audio cd) we only need to know how long the track is and then decide what to use to split it. It would be best to use a CD mastering program like CD Architect to add track markers in. 1 track CDs are a nightmare to navigate.

[rgs2001uk]

veazer

you and i are singing from the same hymn sheet, the playing time of the cd doesnt change only the file size.

i used the example of a 200mb file to let the op know what sort of playing time he could expect after converting from mp3 to wav, eg, it will not fit onto a standard cdr if his file size is as he says 681 mb.

i convert to wav because the i find it easier to manipulte the sound wave by splitting it into smaller files, eg, reducing tape hiss, normalising , getting rid of blips etc, plus i can delete all the its great to be back in boston , youre such a wonderful audience etc, i only want the music.

still waiting for the op to get back to us.

[onethailand]

This is what I said in post #4. He needs to tell us what the length of the track is in minutes.

Ah ok, I see what you're getting at. A standard CD will hold up to 80 minutes of audio and the file size is irrelevant. Thus it wouldn't matter what format the sound file was in, nor would the size matter - to record to audio format it is the length of the audio which counts.

If his car stereo won't play MP3 it's not going to play WAV either

Edited October 27, 2007 by onethailand

[rgs2001uk]

This is what I said in post #4. He needs to tell us what the length of the track is in minutes.

Ah ok, I see what you're getting at. A standard CD will hold up to 80 minutes of audio and the file size is irrelevant. Thus it wouldn't matter what format the sound file was in, nor would the size matter - to record to audio format it is the length of the audio which counts.

If his car stereo won't play MP3 it's not going to play WAV either

a standard cdr holds up to 700 mb of data, if music is stored on it as a normal wav file that equates to about 80 minutes of music, although this can be stretched depending on the type of software and brand of cdr used.

the length of the audio track doesnt matter, it is the file size that matters, because it is about to become uncompressed to its original size.

a standard cdr can hold about 10 hours worth of music, depending on what bit rate it was converted to, obviously a wav file saved as 64 bit would be smaller than one saved as 320 bit, but the playing time would be the same.

even if 681 mb was saved at 320 there is no way after converting to wav it will fit on a single cdr which only holds 700 mb of data, do the sums for yourself, we are talking compression ratios here, 320 is as far as i know the highest and 64 is the smallest, in fact most players dont even recognize 64, they need at least 128 to be able to read and play the data.

in theory all we do is work backwards and convert 681 mb at the highest ratio is was compressed as, and using that figure we see it will uncompress to greater than 700mb.

where is the op btw

[Veazer]

...the length of the audio track doesnt matter, it is the file size that matters, because it is about to become uncompressed to its original size.

Most important point:

1) The OP wants a CD for his car in standard audio cd format.

Second most important point:

2) Standard audio CD (ie Red Book) format uses 1411.2 kbps or which amounts to about 80-82 minutes per CD.

The size of the file prior to it's new life of audio CD format is irrelevant. There is absolutely no reason to further compress the mp3, or whatever it is, to 64 kbps when the final stage is going to be 1411.2 kbps uncompressed. If it was 320kbps converted to 64 kbps just means that you degraded the sound quality for no reason whatsoever. The audio cd format uses 1411.2 kbps, period.

A 40 minute 20 kbps WMA will fill half of an audio CD

A 40 minute 256 kbps mp3 will fill half of an audio CD

A 40 minute 450 kbps ogg will fill half of an audio CD

Why? Because they're 40 minutes. The fact that those files differ in size, greatly, is meaningless. Sure we can take guesses at how big the uncompressed file will be but ultimately the only concern is playing time.

In fact,even looking at the file size of an uncompressed WAV file with the same specs as and audio CD (44.1KHz/16-bit stereo) would be mostly meaningless:

1411.2 kbps = 176.4 kBps, or 10,584 K per minute = ~10.34 MB per minute. That works out to be a over 826 mb for an 80 minute file. Should we be worried because we only have a 700mb CD? No, because audio cds don't use the same formatting scheme as data. They don't use the same error correction that data cds use and because of this can store 8/7 as much information, albeit with less reliability.

We only need to know the length of the original track so we can know how many discs it will use.

[onethailand]

We only need to know the length of the original track so we can know how many discs it will use.

I missed it completely the first time because George said "normal file" when what he really meant was "normal audio format" to be played in his car stereo.

Veazer's got it right.

[rgs2001uk]

veazer,

you are correct, i dont normally use mp3 formats, dont like mp3, i prefer to use shn or flac files to compress music in a lossless format.

anyway back to the op, yes a wav file of 792 mb will fit onto a standard 700 mb cdr, giving a playing time of roughly 79 minutes.

i can only guess because the op hasnt got back to us, but i would imagine his original file size was 6 POINT 81 mb, and not 681 mb, so it was compressed with a ratio of 10 to 1, sorry i am not being exact here just using approximates.

i still stand by my previous claim no way was a 681 mb mp3 file converted to give a 792 mb wav file.

anyway veazer thanks for your input, we all live and learn, i for one have learned a bit more about a process, i neither like or use, my main use of mp3 is extracting it back to wav, and yes i know you cant put back whats not there, however if it was 320 before converting it sounds alright to me, then again i dont have dogs ears.

i for one wasnt aware that a 40 minute song will half fill an cdr, i was working on file sizes, such as a 6 minute song being 61 mb uncompressed, or 11 mb at 256 kbps or 5.5 mb at 128 kpbs, again these are just approximations and not the exact figures.

i guess from now on i will shave to stop looking at it as data, which as you correctly pointed out has different properties.

btw where is the op, still no sign of him.

[Veazer]

i still stand by my previous claim no way was a 681 mb mp3 file converted to give a 792 mb wav file.

Yeah, you're dead right. It's not possible. This one puzzled me too, even a lossless format like shn or flac file would have a bigger difference between compressed and uncompressed. I think he must have done something else to the file.

MP3 started off a bit luke warm and wasn't helped by few companies who introduced low quality encoders. Combine that with inexperienced users who were told that 128 kbps = CD quality (Thanks Microsoft!) and you've got a flood of crappy sounding mp3s floating around the world. It's no wonder people associate mp3 with bad quality. Fortunately mp3 is still being actively worked on and has matured into a high quality audio codec. The LAME mp3 encoder is fantastic, give it a chance if u have time. It's just a command line encoder but there's a few decent GUI interfaces.

If you're interested in audio you should check out hydrogenaudio.org, it's the best resource for audio and audio compression I have found.

I think we've scared the OP away. He probably decided it was easier to just buy the CD (or CD set? )

[rgs2001uk]

veazer,

you obviouly know your stuff, i am not a technical wizard, i rely more on my ears to decide for me rather than charts and graphs.

i actually prefer vinyl does anyone remember that.

but even then there were technical problems, they actually said if you put more than 20 minutes per side on vinyl the sound was degraded, with the loss of sound quality proportional to the extra minutes pressed.

i personally feel the music industry killed vinyl, but if you listen to something pressed on 180 g virgin plastic its a treat to the ears. then again haveing a hi end sound system helps, there is a layered and textured sound produced that fills the room with warmth.

i personaly have nothing against compressed music files, it depends on how you are listening to it, computer, mobile phone, i-pod etc, it sounds ok because the playing system doesnt highlight the frequencies that were removed to compress the original sound file.

i agree 100% about what you say about 128, again the music industry kidding the gullable public, i cant sit in a bar and listen to tinny mp3 music being played on cheap sounding systems.

i also feel yet again the music industry is missing the boat, remember the dat mini discs from a few years ago, nice sound, but no choice of music.

there are some artists out there who release their music in hdd quality, and again the difference in sound quality is impressive, also listening to pink floyds dark side of the moon on sacd was a treat.

but again its not the pressed product but what kind of system its played on, and until there is a standard format for recording and playback, with inter changeable hardware the public will always be playing catch up.

i have never yet heard a dvd player that gives decent stereo sound reproduction, thats why i have seperate systems, one for music, and one for dvds in 5:1.

you will know as well as i that you actually get better sound reproduction from music pressed on a dvd as oppossed to a standard cd, wont bother going into technical details you know them already.

anyway as i said before i am more concerned about extracting compressed files, whichever format that may be, and finishing with a disc i can play, after editing out all the glichs etc, believe me its no fun redoing a led zepp concert and correcting the frequencies, removing hiss etc, but the end justifies the means.

thanks for pointing out the site you mentioned, i will check it out, however with the release of new software it means upgrading computer specs, something i dont have the desire to do, i want the music to listen to, not play around with echo effects etc.

i would rather go into a store and buy the music i am downloading, but again the music industry doesnt listen, just keeps the production churning out more crap, i wonder who will be listening to these bands in 20 years, releasing a greatest hits album and farewell tour after having 2 singles in the charts.

anyway sorry for taking up so much of your time, i dont know what music you listen to, if you like dylan then, expectingrain.com has some excellent downloads, if you like rock music in general then guitars101.com has some nice sounds, go to the option bootlegs other bands, i think its a van halen site, plus there are now so many blog sites around its almost impossible to keep up to date.

i am now off to listen to a talk talk bootleg called living colours, followed by spirit of eden, accompanied by a nice single malt.

been nice talking to youi, and sorry if i sounded like an idiot. cheers

[tominbkk]

If you use Nero Burning you can plunk the whole MP3 into a "make an audio CD" wizard window, then edit it down to fit the 80 or so minutes you are allowed on an audio CD (and fade it out). Then remembering where you split it make another CD and start off where you left. If your MP3 file is really that big you are going to have many audio CDs worth of music to burn (of course that depends on the bitrate of the MP3, like discussed above). I have done this before, it works alright, is certainly an easy task once you understand how to do it.