3 Ways to Change the Bitrate of MP3 Files
Do you want to change the bitrate of an MP3 file?
This can be useful if, for example, you need to reduce the size of an MP3 file. A 320kbps MP3 file, the highest bit rate allowed for MP3 files, can be reduced to 192kbps to significantly reduce the size of the MP3 file.
There is a drop in quality, but the difference is negligible for most listeners using standard speakers or headphones. If you’re an audiophile, you’ll probably never use the MP3 format, except for expensive audio equipment.
You are most likely using a lossless format such as PCM, WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC, or APE audio, compressed or uncompressed. Uncompressed PCM audio files are about 10 times larger than CD-quality MP3 files.
The MP3 format is a lossy format, which means sacrificing audio quality to keep the file size relatively small. Almost every site will tell you not to convert lossless audio files to MP3 unless you might lose some audio quality.
<Almost all the time. The only time it might make sense is if you have a high bitrate audio file in a low quality format like WAV. For example, it might make sense to convert a 96kbps WAV file to MP3, but only if you choose a bitrate of 192kbps or higher. A higher bitrate in an MP3 file will allow it to maintain the same quality as a WAV file, even if it has a lower bitrate.
