Audio Compression Help!

[RizlaUK]

ok, the situation is

i have 300 x 13MB mp3 files that i need to fit on 1GB of webspace, i dont want to have to use rm or ram files for obvious reasons, what other format would give me MAX compression, i need to lose 2GB+

or, is there some kind of tool that will compress mp3 files that iv never heard of (im clutching at straws here)

[RobertB]

Sorry....delete my post please.

[audioguy]

Without knowing the bitrate of your MP3 files, it's tricky to give you a definitive answer. Even knowing the total playing time would have helped. Are they all the same bitrate?

If you want to keep them as MP3 files, it's possible, but you'll need to transcode them down to a smaller bitrate. It's the only way. If they're music files, 128kbits is about as low as I'd ever dare go. But again, the original bitrate plays a significant part because of the inevitable loss of quality that will occur during the process.

By my reckoning, 300 x 13mb mp3 files will take up 3.8GB of space.
You say you want to lose around 2GB, which would be 0.8GB, but you'd be happy if they take up 1GB?

If so, 1GB would give you x hours of playing time at x bitrate:

128kbps = 19hrs, 12mins
160kbps = 14hrs, 56mins
192kbps = 12hrs, 48mins
256kbps = 8hrs, 32mins

As for other formats, again, if it's for music, then I'd suggest .aac. It's smaller than mp3 and better-sounding at the same bitrates. Same goes for .ogg, but sadly, as we all know only too well, .ogg isn't nearly as widely supported.

Hope that helps. But as I say, knowing your starting bitrate might yield a better answer.

[RizlaUK]

ah, just the man :yes

ok, the starting bit rate of all files is 192kbs and a avg playing time is about 10 mins, but even at 128kbs i dont think i would fit them all and still have scope to add to the list

the target server has 1.2GB space but at least 200MB must be reserved so its down to 1GB (to maintain as a free project, these are the limits)

im going to try and access the RealPlayer ActiveX with LuaCOM, if i can enable .rm playback in AMS then job done, i'll rip the mp3s in real producer and save 90% of the space, i can cut a 13MB mp3 down to about a 2MB rm file, just AMS does not support them