Podcasts File Size and Conversion
If you are technology challenged like most when it comes to audio recording and self publishing on the web, you might be struggling with how to best convert your podcast files and keep the file size within a quickly streamable decent range. That is the key reason for trying to keep file sizes as small as possible. It’s because you want users to be able to access your content within seconds.
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If it takes longer to download and/or stream the user might even abort the operation without even listening to your content. MP3 is the most popular and in some cases the only acceptable format for podcasts. But what are mp3’s or the mp3 format?
The simplest way to explain it is to think of an mp3 as a zip file for audio. Creating zip or rar files to compress text files is very common. Similarly, compressing an audio file takes a different set of commands or guidelines; mp3 format is that set of commands and guidelines.
It encodes the audio in a way that without compromising a lot on the quality compresses a file to a more desired, user friendly and manageable size. Other than converting your audio to the mp3 format, you can reduce the file size for really large podcasts by employing one or all of the following techniques.
Switching Channels:
Audio is recorded in two channels the left and the right. This way of recording is called the stereo channel recording or simply stereo. The purpose for recording sound in stereo is to capture the enviornmental ambiance through two separate channels, left and right. The audio can then easily be replicated to more like the actual sound being recorded. The effect is recreated through left right speakers and headphones.
Think about it though, what we are trying to do is record audio in a quiet a space as possible. We do not want and unwanted noise or the natural ambiance recreated. So why would we use the stereo channel? It is good for musical recordings, conversational podcasts and interviews. If you are going to record a tutorial, it’s better to do it in mono.
Mono is the other less space consuming channel. Because it records audio from just one direction it does not need to separate channels or tracks for storing audio information. This automatically reduces the file size to half.
Sample Rate and Sample Format:
Sample rate refers to the number of samples that are taken per second by the recording software to record and mimic the audio its recording. By default the sample rate is kept at its maximum 44KHz in most, if not all audio software. You can reduce it to 22KHz for a smaller file size. Use this with caution, it can mess with your audio quality a lot. Reduce the sample rate if all else fails.
The sample format refers to the way each sample is being recorded. E.g. a 32-bit sample format will save each sample of audio frequency and record it over 4 bytes of memory. By simply reducing the 32-bit to 16-bit you can reduce the size of your audio by half. You don’t lose much of the quality either.
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