MP3 Encoder Options

The following is a description of the options in the MP3 Encoder dialog:

Wave File Name (Input): Enter the file name, including the complete path name, of the wave (extension .wav) file you want to encode. If you invoke the MP3 Encoder from Cakewalk, the Wave File Name (Input) field is grayed out because you have already selected input.

MP3 File Name (Output): Enter a name for your MP3 file. If you invoke the MP3 Encoder from Cakewalk, the MP3 File Name (Output) field is grayed out because you have already given your MP3 file a name.

Sampling Rate: Choose a sampling rate from the drop-down list. 44100 is CD quality. The Sampling Rate is automatically set based on the sampling rate of the project you are working on. You may choose a different sampling rate for the MP3 file, although this will require the encoder to upsample or downsample the project to match the new sampling rate that you have selected. The upsampling or downsampling process may result in a lower quality MP3 file, so in general it is recommended to use the original sampling rate of the project.

Bit Rate: Choose a bit rate from the drop-down list. A higher bit rate creates larger, higher quality files. The Bit Rate allows you to select the tradeoff between the size and the sound quality of the compressed file. Compressing to higher bit rates will provide better sound quality, but will also create larger files.

Bit rate is specified in bits per second. As a rule of thumb, bit rates of 120,000 bits per second or higher offer near CD quality sound. Lower bit rates can be used, with a corresponding decrease in quality. If you are preparing your project for distribution on the web, lower bit rates will create smaller files, and therefore faster downloading time.

The maximum bit rate that you can select depends on the sampling rate of the project. The encoder supports bit rates up to 320000 bit per second, providing extremely high quality compression. Selection of 320000 bits per second or lower requires that your project was created using at least a 32 kHz sampling rate. If your project was created using a lower sampling rate, your selection of bit rates will also be limited.

Stereo Mode: Select one of the following from the drop-down list:

•	Joint Stereo - In Joint Stereo mode, the encoder optimizes the stereo encoding by comparing the two stereo channels. If similar information is found in the left and right channels, the encoder uses the similar information to minimize the data it stores in the MP3 file. While this encoding technique may result in better compression, it may result in a loss of stereo quality.

An additional option when using Joint Stereo compression is the selection of Intensity Stereo. Selection of Intensity Stereo instructs the encoder to further optimize the encoding by minimizing the data encoded for higher frequency sounds. This can also improve the compression of the MP3 file, however in some cases the optimization of high frequency sounds may result in a loss of sound quality.

•	Mono - Create a Mono file

•	Stereo - By selecting Stereo mode, the encoder will create a Stereo MP3 file from a stereo project by treating the left and right channels as completely independent signals. Unlike Joint Stereo encoding, stereo encoding will not try to take advantage of similar information in left and right channels. As a result, Stereo Mode will completely preserve stereo separation without trying to reduce the data.

Optimize Encoding: MP3 encoding uses several techniques for analyzing sound and creating MP3 files. The slider provides the user with the ability to specify how much time the encoder should spend analyzing the file.

When the slider is positioned to the far right, the encoder will spend more time analyzing and compressing the file. This will result in the highest quality MP3 file, but it will take longest amount of time to compress it.

To reduce the time required to encode a project, you can position the slider further to the left. This will compress files quickly by reducing the time spent analyzing the project. The tradeoff for compressing quickly, or optimizing for speed, is that the resulting MP3 file may have a lower sound quality.

Include ID3 Info: Check this box to include ID3 information with your MP3 file, such as the name of the song, the artist, song genre, comments, etc. The MP3 Encoder reads as much of this data as it can from the file, and you can supplement that information by clicking the Set ID3 Info button to open up the ID3 v.1.1 dialog box. Fill out as much information in the dialog box as you want, and then click OK to close the dialog box. All of the song data you filled in is included with your new MP3 file.

Once you have set your options, click the Encode button to create your MP3 file.

See Also:

To Export a Project to MP3 Format