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Topic: WAV and bitrates (Read 7861 times) previous topic - next topic
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WAV and bitrates

A friend asked me to record some narration for a small project.  In the past when I have recorded single track stuff at 16/44.1 and exported it as WAV, I get a 705kbps bitrate mono WAV file for output. 

I asked my friend if this would be OK, and he wrote back the following:  "WAV 320 kbps is good".

I can export the file as MP3 at 320kbps, but WAV 320 kbps??  How do I do that?  Is that correct? 

Or, instead of recording at 16 bit , if I were to record at 8 bit, I could get a 352 kbps output WAV file.  But not WAV 320.

Could someone please give me a simple explanation?  Thanks.





WAV and bitrates

Reply #1 –
Quoting wikipedia:
"Though a WAV file can hold compressed audio, the most common WAV format contains uncompressed audio in the linear pulse code modulation (LPCM) format."

The amount of storage taken by wave files is simple math:
16 bits is 16 bits per sample = 16 bits/sample
and 44.1kHz is 41000 samples per second = 44100 samples/sec

You multiply them:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=16+bi...amples%2Fsecond
(the "sample" unit cancel each other out, leaving the resulting unit as "bits/second")

320 kbps in WAV (if it is correct) would be inferior to the 16bits/44.1kHz you stated earlier. As you already noted halving the bits gives: 352800 b/s  (bits per second)
I order to achieve exactly 320 kbps at 16 bits, the frequency would have to be exactly 20.0 kHz, which would be rare.

Unless he is in fact not using LPCM.

WAV and bitrates

Reply #2 –
It’s still possible that he was just asking for MP3 but misspoke.

Also, a technicality: WAV is really a container, which can hold data in various formats, including MP3. However, considering how few people know about this, and even fewer use it, I doubt he was talking about that.

WAV and bitrates

Reply #4 –
Quote from: saratoga on
Quote from: Hashibosogarasu on
Could someone please give me a simple explanation?  Thanks.


Your friend misspoke and you're asking the internet to clarify rather than him for some reason.


Because of the kind replies by db1989 and Makaki, I now understand that my friend probably got something mixed up and I can talk with him about it.  Before reading their helpful explanations, I was unsure about whether there might be a standard way of achieving 320 kbps output in WAV format.

WAV and bitrates

Reply #5 –
Quote from: Hashibosogarasu on
In the past when I have recorded single track stuff at 16/44.1 and exported it as WAV, I get a 705kbps bitrate mono WAV file for output.

You already got good answers, so I'll just clarify that your friend is most likely confusing bit-rate which applies mainly to lossy compression. I suggest that you provide mono Wave files at 44.1 / 16 for the highest quality. Especially if the audio will ultimately be lossy-compressed for the final delivery.

--Ethan
I believe in Truth, Justice, and the Scientific Method