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TAP010: Audacity and iTunes—Making Not-LAME MP3s

August 18, 2010 By 8 Comments
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LAME is still the best MP3 encoder, but further tests and conversations reveal that it just may not be the best for podcasting.

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Variable bitrate (VBR) MP3s and LibSyn

Bob Jordan wrote in to point me to LibSyn’s PDF on their Podcast Companion App, which reveals an incompatibility with VBR MP3s.

Avoid using VBR (Variable Bit Rate Encoding) as it is not compatible with our system.

I exchanged several emails with top people at LibSyn and they confirmed that VBR files are absolutely not compatible with the iOS app they offer as part of their larger hosting packages. Extensive study revealed a few portable digital audio players that have trouble with VBR, and even some minor issues in iTunes.

LAME versus Fraunhofer

As I explained in more detail in episode 6, LAME is the best MP3 codec for quality, that is, when you use it with variable bitrate (VBR). LAME is terrible at constant bitrate (CBR). However, Fraunhofer, the creator of MP3 compression, has an MP3 encoder that is the best at CBR.

Fraunhofer’s MP3 encoder is not free—it’s usually included in expensive audio-editors like Adobe Audition. However, Fraunhofer IIS’s own site tells how you can get their MP3 encoder for free.

If you are an end user and would like to use the Fraunhofer mp3 encoder or decoder, please use Apple iTunes or Windows Media which integrate the Fraunhofer mp3 software. Please note, that although mp3 was developed at Fraunhofer IIS, we do not sell any mp3 products to end users and do not provide end user support for mp3 devices and software. [Emphasis added]

I’ve known that Fraunhofer was credited in iTunes, but didn’t realize until reading this that iTunes does use his actual MP3 encoder, not just parts of his technology. So if you don’t already have iTunes, download it now for free.

Encoding MP3s: convenience and potential incompatibilities vs. speed and hassle

The method I’m about to show you for encoding Audacity projects into MP3 via iTunes is more of a hassle, with several additional steps and some cleanup. But when you have everything set right, it may be a whole lot faster.

45-minute stereo podcast in Audacity on a Core i7 MacBook Pro:

  • Export from Audacity as LAME, VBR quality 5, joint stereo: 8 minutes, 10 seconds
  • Export from Audacity to uncompressed WAV, use iTunes to convert to 128 kbps CBR, joint stereo: 2 minutes

Although it’s a little more of a hassle to use iTunes, the above test revealed a 75% savings in time and produces a file guaranteed to work everywhere.

How to make an MP3 from Audacity and iTunes

1. Export as WAV

In Audacity 1.3 (beta), go to the File menu and click Export, name your file, change your format to “WAV (Microsoft) signed 16-bit PCM,” and then click Save. There are no options for WAVs

2. Drag into iTunes

I suggest for creating a playlist or smart playlist to hold your new files. But however you drag the WAV into iTunes is fine.

3. Configure iTunes for MP3s

Go to the Edit menu (Windows) or iTunes menu (OS X) and click Preferences, click Import Settings… under General, set Import Using to “MP3 encoder,” Setting to “Good quality (128 kbps),” then click OK and OK.

4. Convert

Right-click your imported WAV and click Create MP3 Version.

5. Find the MP3

Search your iTunes library for the new MP3 file, drag it out of iTunes back into your folder, and now it’s ready to be tagged and uploaded. You can also delete the uncompressed WAV and delete the files from iTunes if you want.

Although this is many more steps and leaves a little cleanup behind, it still took only a quarter of the time to use iTunes than to encode directly from Audacity. It’s still free, and this guarantees compatibility and high quality with everything.

This is where my friend, Cliff Ravenscraft of Podcast Answer Man, can say, “I told you so,” and ignore our conversation about all of this in his episode 125 in which I defended and explained LAME.

Taking a live-show break after August 25

I’m getting married in a short time! Although I will have prerecorded episodes still released on a schedule, Wednesday, August 25, will be the last live recording for a while. But you can still catch that live recording at 8:00 p.m. (ET) on our Live page. After I’m married, I may rearrange the Ramen Noodle™ and The Audacity to Podcast™ to be live on the same night.

Do you have questions?

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  • http://www.airplanegeeks.com/ Max Flight

    For a while I've been using iTunes to encode the mp3 files for the Airplane Geeks podcast, and I'm very happy with that. Previously I used LAME in Audacity.

    My switch came about after I started thinking about bit rates when I noticed the podcasts I subscribed to were coming through at a variety of bit rates. I even sent Cliff a question on that which he discussed on a Podcast Answerman episode. His response left me with a few questions, so I did some research and ran across the LAME vs. Fraunhofer debate. (If you search for the two you'll see that there are very strong feelings on either side.)

    One article demonstrated the difference between the two encoders at a variety of bitrates and showed that Fraunfofer had higher audio quality at lower bit rates, and there wasn't much difference at higher bit rates. That single study didn't silence the controversy, but since my (mostly speech) podcast is single channel mono at 64kps, I decided to try Fraunhofer. Besides, that's the guy who invented mp3 so I figured he ought to know how to encode the stuff!

    Like you, at the Fraunfofer website I discovered you can't buy the encoder, but you can use it through iTunes as you described in TAP010. (I passed that on to Cliff, who was unaware at the time.) Anyway, the workflow using iTunes to encode the mp3 is simple enough and it works well for me.

    Thanks for the great podcast, and congratulations on your marriage!

    Max

  • http://www.wavesoftech.com Steve

    Great show as always! In the beginning of our podcasting network we used Ubercaster to create our MP3's which utilizes the Lame encoder. The files were created in VBR until we eventually transitioned to Adobe Audition and began using CBR. We ran into the same situation with our iPhone app where older episodes would not work properly; however, in our case there wasn't a big impact since they were older shows. It is unfortunate these limitations exist across platforms since it takes away the control, design and decision making away from the content creator. I appreciate the plug for Waves of Tech but most importantly if anyone requires a "Subscribe and follow us here" widget, Daniels design is functional, eloquent and his work is above reproach.

    • http://noodle.mx Daniel Lewis

      (20 weeks later, but I didn't want to leave this unreplied.)

      You can expect that almost any free program will use LAME, since it's leading (and best) free MP3 encoder. Adobe can afford the licensing for Fraunhofer because Audition is so stinkin' expensive. I have sometimes considered re-encoding my old episodes, too. But no one has complained yet.

  • http://noodle.mx Daniel Lewis

    (20 weeks later, but I didn't want to leave this unreplied.)

    Thank you, Gene! This does remind me to do an MP3 tagging episode, unless you feel I've covered that enough within an episode since August.

  • http://thepodcastersstudio.com RayAKA@PodcastHelper

    Daniel, I got here via a tweets between you and @nigelrunner and I can tell you that the time to export an .mp3 via Soundtrack Pro (which also uses LAME, shockingly) also suffers from very long encode times. I've always used iTunes for my encoding but thought you might find it interesting that it's the same elsewhere. Very well done episode on a sticky topic;) With Apple's use of LAME in a pro app like STP, you're point about it being best for music is validated even more. Cause otherwise it would certainly be bizarre for them to be using LAME in STP when you get if free with iTunes. But on the flip side, you have to wonder why they use FH to encode at all since the encoding .mp3's almost certainly wasn't designed to encode podcasts specifically. Interesting stuff.

    • http://noodle.mx Daniel Lewis

      Fraunhofer, LAME, AAC, and Ogg Vorbis have been in quality-to-size wars for a while. WMA is like the annoying little brother who asks to play, too, but only wants to play Candy Land.

  • Pingback: 9 Things Audacity Doesn't or Can't Do

  • http://www.facebook.com/FrankLiPani Frank LiPani

    CONGRATS!

    • http://www.Noodle.mx Daniel J. Lewis

      I'm guessing this was for my wedding? I've now been married a year, so thank you! :)