Which of the following variables will MOST affect the file size of my MP3 recordings ?

Question

1) Bit Rate 2) Sample Rate 3)db mode display range
4) Mono/Stereo channel recording

Answer 1

I'd say the bit rate, because while higher bit rates yield higher quality sounding music as opposed to lower bit rates, the higher the bitrate the larger the filesize.

Answer 2

The bit rate is the one which will decide the file size of your recording. The higher the bit rate, the better would be the reconstruction of the Analog audion from the digital.

The bit rate would depend on all the three items asked by you in (2), (3) and (4).

If your sample rate is higher (in KHz) you are taking in more samples and correspondingly number of bits per second of the audio goes up. For example - sampling at 44KHz would use twice the number of bits compared to sampling at 22KHz; other factors remaing same.

Mono recording would use half the bits compared to stereo; other factors being same.

If your Dynamic range (db) is higher, then to produce good quality, you need higher number of bits per sample ( i.e, say 24 bits instead of 8 bits)

It is possible to reduce bits used by using VBR instead of CBR recordings - but it will be difficult to predict the file size. Plus some standalone MP3 players have difficulty in handling VBR mp3. Some standalones will not playMP3 recorded at less than 44.1KHz sampling rate.

Answer 3

The question is unanswerable, because you didn't specify the range of the variables. For example, you might compare mono/stereo to 128/196 kbps sample rate, but what if you were talking about 32kbps versus 320kbps?

Answer 4

bit rate affects file size and quality- the lower bit rate the worse quality...128 kb per second is probably the best bit rate cause its smallest you can get still having the best quality...i really dont notice a difference between music of 128 kbs and over so if your worried about size, go for 128 kb per seconds