wav vs. mp3

[bbrown]

Is there any point in uploading 'wav' music files (versus mp3) for YouTube?

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by bbrown

Is there any point in uploading 'wav' music files (versus mp3) for YouTube?

Use something like Windows Live Movie Maker and combine a picture with a wav file in that program. Save it and upload that to youtube.

[Jim_G]

I don't think Youtube supports either one of those formats:

http://support.google.com/youtube/bi...402&page=ts.cs

But maybe you're asking about the starting point, before converting. Generally speaking, I can hear the difference between a WAV and a VBR MP3, recorded on my Zoom. But it's not that great a difference and the WAV file is ten times larger than the MP3 equivalent.

[bbrown]

Thanks Rick and Jim.

Jim, that's why I asked - wav is more unwieldy, takes up so much more space, and is slower to work with. If YouTube does not accept wav files, or if it does but there is not really a significantly detectable difference in sound quality on YouTube (after YouTube does whatever it does to uploads), then I'll stick with mp3.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by bbrown

Thanks Rick and Jim.

Jim, that's why I asked - wav is more unwieldy, takes up so much more space, and is slower to work with. If YouTube does not accept wav files, or if it does but there is not really a significantly detectable difference in sound quality on YouTube (after YouTube does whatever it does to uploads), then I'll stick with mp3.

You don't upload an audio file (wav, mp3, ect) to youtube. You upload a movie file. Just use the wav file as the audio part of the movie file type you have to upload to youtube. Like I mentioned, in Windows Movie Maker you combine a picture (or video) with the sound file and save as an wmv file. Then upload the wmv file to youtube. There are other movie maker software programs but this one comes with Windows for free.

[bbrown]

Got it. Thanks Rick.

Does using wav produce much better sound than mp3 (for the movie) when all is said and done?

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by bbrown

Got it. Thanks Rick.

Does using wav produce much better sound than mp3 (for the movie) when all is said and done?

Possibly, but yes or no, there is no reason to convert a wav to mp3 for use in the movie maker.

[redavide]

The video software is going to compress the audio file you originally imported when you format the final video/audio to be uploaded to Youtube . . . And then Youtube is going to further compress that again . . . (Not to mention that 99% of Youtube listeners will listen to the final product on laptop speakers, i-Phone speakers, bud earphones, with a television, dogs barking, etc., etc. in the background . . .) I've imported wav. files and mp3 files into video software and by the time it gets on Youtube I could tell zero difference (in a fairly quiet environment with fairly decent monitors). It could be that more discriminating ears in a more refined listening environment might hear something different . . .

To satisfy yourself, you should make 2 versions of a video -- one using a wav. file and the other using an mp3. Upload both of them to Youtube and see (hear) what you think . . .

[bbrown]

That helps a lot redavide. Seems like there's no reason to work with wav files which take up a lot more storage room and take a lot longer for me to download and open (my PC is rather old).

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by bbrown

That helps a lot redavide. Seems like there's no reason to work with wav files which take up a lot more storage room and take a lot longer for me to download and open (my PC is rather old).

OK, you got me confused? You are wanting to upload something to YouTube? Why talk about downloading?

[bbrown]

I guess I meant to say "upload".

I have been wondering if I should start working with the wav format. I sort of gather that there is not a consensus that it results in much improvement for my purposes.

--Bill

[rick-slo]

If your original recording is a mp3 then leave it like that. If it is a wav then leave it like that. The video movie software will convert it to different format. YouTube will at best (HD) covert it to a 192 bit rate mp3 equivalent.

[Smurf]

I remember someone telling me (on this forum I think?) a few years back to let You Tube - Viemo, etc do the conversion & it will turn out better....and it is true...

When I let YT do the conversion there is FAR lees "wobbly-washy" parts in the audio than if I uploaded a converted file...

[Gcunplugged]

I'd recommend using the highest integrity format your equipment can handle.

If your source copy is already compressed in MP3, then you are losing audio fidelity in the recording process. Then when you make a movie, interleaving audio and video (AVI file stands for audio-video interleaved), you are likely going through more compression and thus loss of fidelity.

Then when you upload to YT and they process it, they are once again compressing, or transcoding at best case. In any event, each generation removes fidelity so the end result is a far cry from the original.

So again, I like to start with the highest quality source that is practical.
GC

[ombudsman]

It is kind of an arcane thing, trying to get the best results out of YouTube. You really have to either become an expert on exactly what they are doing now as far as compression and conversion, or experiment.

It also depends on your starting material. MP3 (and some other types of ) conversion isn't just compression, it involves comparing the mid information to the side information and throwing away more precision in the side content, which means that after conversion your tracks are not quite as stereo as they were when they started; and the more stereo the starting track, the more likely you are to have noise from the conversion. That can be a problem if your starting track was, say, techno with sounds panning constantly, or solo acoustic guitar recorded entirely through a true stereo mic setup.

Some detail about this is on this page

http://lame.sourceforge.net/ms_stereo.php

This is why for some types of music you are better off doing an initial conversion yourself where you can select the best codec; even though YouTube will reprocess it anyway. I've heard some files get mangled by YouTube and others hold up very well.