Exporting for Different Platforms
Audio Editing & Production Basics
Chapter 7 · Exporting for Different Platforms
Chapter 6 produced a balanced, ducked mix of narration and music. That mix still lives inside an Audacity project — this chapter turns it into an actual delivered file, choosing the right format and settings for wherever it's actually headed next.
WAV vs. MP3: Lossless vs. Lossy
WAV is an uncompressed, lossless format — it stores the audio data essentially as-is, with no data thrown away, at the cost of a much larger file size. MP3 is a lossy, compressed format — it discards some audio data, chosen to be the least noticeable to human hearing, in exchange for a dramatically smaller file. Neither is universally "better"; the right choice depends entirely on what happens to the file next.
Bitrate Considerations for MP3
MP3's bitrate — how much data is used per second of audio — directly trades file size against audio quality. A low bitrate (around 96–128 kbps) produces a small file with audible quality loss, especially noticeable on music; a higher bitrate (192–320 kbps) sounds close to indistinguishable from the original for most listeners, at a larger file size. Spoken-word content like podcasts tolerates lower bitrates better than music does, since speech has less complex frequency content to preserve.
Choosing an Export Format for Podcasts/Distribution
Most podcast hosting platforms expect MP3, and for good reason: smaller files download and stream faster, and the format is universally supported by every podcast app and browser. A bitrate in the 128–192 kbps range is a common, sensible default for spoken-word podcast content — small enough for fast, reliable streaming, high enough that listeners won't notice compression artifacts.
Exporting Audio to Accompany a Video Edit
When audio produced here is headed into a video project — narration or a cleaned-up dialogue track being handed off to Video Editing Fundamentals' own workflow — WAV is usually the better choice instead. A video editor's own Fairlight page (Video Editing Fundamentals' own Chapter 7) will process that audio further, and starting from an uncompressed file avoids stacking a second round of lossy compression on top of whatever the video's own final export format ends up being.
| Aspect | WAV | MP3 |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | None — lossless | Lossy — some data discarded |
| File size | Large | Much smaller |
| Best for | Handoff into further editing (e.g. a video project) | Final distribution (podcast hosting, streaming) |
| Typical bitrate choice | Not applicable — uncompressed | 128–192 kbps for spoken-word podcasts |
Hands-On Exercises
A podcaster exports their episode as an uncompressed WAV file and uploads it directly to their podcast host, then wonders why episodes take so long to download for listeners. Using this chapter's own material, explain what format choice would serve them better and why.
📄 View solutionSomeone is handing off a cleaned-up narration track to be imported into a Video Editing Fundamentals project, and exports it as an MP3 at 128 kbps to keep the file small. Using this chapter's own material, explain why WAV would be the better choice here instead.
📄 View solutionA colleague, unhappy with some leftover background hiss in their mix, decides to export at the highest possible bitrate instead of going back to fix the noise reduction. Using this chapter's own warning box, explain why this won't solve their actual problem.
📄 View solutionChapter 7 Quick Reference
- WAV is uncompressed and lossless — larger files, no quality lost
- MP3 is lossy and compressed — much smaller files, some quality traded away
- MP3 bitrate trades file size against quality — 128–192 kbps is a sensible range for spoken-word podcasts
- Export as MP3 for podcast distribution; export as WAV when handing audio off into a video edit
- Export settings can only deliver an existing mix — they can't fix cleanup or mixing problems from earlier chapters