Upconverting audio files?

[UnWarierMage224]

Hi all,

Quick question.

Is it possible to "upconvert" an existing audio file to a higher bitrate by decompressing it to a .WAV then re-encoding it at a higher bitrate?

Say, for example, could you convert a 64 kbps WMA to a 320 kbps MP3 in this manner? Or is that too much to ask?

Thanks in advance,

-'Mage

 

[Jesse_hz]

In short: Yes you can do that, but there would be absolutely no sense in doing it!

Converting it to a 320kbps MP3 will not make any of the details lost during the first conversion reappear. It will not make it sound better.

Whenever you convert a piece of audio from one lossy format (mp3) to another, it loses quality, no matter how high a bitrate you set.

In fact just converting to a .wav and then converting it back to a 64 kbps WMA would make it lose quality.

 

[LNCPapa]

Which is why many people, including me, archive their music in a lossless format. Now that I'm thoroughly done abusing that horse let's wait for the next person to say something about audio formats.

 

[N3051M]

Converting it to a 320kbps MP3 will not make any of the details lost during the first conversion reappear. It will not make it sound better.

true. you can't get back things you lost or didn't record in the first place. having a 64kbps audio and re encoding it to 320kbps will sound just like 64kbps with a 320kpbs tag, even with a lossless format (to some degree, its not perfect)

Better just to take the time to re-record from the original source (if possible) and at highest quality and sample rate your analogue>digital converter (ie soundcard/encoding software) can produce onto a lossless uncompressed format..

Now that I'm thoroughly done abusing that horse let's wait for the next person to say something about audio formats.

hehe.. you tempt me
AIFF/WAV - big and chunky, what-you-see-is-what-you-get situation.
mp3 - smaller files comparative to uncompressed, but depends on what settings you've got it recorded to, to be worth the compression to noise ratio..
aac - similar to mp3 (with the similar drawbacks), but the algorithm is much better built so it sounds more "true"

Plenty more formats, each having its own disadvantages and advantages, but the above are the most common ones you'd encounter..

 

[Jesse_hz]

having a 64kbps audio and re encoding it to 320kbps will sound just like 64kbps with a 320kpbs tag

No it wont! At least not exactly the same.

Whenever you convert a piece of audio from any format to the same format or another, it loses quality, no matter how high a bitrate you set.

Keep in mind, I'm talking about lossy formats.