I often see posts on our forums from users asking what type of audio (WAV or MP3) they should import into Articulate Presenter, or people asking if it is better to import MP3 audio than WAV because they think that since MP3 files are smaller it will produce smaller output.
So to answer the question, "What audio file type should I use to import into Articulate Presenter?"
Use WAV files when possible when importing into Articulate Presenter.
Here are the facts:
Importing WAV files will produce the same output file size as MP3 files of the same length
If you are importing MP3 files in the hopes that it will produce smaller output file sizes don't bother. The same audio file when imported in WAV format vs MP3 will produce the same output file size.
Imported MP3 files are converted to WAV when importing into Articulate Presenter
The reason we do this is that when using the Timeline Audio Editor the files must be in WAV format in order for us to edit the amount of audio that plays on each slide, so if you import MP3 files into Articulate Presenter we will automatically convert it back to WAV.
Imported MP3's audio quality will be less than imported WAVs
The MP3 audio format is a lossy format, meaning that when you convert WAV to MP3 the output file won't sound as good as the original WAV. Articulate Presenter will convert the WAV file to MP3 when published, but doing this conversion only once from WAV to MP3 will be less lossy, than converting to MP3, then converting to WAV, then converting to MP3. That being said, we always keep your source WAV on disk, so each time you publish it won't affect the quality of your audio file.
Articulate Presenter lets you specify the audio quality settings of the output MP3
If you want to use a specific audio bitrate for one reason or another, Articulate Presenter allows you to specify the audio quality settings for your ouput audio file. To change this go to Articulate>Library and Options>Quality and choose Custom. We allow you to specify any of the Audio Bitrates that Flash supports. By limiting you to only audio bitrates that Flash supports we prevent audio from sounding chipmunky.
So to answer the question, "What audio file type should I use to import into Articulate Presenter?"
Use WAV files when possible when importing into Articulate Presenter.
Here are the facts:
Importing WAV files will produce the same output file size as MP3 files of the same length
If you are importing MP3 files in the hopes that it will produce smaller output file sizes don't bother. The same audio file when imported in WAV format vs MP3 will produce the same output file size.
Imported MP3 files are converted to WAV when importing into Articulate Presenter
The reason we do this is that when using the Timeline Audio Editor the files must be in WAV format in order for us to edit the amount of audio that plays on each slide, so if you import MP3 files into Articulate Presenter we will automatically convert it back to WAV.
Imported MP3's audio quality will be less than imported WAVs
The MP3 audio format is a lossy format, meaning that when you convert WAV to MP3 the output file won't sound as good as the original WAV. Articulate Presenter will convert the WAV file to MP3 when published, but doing this conversion only once from WAV to MP3 will be less lossy, than converting to MP3, then converting to WAV, then converting to MP3. That being said, we always keep your source WAV on disk, so each time you publish it won't affect the quality of your audio file.
Articulate Presenter lets you specify the audio quality settings of the output MP3
If you want to use a specific audio bitrate for one reason or another, Articulate Presenter allows you to specify the audio quality settings for your ouput audio file. To change this go to Articulate>Library and Options>Quality and choose Custom. We allow you to specify any of the Audio Bitrates that Flash supports. By limiting you to only audio bitrates that Flash supports we prevent audio from sounding chipmunky.
AICC
Articulate Presenter SDK (2:03)
Articulate
Unfortunately I record directly to MP3 with the Edirol R-09 recorder that I use.
I could record in wav format but with a 2gb flash card it only gives me 2 hours of wav recording.
Most of the speakers that I need to record have presentations of 3 - 6 hours. This necessitates the user of MP3 recording.
This post helps me to understand why the audio quality output seems poorer than my input.