Question about wav/flac sample rate/frequency...

[P A U L]

Ok, I'm pretty techno savvy, but...

I have a show that I mastered. When I did the mastering, my editor automatically upsamples to 48khz/24bit. So, I get done doing my thing & decide to downsample the set for sharing, because most want 44.1khz/16bit & so I did it & flac wrap it (flac 8)...

So, now, when I open the folder & look @ the media info, it says:

General
Complete name : T:\
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec
File size : 66.7 MiB
Duration : 10mn 23s
Overall bit rate : 897 Kbps

Audio
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec
Duration : 10mn 23s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 897 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Stream size : 66.7 MiB (100%)
Writing library : libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)


I thought that the bitrate should be 1411 kbps, not 897 kbps...

Am I confusing this with a different freq/sample rate? Or should it be 1400, or ? I'm also not sure why it's variable...

Anyone have any ideas?

Much appreciated - thanks in advance...

(edit)
Also, now, would this be considered lossy here (897 kbps) ?

[DanielG]

Also, now, would this be considered lossy here (897 kbps) ?

When FLAC compresses a WAV file it reduces the bitrate (losslessly), which is why you see a reduction in the bitrate. But unlike MP3, there is no reduction in the quality of the audio - just the size.

In summation, everything is fine. Some WAV files will compress more efficiently with FLAC so the bitrate may be even lower in some cases :)

[paddington]

not related, but get your editor to quit upsampling! waste of time and an extra dither step that isn't needed.. changes the audio a bit.

[P A U L]

Ok, thanks!

Actually, it turns out, my editor isn't set that way anymore anyway. I used to have it set that way a long time ago...

But, yes looking deeper into it, I downloaded a flac set from someone else & it was lower bitrate yet. When I convert to wav again, I see the bitrate is correct...