# Solved: Looking for the best way to compress MP3 files.



## Leiki (Jul 15, 2005)

Hi, so what is the program to compress MP3 files?

Of course Google helps some, but most of the programs don't work, you have to pay, etc. So i'm asking some real people about your experiences.

Thank you!

P.S. - I did find quite a useful page (http://www.angelfire.com/journal/compress/) but the sound recorder automatically shut down after clicking the format change button.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

There is no way to do any significant compression of MP3 files, since they're a compressed format. The only way to significantly reduce their size is to reprocess them to a lower bit rate. Obviously that'll also result in a lower quality of sound.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

What's your purpose for compressing them? Using 7-zip, I reduced a 6 meg mp3 by 300kb. Compressing with WinRK brought it down only 500k. As *JohnWill* said, they are already compressed.


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## mike5532g (Jun 12, 2004)

Download and install dBpowerAMP Music Converter.

Try converting to .wma format. If your mp3's are encoded at 128, try them at 64 in the .wma format. You could cut your library size in half.

I suggest you try it on a few to see if you like it. My entire library is encoded at 64, they still sound pretty good to me.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Well, you can obviously reduce the quality of the files, I believe I already mentioned that. However, even to my tin ear, I suspect that encoding them at that low a bit rate would impact the sound quality.


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