Editing MP3...do you lose quality?

[weegee]

When you edit MP3 in something like Audacity software, do you lose any noticeable quality is the audio every time you import and export the edited MP3?

Thanks

 

[vwestlife]

Yes, every time you export the file you are re-encoding it and losing quality, unless you use an editor specifically designed to edit MP3 files without re-encoding them, such as MP3DirectCut:

http://mpesch3.de/

 

[weegee]

Thanks

 

[imral3]

Once it's MP3 you've already lost noticeable audio quality.

 

[sKiZo]

Not necessarily ... VBR is the next best thing to lossless.

Example - 256VBR means the file will have an AVERAGE of 256 bits in the file. This includes a tiny marker for silence and the bit rate can be unlimited for more complex passages. You'd be hard pressed to notice any real audible differences between a well encoded VBR rip and a lossless format.

Only real drawbacks are the amount of time it takes to do the encoding, and you need a good playback engine, as it takes a lot more processing power to decode due to the complex algorithms used to compress the file.

 

[vwestlife]

Not necessarily ... VBR is the next best thing to lossless.

Not with MP3. 320 kbps is its maximum bitrate. Even at its highest quality setting, VBR can't make the bitrate any higher than that -- only lower. So unless you're trying to make the file smaller, you might as well just use 320 kbps CBR (constant bitrate).

AAC / M4A is different, though -- with it, encoding at 320 kbps VBR results in higher average bitrates than 320 kbps CBR, not lower.