MP3: This is the optimal sample rate
Depending on the source material and application, a different sample rate may be optimal for your MP3. Different sampling rates are particularly suitable for music and speech, audio CD and DVD or BluRay. We'll tell you when to use which sample rate.
MP3: The ideal sample rate for every application
With MP3 and other audio formats, it is important to use the same sampling rate from recording to playback if possible. You can convert the sample rate at any time, but sample rate converters almost always generate artifacts. The following sample rates are ideal for the various applications:
- To convert music CDs to MP3, for example according to our instructions via media player, it is best to use the original sample rate of 44100 Hz.
- The sound of DVDs and BluRay is usually stored and played back at 48000 samples per second. So here you should stay at the sample rate of 48 kHz. When you convert 96 kHz audio to MP3, 48 kHz often sounds better than 44.1 kHz.
- A sample rate of 8 to 9 kHz is sufficient for pure voice recordings via sound recorder or other software, since small microphones above 4 to 5 kHz contain hardly any sound energy.
- If the sound quality of radio plays and audiobooks is not so important to you, because, for example, you want to take as many stories with you on an MP3 player, use a sample rate of 22050 Hz. At half the sample rate, you can also halve the bit rate of MP3 without sacrificing quality.
- If you dub your old tapes, 32 kHz was sufficient as the sampling rate, because tapes hardly record frequencies above 16 kHz anyway.
