How to reduce the size of an MP3 or voice recording

Audio files are mostly limited by their bitrate. Lowering it makes the file smaller, at some cost to detail.

Steps

• Open Audio Compressor and add your file.
• Choose a lower quality, such as 96 kbps. For speech, tick Mono.
• Press Compress audio, listen to the result, then download.

Rough guide

• 320 kbps: best quality, biggest file.
• 128 kbps: good for most music.
• 64 to 96 kbps: fine for voice notes, lectures and podcasts.
• 48 kbps mono: smallest, for speech only.

Tip

A WAV recording can shrink more than ten times when it becomes an MP3. If you only need part of a recording, trim it first with Audio Trimmer.