Song during game. MP3 or Wav file? Better quality?
Undiscovered
Member Posts: 22
I know that Wav is better quality than mp3.
Does Gamesalad automatically convert files to make them smaller and compressed?
Or do you really gain an advantage in sound quality by making the sound file an uncompressed Wav file?
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@Undiscovered
Wav is supposed to have a better quality than mp3. Wav also has a larger size than mp3. Take your pick.
That really depends on the bit-rate of the mp3, anything above 256 kbit/s and you won't be able to tell the difference between uncompressed WAV/AIFF and an mp3.
But a Wav is better quality, in practice the difference (when using a high bit-rate mp3) is imperceivable, even using high quality monitoring equipment, let alone when played back on a mobile device or ear buds.
Compressed yes, smaller, not always !
An uncompressed Wav - imported as music - will result in a 128kbit/s file
A 320kbit/s mp3 - imported as music - will also result in a 128kbit/s file
A 64kbit/s mp3 - imported as music - will also result in a 128kbit/s file
(they're never quite 128kbit/s for technical reasons, but in that area).
So, it all depends on the quality of what you import, low quality files (below 128kbit/s) are actually made larger !
Compared to a high quality mp3, not really.
A Wav is better quality like you say, but once converted by GameSalad there is no perceivable difference between a Wav and a good quality mp3 as they all end up as 128kbit/s mp3s, and for the same reason the file size (of the original audio files) is not a concern as they both end up the same size.
Thank you so much for your replies.
I always make my Mp3's 320bits.
Since it does not matter since Game Salad Converts them I am going to go with the Mp3.
I wonder if Gamesalad will give us an option in the future for higher quality audio above the 128bit limit.
Thanks again.
If you import you music as m4a files you can bypass the conversion process (so a 256kbps file stays 256kbps and is not converted to 128kbps).
You can also open up the GS file and manually manipulate audio files if you need to do something specific (for example if you want a stereo 'sound' - as all 'sound' audio is summed to mono when imported). But you need to know what you are doing, it's not at all complicated, but if you don't know what you are doing digging around within the file structure can screw your project up.
If you want better control over your audio you should grab VLC (free) as it allows you to convert audio to Ogg files (GameSalad's preferred sound format) but with complete control over the quality. Once converted to an Ogg file GameSalad will not then convert your sound file, so if you created a lovely 25kbps stereo explosion for your spaceship, convert it into a 256kbps Ogg in VLC and import it as a sound into GameSalad it will still be a lovely 256kbps stereo explosion ! Do the same with a WAV imported directly into GameSalad as a 'sound' and you will get a 96kbps mono sound.