Hello!

I would like to encode some of my WavPack files to MP3 so I can listen to them using my cell phone. Since I don't need stereo (my left ear is totally deaf anyways), I wanted to use mono. For WV -> MP3, I use foobar's converter and also enabled the stereo -> mono DSP. The resulting files seem to have a bitrate of around 74 kbps. Now my question: is it possible that certain frames reach bitrates higher than 160 kbps when the input is mono? I am asking because my K750i can only decode up to 192 kbps. If the highest bitrate can be 160 kbps, then I don't need to use -B 192.

Regards,
Sebastian

I would try analyzing a few files with Encspot for bitrate distribution...

Frames can go up to 320 in mpeg1 mode. Mono or stereo is irrelevant.

Yes, I know that, but I was wondering if LAME really allocates > 192 kbps frames since all files I scanned with EncSpot don't contain frames with bitrates higher than 160 kbps.

I'd suggest adding the -m m switch to your commandline if you really want mono.

Thanks, but it seems that LAME automatically chooses mono when using the stereo -> mono DSP in foobar2000 (at least all encoded MP3s had 1 channel only). Well, I am going to use -B 192 just to be sure I don't get MP3s that won't play on my SE phone.

You know that because of the bit reservoir actual audio size can go up to 320kbps, even with -B 192, don't you?