mp3 conversion question

[tecstar]

I have some 320kbps mp3 files that were converted from .wav files which i no longer have.
I want to re-convert them to 128kbps mp3.
Should I just do a straight 320k->128k mp3 conversion or is it better to convert back to .wav then to 128k mp3?
I always thought that a high-to-low straight mp3 conversion is OK.
Thanks.

[Soopafresh]

Makes no difference.

[AlanHK]

In both cases it's decompressed and recompressed; just if you do it "directly" the intermediate is temporary.

[Enygma]

I recommend using WinLame to do the conversion. It can do entire folders and uses the best freeware MP3 encoder out there.

MP3Gain is also a great tool that's worth looking in to.

[Alex_ander]

WinLame also uses the best known decompressor (MAD) internally working at 32-bit. Try to find RC3 version of WinLame, later ones are buggy. You can always update it with nLAME.dll of your choice (the best builds are 3.90.3 and latest 3.97).

[olyteddy]

The Godfather also does batch conversions using LAME. Also a real good tag manager.

[tecstar]

Thanks for all the replies.
So ANY app that will recode an mp3 will ALWAYS decompress the file then re-encode it again.
What does it decompress it to? Its original format, or a "special" intermediate format.
Maybe this is a dumb question, but my knowledge on the specifics is limited.

[AlanHK]

Thanks for all the replies.
So ANY app that will recode an mp3 will ALWAYS decompress the file then re-encode it again.
What does it decompress it to? Its original format, or a "special" intermediate format.
Maybe this is a dumb question, but my knowledge on the specifics is limited.

Could be anything, but probably something like WAVE -- a lossless format.
If you look at Audacity's working folder when you open an MP3, you find it creating several huge files to work on, which it deletes when you close it.

(There are also lossless compressed formats, like FLAC, but not a lot of software can handle them.)

If you want to use an audio utility or editor that can't open an MP3, you make a wave file manually, which is almost universally useable. It's much larger, but there is no information loss.