Midi -> Mp3 conversion program

Hey all.

I have a batch of Midi files that I'd like to make into Mp3s. They're score files from an old computer game, and together they take up about 770k. When I convert them into Mp3s using Switch Sound they end up taking up about 44MB.

Now, I know very little about audio encoding. But that the files should become so much larger seems wrong (data doesn't come from nowhere). Does anybody know of settings I can sweek or software I can use to get Mp3s closer to the size of the original midi files?

Thanks for any help.

 

There is no such setting or software. Midi files are the electronic equivalent of sheet music. They are only the list of notes to be played, when they are to be played, how long they are to be played, and what instrument they are to be played on. Think Excel spreadsheet. There is no sound in that file at all. Turning them into MP3 files you are turning them into an actual sound wave form. Or more correctly a digital representation of the wave form. That will of course, create a lot more data. Assuming a sample rate of 128k to 192k, there will be thousands of 16 bit samples for each second of audio. The MP3 format does compress this quite a bit, but the is no chance at all of EVER reducing it anywhere near the size of the midi files. That is an over simplification but should give you an understanding of why the MP3 version is much larger.

Gary

 

Ah, thank you. That makes a lot of sense.

 

What about www.media-convert.com? Maybe it works.

 

It doesn't matter what tool you use, you will never get the file size of a midi file converted to mp3 to be anywhere near the size of the original midi file. See my explanation above for the reason why.

Gary