Exporting MP3 audio from Audacity | Step by Step

Exporting MP3 files from Audacity is simple, if somewhat limited. You have to set your desired bit rate in the Preferences window before you export, because you aren't given an option to adjust settings when you export. Here's how to set your preferred bit rate:

1. Open Audacity, and open your podcast audio file.

2. From the Edit menu, choose Preferences, as shown in Figure 1. This opens the Audacity Preferences window.


Figure 1: Use this dialog box to configure Audacity's MP3 export settings.

3. Click the File Formats tab.

4. Select your desired bit rate from the bit rate drop-down menu in the MP3 Export Setup section.

5. Click OK.

After you set your bit rate in the Preferences window, choose the Export as MP3 option from the File menu. That's all there is to it. Audacity doesn't offer the ability to do mono MP3 encoding or VBR-based encoding. As long as you don't want to do anything fancy, Audacity is a perfectly good encoding option.