Exporting to an external program: Sometimes you might want to encode a file, or let another application format it. Luckily, Audacity has this option available for you. You can choose an external program to share this audio with another application. This external application may process your audio file. Or, it may encode it as you wish.
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The external program option is available in the “export audio” option in the File menu, and export sub-menu. This option is also available for when you are simultaneously exporting multiple files. You can choose the external program option from “export multiple” in the export option in the file menu. And, the “save as type” drop-down menu contains the external program option.
How to select the format of this file?
As you want an external program to handle this file, you will have to provide the location of this external library. The examples of these external libraries are lame mp3 for mp3 format, and FFmpeg for other audio formats. Follow these steps to choose your external program.
- You have to type the location or path of your external program.
- According to the syntax, add an in file command after space, if required.
- Enter a space in the command box and a hyphen.
- Enter any valid output options for your file, if needed.
- If needed in the syntax, you may have to add an outfile command after space.
- Now, enter space and type “%f”.
The file name and the file type are sent to the external program. These are the details you entered in the Export Audio dialog box.
How to choose the path of your external program?
The external programs like lame and FFmpeg have to be stored in the standard location of your device. Generally, when you write “lame” or “FFmpeg” in the command line, it will find your program as it is stored in the standard location.
In some devices, you may need to set up the “lame” and “FFmpeg” external programs. In the command box, you may have to enter the complete path of your program for Audacity to use it. There is a “browse” option to select this path.
Examples of exporting with external programs
You can get all the help you need about exporting the audio file in Audacity here. To get you to understand all the steps above, we have presented some examples.
The first external program that we are using is Lame.
The usage page of Lame contains metadata tags and all other commands. By default, Lame creates an audio file with a “constant bit rate” mp3 file. This file format is of quality level 3. You can get a “variable bit rate” with advanced error checking available with a certain command.
Another external program is the FFmpeg external program.
There is an FFmpeg documentation for the users. You can read these documents and apply the command as per your needs.
Other options
The “browse” option on the dialog box will let you select the path of your program. You can select the external program directly without entering the command line.
A “show output” checkbox is present on the dialog box. When you enable this checkbox, you get a success or failure message of the audio file exported by the external program. If you do not enable this checkbox, an error message will display only if there is an error in exporting. Click here to learn more.
Read more articles.
- Export Formats supported by Audacity
- Connecting an Instrument to Your Computer
- Select and Edit Audios-Audacity
