Ogg Vorbis Export Options

The Ogg Vorbis export option uses the open-source compressed, lossy Vorbis codec inside an Ogg format container. Ogg format can be played in Windows Media Player and Apple Music/iTunes, but requires additional codecs to be downloaded. Ogg is a popular format for streaming applications.

Audacity does not yet support use of the Speex low bit rate voice codec within Ogg.

What you hear by previewing with playback prior to export is what you will get in the Exported audio file.

• When using Export Audacity will only export tracks that are not grayed-out by use of the Mute or Solo buttons in the tracks' Track Control Panels.
• Also note that any hidden parts of audio clips are not exported, see Audio Tracks and Clips.

Accessed by: File > Export Audio then choosing Ogg Vorbis from the Format dropdown menu.

Also accessed by: File > Export Audio and selecting Multiple Files then choosing Ogg Vorbis Files from the Save as type dropdown menu. In this case the options dialog will appear in the center of the Export Multiple dialog.

Ogg Vorbis Export Setup

Channels

Sets the number of channels for the exported audio file. There are three options

• Mono: single channel
• Stereo: stereo pair with left and right channels
• Custom mapping: use this to export multi-channel (surround sound) files or to make customized assignments between Audacity tracks and the channels in the exported file.
  • Selecting this and clicking on the Configure button causes the Advanced Mixing Options dialog to appear. For details please see Advanced Mixing Options.

Sample Rate

Sets the sample rate for the exported file. Default setting is 44100 Hz, which is CD quality.

Quality

Choose a quality setting from 0 (lowest) to 10 (best). The current quality setting is displayed in the center of the slider. The default level of 5 typically produces a file of about the same size as Audacity's default 128 kbps MP3 encoding, but of higher quality. Higher OGG quality settings mean a larger file size, because a higher overall bit rate will be used.

OGG encoding is technically a form of VBR or variable bit rate encoding, as opposed to the CBR or constant bit rate encoding used by default when exporting MP3 files.

This means that in order to maintain consistent quality throughout a track, a higher bit rate will be used when encoding a complex piece of audio (such as a full orchestral passage) than when encoding a solo voice or instrument. A recording which has more complex audio will produce a larger file. Increasing the sample rate in Audio Settings Preferences will increase the bit rate and so the file size (and vice versa).