Tutorial - Exporting to iTunes

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Revision as of 21:44, 14 September 2014 by Windinthew (talk | contribs) (Reply to Peter: Adding OGG + FLAC to WMP/iTunes should at least be on Wiki - probably on the pages for those formats.)
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Peter 04Sep14: Would this page be better re-structured with a single section on using iTunes to convert from WAV/AIFF to MP3/AAC/ALAC, rather than having it effectively repeated in the MP3 and AAC sections. I am minded to think that that would be a good improvement.
  • Gale 05Sep14: I think though we link in Forum / other support to anchor sections on this page. So specific steps to convert to a specific format are useful. Perhaps a custom TOC would help?
  • Peter 05Sep14: I'll try to find some time to make a custom TOC
  • Peter 13Sep14: I have done extensive work on this page today - it has been troubling me for some time.
    1. I improved the custom TOC I had previously provided.
    2. I restructured the page with the single consolidated iTunes conversion section I suggested preciously. The previous anchored sections remain so should not upset the Forum etc. links that Gale mentions.
    3. I added an entry in the Glossary for "Apple Lossless" in the Glossary and linked to it from the relevant H2 here. I used "Apple Lossless" in preference to ALAC or ALE as that is what iTunes users see in their GUI.
    4. I have deliberately not added a link to Exporting your Audacity Project into iTunes and iPod in the Wiki as it appears to add little of value that is not on this page.
    5. I linked the Sample workflow for exporting to iTunes page back to here rather than the Wiki page it formerly went to.
    6. ToDo-2 I strongly advocate removing the section on OGG. I know of no iTunes/iPod/iPad/iPhone user who uses this file format, there is really no need of it for them. I think it's an unnecessary irrelevance on this page an adds no value to it.
  • Peter 13Sep14: I have done some more extensive work on this page today.
    1. I commented out the OGG section - it's just not a rational choice for an iTunes/iPod/iPhone user
    2. I removed the H2 section on iTunes podcasts, moving enhanced shortened advice into a note in the intro
    3. I transferred relevant material from the CD burning H2 on this page to the Burning music files to a CD page, separating out the WMP and iTunes subsections and clarifying the steps involved
    4. I removed the H2 section from this page
    5. I made the link in the WAV/AIFF H3 section of this page go to the iTunes section Burning music files to a CD
    6. I set a P2 placeholder for a query: "can provide a direct export to Apple Lossless from Audacity?"
    • I can remove the discussion ednotes from this page (or archive on the Talk page) - but this can be done after 2.0.6 if necessary, the page is in good shape (much better than it was I think) for 2.0.6.

      In case you're wondering, I came back for a long hard look at this page as I've just acquired one of the last 160gb iPod Classics (as a backup) and it's made me think about the process over again, leading me to examine this page.

Exportando a iTunes e iPod

Before exporting audio for use in iTunes it is important to consider which audio file format you want to use. WAV and AIFF files produce high quality lossless audio files but consume a lot of disk space. MP3 and AAC files are compressed so they occupy less disk space, but audio damage may result as a result of the compression.
Submitting a podcast to the iTunes Store is a different process than exporting an Audacity file to an iTunes library. See our Tutorial on Tutorial - Mixing a Narration With Background Music and our Wiki page on How to publish a Podcast for more help with creating and publishing a podcast.

Contents

  1. Exporting audio for loading into iTunes - a quick overview
  2. What format should I export to?
    1. WAV or AIFF - universal support, lossless, large files, best for CD burning
    2. MP3 - universal support, small files, lossy
    3. AAC - Apple's proprietary format, small files, lossy
    4. Apple Lossless - Apple's proprietary format, lossless, size compressed
  3. Format conversion in iTunes
  4. Export location


Exporting audio for loading into iTunes

In order to export audio for adding into iTunes:

  1. Use the File > Export Audio... command or in Audacity (or File > Export Multiple...).
  2. Choose the export format in the Export dialog, to export the particular format you want your file(s) to be in (for example WAV, AIFF, MP3, AAC or OGG).
  3. Move the file(s) into iTunes from the location you exported it to, using the iTunes File > Add File to Library... (or File > Add Folder to Library...) command.
You may also want to read this workflow tutorial Sample workflow for exporting to iTunes.

What format should I export to?

As an iTunes, and probably iPod or iPhone, user the natural choice of format is likely to be AAC (this is the default format set in iTunes and the format that Apple uses for audio files sold from the iTunes Store). MP3 should be considered if you think that in the future you may wish to switch to an alternative portable music player or phone. If you have plenty of storage space on your device or a relatively small music library you may wish to consider the larger lossless WAV or AIFF formats.

There are several advantages to using a compressed format on iPods and iPhones. The two main benefits are that you can fit many more songs into the device (for 256 kbps files you can fit about 10 times as many songs) and compressed files improve battery life, because disk reads are relatively heavy on battery power.

If you choose lossy formats (MP3 or AAC) the minimum bitrate setting you should use for music is 160 kbps, though 256 kbps is probably to be preferred - and in use on an iPod is unlikely to be distinguishable from WAV or AIFF (or Apple Lossless). For speech 128 kbps or even 64 kbps can be used as the bitrate if preferred.

WAV or AIFF (universal support, lossless, best for CD burning)

If you want a perfect lossless copy of your audio, or to burn it in iTunes to an audio CD for playing on any CD player, you should choose WAV or AIFF. It is strongly recommended you export a standard "CD quality" 44100 Hz, 16 bit stereo WAV or AIFF to make sure iTunes understands the file. This means:

  1. Ensure Project Rate at the bottom left of the Audacity project window is set to "44100" Hz.
  2. Select File > Export Audio... (or File > Export Multiple...) then select "WAV (Microsoft) signed 16-bit PCM" or "AIFF (Apple) signed 16-bit PCM" in the export window
    • If you want a stereo export but your Project does not already contain a stereo track, click Tracks > Add New > Stereo Track.

See Burning music files to a CD if you are only interested in burning a CD.

An advantage of exporting to AIFF is that lyrics or album art can be added to the file in iTunes, which is not possible with WAV files.

MP3 (universal support, small files, lossy)

If you want to distribute your files on the internet (for example as a podcast), you should choose MP3 as the Format in the Export dialog, as this is a space-saving (although slightly lossy) format that anyone should be able to play. To export as MP3 from Audacity you need first to download the LAME encoder and point Audacity to it (see Lame Installation).

If you want to put the files on iPod, or simply store them in iTunes in a compact form, MP3 is also a good choice. However, there are some reports that when run on battery, recent iPods can struggle or crash when playing MP3s created in applications other than iTunes. So you may want to export as WAV or AIFF from Audacity and convert the files to MP3 in iTunes instead.

AAC (Apple proprietary, small files, lossy)

Apple's proprietary format produces lossy, small, files similar to MP3, they are approximately the same quality as MP3 for a slightly smaller file size. The files are created with the .m4a extension.

AAC is useful for iPod or storage in iTunes due to its small file size and reduced disk occupancy, particularly if you have an iPod with a small disk. The minimum bitrate setting you should use for music is 160 kpbs though 256 kbps is probably to be preferred and in use on an iPod is unlikely to be distinguishable from WAV or AIFF (or Apple Lossless).

Audacity can export directly to AAC if you install the optional FFmpeg library. To export to AAC choose M4A (AAC) Files (FFmpeg) in the Export Audio window then type the file name. If you are exporting an AAC file for mobile devices, you can add the M4R (ringtone) or 3GP extension after the file name and dot as required by the device.

Apple Lossless (Apple proprietary, lossless. smaller than WAV/AIFF)

Peter 14Oct14: ToDo-2 Is there no way we can provide a direct export to Apple Lossless from Audacity? This approach is very cack-handed (as me ol' mum used to say). I set the P2 here as a placeholder to provide focus, as this is undoubtedly a post 2.0.6 issue.

Apple Lossless Encoding (sometimes referred to as ALAC - Apple Lossless Audio Codec) is also an Apple proprietary format. Apple Lossless is, as the name suggests, Apple's size-compressed lossless codec variant. Like AAC it also utilises files with the .m4a extension.

Apple Lossless Encoder is quite similar to FLAC, it produces larger files than AAC or MP3 but smaller than WAV. Typically and Apple Lossless file is around half to two thirds the size of an equivalent WAV file and more than three times the size of an equivalent AAC 256 kbps file.

You cannot export directly to Apple Lossless from the Export dialog, rather you need to export using the (external program) option. Click the Options... button, enter the following command:

ffmpeg -i - -acodec alac "%f"

then add the M4A extension after the file name and dot. See Exporting to an External Program for more help.

Peter 14Sep14: I commented this out prior to removing it). I don't think that any iTunes/iPod users would for a moment seriously consider choosing ogg as their Audacity export format of choice. There is an off-chance they get hold of an ogg file from somewhere else, say someone sends them an ogg file and they want to play it in their iTunes library. If they're also an iPod/iPad/iPhone user (most likely if they have iTunes) it certainly won't play on their portable device). The details of how to do this is really an Apple support issue and I feel we would make that point on the Forum if someone asked "how can I play an ogg file in iTunes?". This page is about Exporting from Audacity for use in iTunes and ogg is just not a sensible choice for that. It only clouds an important and difficult decision that the newbie iTunes/iPod/Audacity user has to face - and I've been there, I know is a serious choice that deserves serious consideration....

ToDo-2 Therefore I propose to permanently remove this section, unless there are any serious and well-argued objections.

  • Gale 14Sep14: Let's consider this after 2.0.6. This information should at least be in Main Wiki (and arguably the Wiki should have info about adding support to WMP for FLAC and OGG - often asked on the Forum). Probably this information should be on the pages discussing those formats.

OGG format (open source, small files, lossy)

Audacity supports the Ogg Vorbis format (a lossy compressed format similar to MP3/compressed AAC, but of higher quality for the same file size than either).

However an iPod cannot play OGG files, but iTunes can with a hack. To play .OGG Files in iTunes or Quick Time , install the OGG codecs for QuickTime. Alternatively you can download and install Oggdrop which as well as allowing you to play OGG files in iTunes or Quick Time functions as a standalone application allowing you to encode CD tracks or audio files in other formats to OGG.

Format conversion in iTunes

Alternatively you can export to WAV or AIFF and convert to MP3, AAC or Apple Lossless in iTunes:

  1. Click Edit > Preferences (or iTunes > Preferences on Mac)
  2. Click on the leftmost "General" tab
  3. Click the Import Settings... button
  4. In the "Import Using" dropdown, choose "MP3 Encoder", "AAC Encoder" or "Apple Lossless Encoder" as required
  5. Click OK and OK
  6. Select the file to be converted, then right-click or control-click over it and choose "Create MP3 Version", "Create AAC Version" or "Create Apple Lossless Version" as appropriate.

After creating the MP3, AAC or Apple Lossless version you should delete the original WAV or AIFF files to save disk space, as iTunes does not do this for you automatically.

Export location

You can choose any location for the export such as a "Music" folder on your Desktop or even the iTunes "Music" folder if you have one. However you must still import this file from the exported location into the iTunes Library (which makes it visible in Library > Music on the left hand panel of iTunes). There are two ways to import your exported audio files into iTunes.

  • Use the File > Add File to Library... or File > Add Folder to Library... command from within iTunes, to add a single audio file or a folder of audio files.
  • Select Library > Music in iTunes and drag the file from the location you exported it to, into the iTunes window. If you just want to burn the files to CD, it's best to drag them directly into an iTunes Playlist in the left-hand panel.
Advice By default iTunes is a "virtual" Library containing no actual files but only links to them. To avoid losing your files, do *not* delete the exported files from the location you exported them to, unless you have already gone to Edit > Preferences > Advanced in iTunes and enabled the "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" option.

It is strongly recommended that you make this setting in iTunes.

Peter 14Sep14: ToDo-2 I feel that this section does not belong on this page. We already cover podcasts in Tutorial - Mixing a Narration With Background Music and that links to this Wiki page on how to submit podcasts to iTunes.

The underlying issue here is that we are conflating "iTunes" confusingly "iTunes library" and "iTunes Store" which are two quite distinct things. This page really dealing with the former and not the latter. Maybe we need to retitle the page to something like "Exporting for use in an iTunes library" for clarity?

  • Peter 14Sep14 a bit later: having now made this a footnote on the page I feel that it may be ok to leave it here. I enhanced it by adding a direct link here to the wiki page.
  • Peter 14Sep14 even later: I decided it made sense to move this caution up into the intro note - I retained it here, commented out, in case we want to revert.

Submitting a podcast to the iTunes Store

Submitting a podcast to the iTunes Store is a different process than exporting an Audacity file to iTunes. Two broad steps are required:

  1. upload your podcast file and an RSS feed to an online file server.
  2. submit the feed to the iTunes Store.
See our Tutorial on Tutorial - Mixing a Narration With Background Music and our Wiki page on How to publish a Podcast for more help with creating and publishing a podcast.
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