I have a long audio clip (5 minutes), and will be inserting portions of that clip on a series of slides (5-30 seconds per slide).
Should I insert the clip on each slide and then crop down to what I need? Or will my file size be smaller if I cut the long clip into individual clips in a program like Audacity before inserting each clip onto the correct slide?
I guess what would determine this is whether cropping an audio file in the built-in Audio Editor reduces the file size.
Insert the audio on a slide, crop it, save the file and close Storyline. Re-open the file, If you can "un-crop" it, as I think you probably can, then you know that it doesn't reduce it, but merely masks it.
Turns out cropping the files DOES dramatically reduce file size, both of the STORY file, and the output content. Also, there doesn't seem to be a way to "uncrop" the audio after saving and re-opening.
I ran 4 tests with a very basic project including nothing but an audio (.mp3) clip on blank slides: One slide with full audio, two slides with full audio, one slide with cropped audio and two slides with cropped audio.
FullAudio_x01 Story = 7.46MB FullAudio_x01 Output = 7.90MB
FullAudio_x02 Story = 3.25GB FullAudio_x02 Output = 14.10MB
CroppedAudio_x01 Story = 96.10KB CroppedAudio_x01 Output = 1.67MB
CroppedAudio_x02 Story = 14.9MB CroppedAudio_x02 Output = 1.73MB
My conclusion, it is fine to leave all the audio in one longer file, and on projects like this one, I will just insert the whole clip into each slide, then crop down to what I need for that slide.
If anyone feels otherwise, please let me know. I am always open to learning more!
Hi, Daniel -- Thanks for stopping in to share your findings. If you would like to share your thoughts or ideas with our Product Developers, please feel free to do so using this form.
4 Replies
Insert the audio on a slide, crop it, save the file and close Storyline. Re-open the file, If you can "un-crop" it, as I think you probably can, then you know that it doesn't reduce it, but merely masks it.
That's what I was afraid of. I'll check into it as soon as I have time.
Turns out cropping the files DOES dramatically reduce file size, both of the STORY file, and the output content. Also, there doesn't seem to be a way to "uncrop" the audio after saving and re-opening.
I ran 4 tests with a very basic project including nothing but an audio (.mp3) clip on blank slides: One slide with full audio, two slides with full audio, one slide with cropped audio and two slides with cropped audio.
FullAudio_x01 Story = 7.46MB
FullAudio_x01 Output = 7.90MB
FullAudio_x02 Story = 3.25GB
FullAudio_x02 Output = 14.10MB
CroppedAudio_x01 Story = 96.10KB
CroppedAudio_x01 Output = 1.67MB
CroppedAudio_x02 Story = 14.9MB
CroppedAudio_x02 Output = 1.73MB
My conclusion, it is fine to leave all the audio in one longer file, and on projects like this one, I will just insert the whole clip into each slide, then crop down to what I need for that slide.
If anyone feels otherwise, please let me know. I am always open to learning more!
Hi, Daniel -- Thanks for stopping in to share your findings. If you would like to share your thoughts or ideas with our Product Developers, please feel free to do so using this form.
This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.