Posted by JJ on 12/17/06 21:16

I'm trying to convert the bit rate on some MP3 files from 160/192 to 128
using LAME 3.97. (Why down? Well, because the lower bit rate is required by
the hardware I'm using the files on; more in a moment.)

The issue I'm experiencing is that no matter what software I use, I get a
tiny amount of extra space (silence) at the beginning of the converted file.
For example, when using the Windows Audio Converter (part of the Windows
Digital Media Enhancements package) I get .037 seconds of blank space. When
using LAME under GoldWave, Audacity, or winLAME, I get either .051 or .025
seconds of space (.025 if I select NoGap in winLAME).

Now you may be thinking "That's an imperceptible amount of silence" and I'd
agree with you if this were for listening purposes, but these files are for
use with a dance game (kind of like DDR) and this gap has an absolutely
obvious effect on step timing. Is there anything I can do to get the
converted file to begin at exactly the same point in time? At first I simply
tried deleting that time from the beginning of the file and re-exporting
from Audacity but the time reappears!

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