Making a small MP3 file

[rtcary]

I need to make a small mono MP3 file of a song to be used with a slide show.  I have the Audacity made in memory at 8,000 Hz, 16 bit, mono, however when I save it as MP3, it is 4 MB in size.  Is there a way to make it smaller?  The AUP file is quite small: ~1.5 KB

Thank you

[Gale (Audacity Team)]

The only thing that determines the size of the exported MP3 is the bit rate you export at. The default bit rate is 128 kbps, which takes 1 MB of space per minute. Reduce the bit rate to reduce the space taken (this also reduces the quality). To change the bit rate, go to the File Formats tab of Preferences and use the Bit Rate dropdown in the "MP3 Export Setup" section. In Audacity 1.3.3 or later (Beta), the MP3 bit rate is chosen when you click File > Export and choose "MP3 Files" in the "'Save as type" dropdown; you can then click the "Options" button to choose the MP3 bit rate in the "Quality" dropdown.

[Radio Guy]

I hope this helps:

Select "Export..."
In the dialogue window at the bottom, select MP3 files
Click on the options button
Choose "Constant" or "Variable" bit rate
Choose the level of compression you want -- the lower the number, the smaller the file.

This should squeeze the file mightily.

rtcary wrote:

I need to make a small mono MP3 file of a song to be used with a slide show.  I have the Audacity made in memory at 8,000 Hz, 16 bit, mono, however when I save it as MP3, it is 4 MB in size.  Is there a way to make it smaller?  The AUP file is quite small: ~1.5 KB

Thank you