Export bit depth
The Bit depth row sets how finely a WAV or AIFF file records each sample of the sound. It’s about sound only. The depth of the picture comes from the format you choose, and is on Precision and bit depth.
- Menu
- File ▸ Export…
- Keys
- ⌘E
- Where
- Export sheet ▸ Bit depth
- Agent tools
export
Choose a bit depth
Section titled “Choose a bit depth”In the export sheet, choose Audio only (WAV) or Audio only (AIFF) in Format, then pick a row in Bit depth, which sits under Quality.
| Row | What it’s for |
|---|---|
| 16-bit | The default. About 11.5 MB a minute. |
| 24-bit | Keeps detail 16-bit can’t. It matters most for a quiet recording you’re going to raise or process later. About 17.3 MB a minute. |
A 24-bit file shows 24-bit in the footnote, for example LPCM · WAV · 24-bit.
Both depths are rounded once from the float mix, to the nearest value, and neither is dithered.
Good to know
Section titled “Good to know”- On every other format Bit depth is greyed out and keeps your last choice.
- ProRes sound stays 16-bit, and AAC and Opus sound is encoded from 16-bit samples.
- The choice is remembered with the rest of the sheet and stored in presets.
With an agent
Section titled “With an agent”An agent passes audio_bits to export, as 16 or 24. It works on audio_wav and audio_aiff only, and any other format returns an error. See Export: start, then poll.