Last week I needed a software tool for converting MPEG-1 video directly into an mp3 file. My favorite open source / cross platform audio software editor, Audacity, could not do the job.
I was referred to WinAmp as well as Divx Digest, as software tools and resources on the Windows side that could likely perform this conversion. I ended up finding (via google) the free program ffmpegX, an amazing program for Mac OS X that can convert between virtually any audio and video format as desired.
The original MPEG-1 video file was 48 min, 47 sec long and 498 MB in size. Great quality, but very large as a downloadable file. Since this video file is streamed, however, file size is not as apparent or a problem to end-users. However, when accessing streamed content, listeners / viewers are “chained” to their computers. When recorded as a downloadable podcast, users can time and place shift to listen to the content at the time and in the location of their choice.
The converted MP3 (encoded at 64 kbps, plenty of quality for an audio recording used as a podcast) was 22.3 MB. What a difference! That is more than a 95% reduction in file size!
This audio file is now included in the TTU College of Education podcast feed. You can also view the original video online (login as guest without a password) or directly link to the mp3 audio file.
Note: As of 1 Oct 2026, this is a FULL STATIC COPY of all 6,390 posts shared on this blog since 2003. Updated content and ideas from Wes Fryer are still available!