How to determine an audio file's bit rate and sample rate from Finder?

Question

Level 1

36 points

How to determine an audio file's bit rate and sample rate from Finder?

(I already posted this in the Tiger forum but thought I'd try here as well, since it's an audio question.)

Is there an easy way to determine what an audio file's bit rate and sample rate are without loading them into, say, Logic Pro or another audio app?

I'm wondering if there's a way to do it from Finder, but I haven't found anything yet.

Please advise, and thanks in advance for any help!

quad-core 2.66GHz Mac Pro; 15" 1.5GHz PowerBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.10), Logic Pro 7.1.1 and 8, Final Cut Studio, 30GB video iPod

Posted on Oct 23, 2007 4:16 PM

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Answer 1

jord

Level 5

5,230 points

Oct 23, 2007 6:12 PM in response to tizoast

You can do this in the Terminal. Navigate to your file and type 'mdls yourfile'. It will give you all of the metadata info on the file, and the sample rate should be in there.

jord

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Answer 2

Oct 23, 2007 4:31 PM in response to tizoast

I used to have a little app that sat in my utils bar at the top of the screen. You just dropped an audio file on it and it told you everything you needed to know, though it automatically played the file as well. I got rid of it some while ago and I can't remember what it was called.

However, I now use QuickTime. Open the file (or drag it on the QT icon in the Dock) and then press Command-I. Sure, it opens the app but QT is nearly always open on my machine anyway.

Pete

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Answer 3

tizoast Author

Level 1

36 points

Oct 23, 2007 5:11 PM in response to samuel1

iTunes will definitely work, but it always imports the file, too. Time consuming, and then I have to delete it from my library.

This issue came up last night when I was bouncing songs in Logic Pro, and a couple-few times I had to double check to make sure I'd bounced them as 48k. Just was looking for a super-quick way to check file data, but I think the QuickTime option might actually be the quickest.

Thanks!

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Answer 4

danseq

Level 2

163 points

Oct 23, 2007 5:13 PM in response to tizoast

There's a utility called "mp3info". You can find it on macupdate.com or similar.

It's great. All it is is a contextual menu. You control click on a file in the finder and the popup tells you what kind of audio file it is, including sample/bit rate and bit depth.

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Answer 5

tizoast Author

Level 1

36 points

Oct 23, 2007 4:34 PM in response to Apple Certified Trainer

Thanks! That certainly is a lot quicker than loading it into Logic Pro.

Anyone know if there is a more direct route still, though?

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Answer 6

samuel1

Level 2

150 points

Oct 23, 2007 5:05 PM in response to tizoast

I mean itunes will tell you both of those, but there does not seem to be a more direct route does there?

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