reducing file sizes for PDFs and mp3s
Moderators: Peter Thomsen, miker
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- Posts: 5
- Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2019 9:57 am
- Finale Version: 2019
- Operating System: Windows
Hello fellow Finale users - has anyone a solution for reducing the file size of PDFs and mp3s that are exported from Finale? At the moment, I export from Finale (I have version 26), and then import into other programs (ilovepdf for compressing PDFs, and audacity for compressing mp3s). The resulting files are tons smaller, without much loss of quality. But it's very time-consuming when producing lots of parts and scores! Thanks for your help - Paul in London.
Don't use the Finale Export > PDF or the Finale Graphics > Export Pages. I use PDFCreator, which creates much smaller PDF files (and they are just as good as far as I can see).
Example - 18-page score, A3 landscape, 17 staves - Finale PDF and Finale Graphics = 2,180 kb, PDFCreator = 324 kb !
As for compressing mp3 files you'll need to go to a DAW (as you do), or, I think, it can also be done in iTunes.
Example - 18-page score, A3 landscape, 17 staves - Finale PDF and Finale Graphics = 2,180 kb, PDFCreator = 324 kb !
As for compressing mp3 files you'll need to go to a DAW (as you do), or, I think, it can also be done in iTunes.
Finale 3.7 > 27.4.1, GPO5, ASUS laptop, 18.4'' display, Intel Core i7, 32GB RAM, WIN 10 Pro, Cubase
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- Posts: 5
- Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2019 9:57 am
- Finale Version: 2019
- Operating System: Windows
thanks...
- MikeHalloran
- Posts: 711
- Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2017 2:56 am
- Finale Version: 27
- Operating System: Mac
This is one of those areas where it makes a difference Mac vs PC.
Mike Halloran
Finale 27.4.1, SmartScore X2 Pro, GPO5 & World Instruments
MacOS Ventura 14.5 (public beta); 2023 Studio M2 Ultra, 192G RAM, 8TB; 2021 MBAir M1
NotePerformer4, Dorico 5, Overture, Notion 6, DP 11, Logic Pro
Finale 27.4.1, SmartScore X2 Pro, GPO5 & World Instruments
MacOS Ventura 14.5 (public beta); 2023 Studio M2 Ultra, 192G RAM, 8TB; 2021 MBAir M1
NotePerformer4, Dorico 5, Overture, Notion 6, DP 11, Logic Pro
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- Posts: 5
- Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2019 9:57 am
- Finale Version: 2019
- Operating System: Windows
thanks again - just one of those things I guess!
- motet
- Posts: 8293
- Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:33 pm
- Finale Version: 2014.5,2011,2005,27
- Operating System: Windows
It's well-known that the PDF built into Finale has problems--I wouldn't trust it.
With the MP3's, I have no experience there, but it looks like it doesn't give you any control over the bit rate, so it's likely Audacity's default is a lower bit rate and that's why it comes out smaller. Again, I wouldn't trust Finale with this. Save as an uncompressed WAV and then use something like Audacity to encode them as MP3. I wouldn't be surprised if you can find something that will batch-encode a directory full of WAVs.
With the MP3's, I have no experience there, but it looks like it doesn't give you any control over the bit rate, so it's likely Audacity's default is a lower bit rate and that's why it comes out smaller. Again, I wouldn't trust Finale with this. Save as an uncompressed WAV and then use something like Audacity to encode them as MP3. I wouldn't be surprised if you can find something that will batch-encode a directory full of WAVs.
I prefer to export my Finale sound output as .wav files; this is lossless. Then I use Audacity to convert the .wav to a .mp3 at any rate I wish. The latest Audacity has Lamé built in so using it separately isn't necessary. One can also convert to .flac files which are much smaller than the .wav files but are also lossless. (You can convert these to any rate .mp3 later.) The only lack in sound quality will be the original VST quality and how well you adjust the Human Playback and Aira Reverb. Still this is lesslossless than direct export from Finale.
For .pdf, it's best to get something free like CutePdf or the lake and use this as the "printer." I used to export as .eps but that was less easy to use.
For .pdf, it's best to get something free like CutePdf or the lake and use this as the "printer." I used to export as .eps but that was less easy to use.