reducing file sizes for PDFs and mp3s

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paulinlondon
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2019 9:57 am
Finale Version: 2019
Operating System: Windows

Post by paulinlondon » Fri Mar 27, 2020 9:35 am

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.


mmike
Posts: 446
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2014 5:28 pm
Finale Version: 27.4
Operating System: Windows

Post by mmike » Fri Mar 27, 2020 12:04 pm

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.
Finale 3.7 > 27.4.1, GPO5, ASUS laptop, 18.4'' display, Intel Core i7, 32GB RAM, WIN 10 Pro, Cubase

paulinlondon
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2019 9:57 am
Finale Version: 2019
Operating System: Windows

Post by paulinlondon » Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:10 am

thanks...

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MikeHalloran
Posts: 706
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2017 2:56 am
Finale Version: 27
Operating System: Mac

Post by MikeHalloran » Fri Apr 03, 2020 1:12 am

This is one of those areas where it makes a difference Mac vs PC.
Mike Halloran

Finale 27.3, SmartScore X2 Pro, GPO5 & World Instruments
MacOS Ventura 13.2.1; 2017 iMac Pro 18 Core, 128G RAM, 4TB; 2021 MBAir M1
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paulinlondon
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2019 9:57 am
Finale Version: 2019
Operating System: Windows

Post by paulinlondon » Tue Apr 07, 2020 2:58 pm

thanks again - just one of those things I guess!

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motet
Posts: 8231
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:33 pm
Finale Version: 2014.5,2011,2005,27
Operating System: Windows

Post by motet » Tue Apr 07, 2020 4:44 pm

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.

ttw
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2009 2:29 am
Finale Version: 27.4
Operating System: Windows

Post by ttw » Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:07 pm

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.

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motet
Posts: 8231
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:33 pm
Finale Version: 2014.5,2011,2005,27
Operating System: Windows

Post by motet » Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:20 pm

Windows 10 has a print to PDF built in, I think, though I've never used it (I use CutePDF instead).

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