How to Adjust Bitrate to Burn a CD

The Red Book standard for audio CDs requires a 16-bit sampling size and a 44.1 kilohertz sampling rate. However, most digitally recorded music is mixed and mastered at 24 bits, while some mono recordings measure as low as 8 bits--- and MP3s can be even lower. With commercial software programs such as Roxio Toast or Nero, bit conversion is done on the fly while burning audio CDs. If you don't own any commercial CD/DVD-burning programs, you'll probably have to do the bit conversion yourself. You can find the software to perform this adjustment free of charge.

1. 
   
   Step 1
   Download the latest version of QuickTime if you don't already have it on your computer. It's a cross-platform application, so it'll work on both Mac and PC.
   
2. 
   
   Step 2
   Open the audio file you want to burn to CD in QuickTime. In the file menu under "Movie" click on "Get Movie Properties."
   
3. 
   
   Step 3
   When the new window comes up, click on the dialogue box "Movie" and choose sound track. In the dialogue box that reads "Annotations" choose "Format" instead. If under "Sample Size" you see anything other than 16 bits, you'll have to perform the conversion.
   
4. 
   
   Step 4
   In the file menu choose "File" and scroll down to select "Export." When the window comes up, look for the dialogue box also labeled "Export" and choose "Sound to Wave" if you're in Windows or "Sound to AIFF" if you're in Mac OSX. In the dialogue box below the first one, choose "44.1 kHz 16 bit Stereo." When that's selected, save the file to your hard drive.
   
5. 
   
   Step 5
   Open your saved audio file to check your work. Click on "Movie" once again in the file menu and then click "Get Movie Properties." Change "Movie" to "Sound Track" and "Annotations" to "Format" as you did before. Under "Sample Size" it should now read 16 bits. If so, it's ready to burn to CD.