atari2600land's Blog

Are you encoding MP3 with a fixed or variable bitrate? If you're using variable, programs like WMP and others won't be able to know for certain how long your song is until it has finished playing. I don't think the MP3 format has a field for storing total length. If you encode with fixed bitrate - e.g. 128 kbit/s if you are sampling a sound card - you should get consistent results.

I am using this online website: https://www.onlineconverter.com/midi-to-mp3

Ok, it seems that "default" is a fixed bitrate of 128 kbit/s so it would eliminate that option. How about shorter songs, do you get consistent results with those so only really long ones will differentiate a little?

 

(Besides, I've never been close to a 26 minute composition - kudos to you!)

A long time ago, I converted a YouTube video of Frank Zappa's "Billy the Mountain" to MP3. It was more than a few minutes off, so I think the shorter the song, the more correct it is.

What MIDI program are you using? I'm surprised it doesn't have an "export" function for MP3s.

 

Also, it could be that the conversion program slowed down the tempo a little bit, stretching the song slightly. I suppose even a fraction variance would add up after 26 minutes, so the extra 40 seconds may be just that.

But if he loaded the generated MP3 into Nero (which burns CD-R for reference) and it displayed the same playing time as the MIDI file had, it probably is something else that makes the other music playing softwares to display a longer playing time.

 

What you could do if you doubt the online converter and have a fairly good sound card in your PC (or software synth) is to use a program like Audacity and record playback from the MIDI software, the "What you hear" input option. Remember to close down email clients, web browsers and other software that could cause system beeps and plongs while the music plays. You also need the LAME MP3 encoding library installed so Audacity can generate MP3. A bit cumbersome perhaps compared to making an online conversion, but better odds you have control over the entire process.

Try WinFF. It's a converter for many audio/video formats. I did a test with a MIDI to MP3 conversion and it works.