Audio Quality Drops When Rendering a Clip

ToFann wrote on 2/10/2026, 3:58 AM

Hello,
I have an issue: when I render a clip in Vegas Pro, the audio quality decreases. I would like to know how to render it optimally to avoid this problem.
Even if I set the project parameters correctly, the rendered audio always stays at 16-bit. Even when using Vegas’ default settings, the problem persists: the audio loses quality.

Comments

Dexcon wrote on 2/10/2026, 4:19 AM

Welcome to the Vegas forum.

Could you please advise which version and build of Vegas Pro that you are using.

Also, what is the format, bit rate and sampling rate of a typical audio event being used on the project timeline?

And please take a screenshot of the audio tab settings of the Properties window ... as well as the Audio tab from the Customize window of the render template that you are using - and upload those screenshots to the forum via the upload button when making a new comment on this thread:

And when you say that the audio loses quality, is this based on differences that your ears hear through the same loudspeakers or just based on technical data?

It will be also good to know the intended destination for where the rendered video will be used.

Last changed by Dexcon on 2/10/2026, 4:28 AM, changed a total of 1 times.

Cameras: Sony FDR-AX100E; GoPro Hero 11 Black Creator Edition; Samsung S23 Ultra smart phone

Installed: Vegas Pro 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 & 23, HitFilm Pro 2021.3, DaVinci Resolve Studio 20.3, BCC 2026, Mocha Pro 2026, NBFX TotalFX 7, Neat NR 6, DVD Architect 6.0, MAGIX Travel Maps, Sound Forge Pro 16, SpectraLayers Pro 12, iZotope RX11 Advanced and many other iZ plugins, Vegasaur 4.0

Windows 11 25H2

Dell Alienware Aurora 11:

10th Gen Intel i9 10900KF - 10 cores (20 threads) - 3.7 to 5.3 GHz

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8GB GDDR6 - liquid cooled

64GB RAM - Dual Channel HyperX FURY DDR4 XMP at 3200MHz

C drive: 2TB Samsung 990 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD

D: drive: 4TB Samsung 870 SATA SSD (used for media for editing current projects)

E: drive: 2TB Samsung 870 SATA SSD

F: drive: 6TB WD 7200 rpm Black HDD 3.5"

Dell Ultrasharp 32" 4K Color Calibrated Monitor

 

LAPTOP:

Dell Inspiron 5310 EVO 13.3"

i5-11320H CPU

C Drive: 1TB Corsair Gen4 NVMe M.2 2230 SSD (upgraded from the original 500 GB SSD)

Monitor is 2560 x 1600 @ 60 Hz

ToFann wrote on 2/10/2026, 4:26 AM



Thank you for your response. I’m using Vegas Pro 23, and here are the screenshots you requested.
For screenshot 2, I’ve already modified it manually, but by default, the settings are 48 kHz and 192 kbps.
When I manually set it to 44 kHz and 24 kbps in the custom settings, the audio becomes really bad.
With the default settings (48 kHz and 192 kbps), the quality drops slightly, but it’s not nearly as terrible as with 44 kHz and 24 kbps.

ToFann wrote on 2/10/2026, 4:32 AM

And when you say that the audio loses quality, is this based on differences that your ears hear through the same loudspeakers or just based on technical data?

It will be also good to know the intended destination for where the rendered video will be used.

Yes, it is based on what I can hear through the same speakers.

Dexcon wrote on 2/10/2026, 5:04 AM

It's hard to say what the cause might be because we still don't know the specifications of the original audio on Vegas Pro's timeline - e.g. the format, the bit rate (192k or higher) and the sampling rate (how many bits).

In the meantime, the noticeable issues are that the sample rate in Properties audio is 44,100 not 48,000 as per the render template, and that the audio render template shows a very low 24,000 - though your image shows that being at Kbits/s whereas my English equivalent in Vegas Pro shows that as being bps. I somehow think that Kbits/s is really bps because Kbps means that 24,000 would in fact be 24,000,000 bps.

Cameras: Sony FDR-AX100E; GoPro Hero 11 Black Creator Edition; Samsung S23 Ultra smart phone

Installed: Vegas Pro 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 & 23, HitFilm Pro 2021.3, DaVinci Resolve Studio 20.3, BCC 2026, Mocha Pro 2026, NBFX TotalFX 7, Neat NR 6, DVD Architect 6.0, MAGIX Travel Maps, Sound Forge Pro 16, SpectraLayers Pro 12, iZotope RX11 Advanced and many other iZ plugins, Vegasaur 4.0

Windows 11 25H2

Dell Alienware Aurora 11:

10th Gen Intel i9 10900KF - 10 cores (20 threads) - 3.7 to 5.3 GHz

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8GB GDDR6 - liquid cooled

64GB RAM - Dual Channel HyperX FURY DDR4 XMP at 3200MHz

C drive: 2TB Samsung 990 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD

D: drive: 4TB Samsung 870 SATA SSD (used for media for editing current projects)

E: drive: 2TB Samsung 870 SATA SSD

F: drive: 6TB WD 7200 rpm Black HDD 3.5"

Dell Ultrasharp 32" 4K Color Calibrated Monitor

 

LAPTOP:

Dell Inspiron 5310 EVO 13.3"

i5-11320H CPU

C Drive: 1TB Corsair Gen4 NVMe M.2 2230 SSD (upgraded from the original 500 GB SSD)

Monitor is 2560 x 1600 @ 60 Hz

ToFann wrote on 2/10/2026, 5:15 AM


 this is  the specifications of the original audio the original audio

Dexcon wrote on 2/10/2026, 5:41 AM

Thank you for the info.

Given that the original audio is 44,100 KHz, I doubt that 48,000 KHz coding anywhere in Vegas Pro is going to make much difference because 48 coding is unlikely to improve or worsen audio quality. I think that the problem is that the bit rate of 24,000 kbps in the render template is very likely the problem. Try selecting a much higher bit rate in the render bit rate field (128,000 kbps is the minimum recommended for YouTube).

Sorry, but in my previous comment I think that I confused bit and sample rate settings - and I suspect that the bit rate in the render window in Vegas Pro 23 is missing the 'k'.

Cameras: Sony FDR-AX100E; GoPro Hero 11 Black Creator Edition; Samsung S23 Ultra smart phone

Installed: Vegas Pro 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 & 23, HitFilm Pro 2021.3, DaVinci Resolve Studio 20.3, BCC 2026, Mocha Pro 2026, NBFX TotalFX 7, Neat NR 6, DVD Architect 6.0, MAGIX Travel Maps, Sound Forge Pro 16, SpectraLayers Pro 12, iZotope RX11 Advanced and many other iZ plugins, Vegasaur 4.0

Windows 11 25H2

Dell Alienware Aurora 11:

10th Gen Intel i9 10900KF - 10 cores (20 threads) - 3.7 to 5.3 GHz

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8GB GDDR6 - liquid cooled

64GB RAM - Dual Channel HyperX FURY DDR4 XMP at 3200MHz

C drive: 2TB Samsung 990 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD

D: drive: 4TB Samsung 870 SATA SSD (used for media for editing current projects)

E: drive: 2TB Samsung 870 SATA SSD

F: drive: 6TB WD 7200 rpm Black HDD 3.5"

Dell Ultrasharp 32" 4K Color Calibrated Monitor

 

LAPTOP:

Dell Inspiron 5310 EVO 13.3"

i5-11320H CPU

C Drive: 1TB Corsair Gen4 NVMe M.2 2230 SSD (upgraded from the original 500 GB SSD)

Monitor is 2560 x 1600 @ 60 Hz

Dexcon wrote on 2/10/2026, 5:55 AM

A CoPilot search outlines the differences between 16 and 24 bit audio:

https://www.bing.com/search?pglt=299&q=difference+between+16+and+24+bit+audio&cvid=cbeddac129b8426bbb7b052c642946db&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKgYIABBFGDkyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQABhAMgYIAhAAGEAyBggDEAAYQDIGCAQQABhAMgYIBRAAGEAyBggGEAAYQDIGCAcQABhAMgcICBDrBxhA0gEJMTIwNThqMGoxqAIAsAIA&FORM=ANNTA1&PC=EDGEDSE

This summarises my understanding of the differences between 16 and 24 bits over many years.

Cameras: Sony FDR-AX100E; GoPro Hero 11 Black Creator Edition; Samsung S23 Ultra smart phone

Installed: Vegas Pro 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 & 23, HitFilm Pro 2021.3, DaVinci Resolve Studio 20.3, BCC 2026, Mocha Pro 2026, NBFX TotalFX 7, Neat NR 6, DVD Architect 6.0, MAGIX Travel Maps, Sound Forge Pro 16, SpectraLayers Pro 12, iZotope RX11 Advanced and many other iZ plugins, Vegasaur 4.0

Windows 11 25H2

Dell Alienware Aurora 11:

10th Gen Intel i9 10900KF - 10 cores (20 threads) - 3.7 to 5.3 GHz

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8GB GDDR6 - liquid cooled

64GB RAM - Dual Channel HyperX FURY DDR4 XMP at 3200MHz

C drive: 2TB Samsung 990 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD

D: drive: 4TB Samsung 870 SATA SSD (used for media for editing current projects)

E: drive: 2TB Samsung 870 SATA SSD

F: drive: 6TB WD 7200 rpm Black HDD 3.5"

Dell Ultrasharp 32" 4K Color Calibrated Monitor

 

LAPTOP:

Dell Inspiron 5310 EVO 13.3"

i5-11320H CPU

C Drive: 1TB Corsair Gen4 NVMe M.2 2230 SSD (upgraded from the original 500 GB SSD)

Monitor is 2560 x 1600 @ 60 Hz