My video files contain 24 but audio, as well as any supplemental files I may use. Why does Vegas only allow 16 bit audio when rendering? There is no option to change it. Is it because of the render profile I use?
@anthony-chiappette That is quite normal, editing audio is done in the highest quality (e.g. 24bit), however rendering to a distribution media is usually down sampled (with dithering) to 16 bits.
16 bits is not bad quality, sufficient for playback on many consumer devices and standard for CDs (16-bit/44.1kHz). Do you want to deliver better quality than CD's?
However I do think the default render settings in VP23 with video and audio are a bit minimal on the audio bitrate.
In your screenshot I see you select or use 256 kb/s, I would increase that to 320 kb/s for stereo (and even higher for 5.1 audio). Contrary to the 16 bit output, you do can change the bitrate in the audio tab of the render profiles.
As @bitman said, a distribution media has its rule.
When you want rendering intermediate like the MXF, they all have 24bit depth:
@anthony-chiappette That is quite normal, editing audio is done in the highest quality (e.g. 24bit), however rendering to a distribution media is usually down sampled (with dithering) to 16 bits.
16 bits is not bad quality, sufficient for playback on many consumer devices and standard for CDs (16-bit/44.1kHz). Do you want to deliver better quality than CD's?
Hi. Thanks for the reply. I was just curious why rendering was at 16 bit, when i thought the original files were 24 bit. But I see that the Sony XAVC-S files I use are recorded in 16 bit audio.
I had set audio to 256 kb because that was the format my Canon cameras used, but they also used AAC audio. I didn't realize the Sony cameras used PCM audio.
I'm only using the Sony cameras now. When I start a new project, I always use the option to set the properties based on the media I will be using, and it's coming up as 24 bit. Should I just leave it at that or change to 16 bit since that is what the native files use? I did increase the bitrate to 512Kb/s in the render profile.
@anthony-chiappette All the Vegas mp4 formats use aac which uses 16bit lossy compression that's similar in quality to mp3. Vegas can render 24bit uncompressed pcm but only as stand-alone wav or w64, or to lossless flac which takes up less space. My workaround is to first render mp4, followed by 24bit wav, and then repackage them with ffmpeg into mov containers, swapping the wavs in place of aac. Works like a charm and is compliant with mov specs. Some camera makers package wavs into mp4, and vegas accepts them, but that is outside the official mp4 spec. YouTube has been taking all my mov uploads over the last few weeks without a problem. Details are in this thread:
https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/audio-for-youtube-uploads--149798/#ca943253
Thank you. I'm just a hobbyist making YouTube videos for fun, and to keep myself busy. That's a lot for me to do, just to upload to YouTube, which will re-encode what I upload anyway.
Uploading Sony MXF HD EX Custom might not be the worst thing you ever did.
General Complete name : C:\Users\John\Desktop\Render\Sony MXF HD EX Custom.mxf Format : MXF Commercial name : XDCAM HD 35 Format version : 1.3 Format profile : OP-1a Format settings : Closed / Complete File size : 172 MiB Duration : 49 s 583 ms Overall bit rate mode : Variable Overall bit rate : 29.2 Mb/s Frame rate : 29.970 FPS Encoded date : 2025-10-21 23:34:48.000 Writing application : MAGIX Vegas 22.0.0.250 Writing library : Sony MXF Development Kit (Win32) 4.21.0.159.1 Video ID : 2 Format : MPEG Video Commercial name : XDCAM HD 35 Format version : Version 2 Format profile : Main@High Format settings : CustomMatrix / BVOP Format settings, BVOP : Yes Format settings, Matrix : Custom Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=15 Format settings, wrapping mode : Frame Codec ID : 0D01030102046001-0401020201030300 Duration : 49 s 583 ms Bit rate mode : Variable Bit rate : 35.0 Mb/s Width : 1 920 pixels Height : 1 080 pixels Display aspect ratio : 16:9 Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS Standard : Component Color space : YUV Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 Bit depth : 8 bits Scan type : Progressive Compression mode : Lossy Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.563 Time code of first frame : 00:00:00:00 Time code source : Group of pictures header GOP, Open/Closed : Open GOP, Open/Closed of first frame : Closed Stream size : 207 MiB Color range : Limited Color primaries : BT.709 Transfer characteristics : BT.709 Matrix coefficients : BT.709 Audio #1 ID : 3 Format : PCM Format settings : Little Format settings, wrapping mode : Frame (AES) Codec ID : 0D01030102060300 Duration : 49 s 583 ms Bit rate mode : Constant Bit rate : 1 152 kb/s Channel(s) : 1 channel Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz Frame rate : 29.970 FPS (1601.6 SPF) Bit depth : 24 bits Stream size : 6.81 MiB (4%) Locked : Yes Audio #2 ID : 4 Format : PCM Format settings : Little Format settings, wrapping mode : Frame (AES) Codec ID : 0D01030102060300 Duration : 49 s 583 ms Bit rate mode : Constant Bit rate : 1 152 kb/s Channel(s) : 1 channel Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz Frame rate : 29.970 FPS (1601.6 SPF) Bit depth : 24 bits Stream size : 6.81 MiB (4%) Locked : Yes Other #1 ID : 1-Material Type : Time code Format : MXF TC Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS Time code of first frame : 00:00:00;00 Time code of last frame : 00:00:49;15 Time code settings : Material Package Time code, stripped : Yes Other #2 ID : 1-Source Type : Time code Format : MXF TC Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS Time code of first frame : 00:00:00;00 Time code of last frame : 00:00:49;15 Time code settings : Source Package Time code, stripped : Yes Other #3 Type : Time code Format : SMPTE TC Muxing mode : SDTI Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS Time code of first frame : 00:00:00;00
The end result probably won't be better for sound or picture, though.
