Whats My Bitrate? Audio Analysis
About Whats My Bitrate?
Whats My Bitrate is a free online tool that reveals the true quality of your audio files. Whether you're a producer, engineer, podcaster, or simply curious, we provide details like bitrate, codec, and sample rate so you can see what's really going on.
Upload your file, and we'll analyze its metadata and frequency content. For a visual twist, we even generate a spectrogram for the first 30 seconds—letting you literally see the sound.
Why Does Bitrate Matter?
Bitrate indicates how much data is used per second. Higher bitrate usually means better quality, but re-encoded files might not truly improve. Knowing the actual bitrate helps you:
- Confirm genuine high-quality audio.
- Optimize file sizes without needless bulk.
- Catch encoding issues before sharing or streaming.
How It Works
A spectrogram is a colorful map showing how your audio's frequency content changes over time. The horizontal axis represents time, the vertical axis represents frequency, and brighter colors indicate stronger signals.
Example Spectrogram
We use the Python library Librosa to perform a Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT), converting your audio waveform into a frequency domain representation. For example, a file re-encoded from 128 kbps MP3 might only show frequencies up to about 16.6 kHz.
import librosa
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# Load the audio file
y, sr = librosa.load("example_audio.mp3", sr=None)
S = librosa.stft(y)
S_db = librosa.amplitude_to_db(np.abs(S), ref=np.max)
plt.figure(figsize=(10, 4))
librosa.display.specshow(S_db, sr=sr, x_axis='time', y_axis='hz')
plt.colorbar(format='%+2.0f dB')
plt.title('Spectrogram')
plt.show()
This frequency map helps you spot when instruments or sounds occur and can highlight problems like clipping or missing high frequencies.
For an open-source bulk-processing version (with CSV output), visit our GitHub repository.
Privacy Policy
We value your privacy. Any audio you upload is processed briefly for analysis, then discarded. We do not store, share, or sell your data.
By using our service, you agree to our data usage policy. If you have questions, please contact us at support@whatsmybitrate.com.
Disclaimer
Please note that while Whats My Bitrate strives to provide accurate information, results may vary based on the source and encoding methods. We do not guarantee the completeness or suitability of our analysis for any particular purpose.
By using this site, you acknowledge that you are responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided.