Sample rate and bit depth: choosing settings for a recording project

Choose a recording format that fits the project’s requirements and intended delivery. Sample rate and bit depth describe different aspects of digital audio and both affect uncompressed storage requirements.

Audacity’s digital-audio explanation describes sampling the waveform at regular intervals and representing sample values numerically. Keep that distinction in view when reading a DAW’s settings.

Keep the delivery format in the project notes before selecting the working settings. This gives everyone handling the recording a shared reference. Any conversion needed at export can then be included as a specific step in the delivery checklist.

Ask the project questions first

Confirm the delivery specification, what the recording software supports and whether you are exchanging audio with other people. Agree on the session format before recording where practical. Keep the recipient’s stated format requirements with the session notes.

Understand what the two settings change

Sample rate is the number of samples captured each second. A 48 kHz recording uses 48,000 samples per second. Bit depth concerns the numerical representation of each sample. Audacity’s documentation explains these as separate properties: how frequently the waveform is sampled and how precisely the sample values can be represented.

Channel count adds another independent requirement. A stereo recording carries two channels; two separately requested mono exports are different deliverables even when they belong to the same project.

For a recipient requiring a particular format, use that specification as the starting point. Where the project has no stated requirement, check the documented supported settings and agree a working format with collaborators before recording. Keeping that decision consistent through the session makes exchange and export easier to manage.

Preserve the original and check the export

Keep the recording project and export a separate delivery copy as required. Confirm the exported file’s properties and listen to it before handoff. Verify the converted file’s format and playback against the delivery requirements while retaining the original project.

Work out the space for a session

For uncompressed PCM audio, the audio-data calculation is:

sample rate x bits per sample x channels x seconds / 8 = bytes

Take a fictional five-minute stereo recording at 48,000 samples per second and 24 bits per sample. The calculation is 48,000 x 24 x 2 x 300 / 8, giving 86,400,000 bytes, or 86.4 MB in decimal units. A mono recording with the same settings has half that audio-data amount. Project files, alternative takes and other assets need their own allowance.

This calculation is useful when estimating a recording session’s storage, but the delivery specification still decides the required format. Confirm whether a recipient wants separate mono tracks or stereo files: the channel layout changes what the exported file contains as well as its size.

Keep working files and delivery files identifiable

An example handoff note could read: project at 48 kHz; original takes retained; deliver stereo PCM at the agreed bit depth; export named by song and version. These are example requirements, not a universal recommendation.

Before sending, inspect the exported file’s properties and play its beginning, a passage containing the main material, and its ending. Check that the correct version and duration were exported. Keep any conversion settings with the delivery note so a replacement export can be made consistently.

For uncompressed audio, put sample rate, bit depth, channel count and duration together in the storage calculation. Changing any of them can then be explored while the others stay fixed. Keep the audio-data estimate beside a separate allowance for the project’s other files.

Sources consulted

• Digital Audio Fundamentals — Audacity; checked 4 November 2026.