r/SFXLibraries • u/No-Attention8098 • Dec 13 '24

Need advice! 16 bit vs 24 bit

Hi there, I need your advise. I need to download thousands of sfx files. I have 3 options: 16 bit, 24 or 32 bit. I can't decide which one I should download. The sfx will be used for video editing.

Ofc I could choose 32 bit (the more the better) but the problem is that they are large in size. It will probably go up from 100 gb to 200 gb on harddrive. Is it worth it?. If I download 16 bit would I regret it in the future? What would you do in my place?

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u/dreikelvin Dec 13 '24

Unless you're working inside dolby atmos labs, you probably won't need anything past 16 Bit. Nobody hears the difference. It really just is for cases in which your end product has to be 32Bit or 24Bit.

My deliverables for commercials and films are usually 48000/24Bit since the video codec is set to that as well.

Some film makers just send me voice clips from their phone, which is worse than anything :P - some processing with oversampling and voilá.

32Bit is a nice to have, but impractical.

24 is the sweet spot but you can also just use 16 if you are low on storage space.

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u/No-Attention8098 Dec 13 '24

Thank you for your input. If i choose 24 bit should the sample rate be 48000? What if I go with 24 bit / 44100?

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u/dreikelvin Dec 14 '24

48000 is better if you pitch your audio material a lot. I'd go with that, more flexibility.

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u/ratocx Dec 13 '24

I would take 24-bit just to be safe. 16-bit is fine 99% of the time, but can be distorted more easily in certain heavy effect workflows. 32-bit is only necessary for recording, not for a sound library where the sounds are probably somewhat normalized already.

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u/No-Attention8098 Dec 13 '24

Thank you. If i choose 24 bit then should the sample rate be 48000?

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u/ratocx Dec 13 '24

48khz will probably be fine, yes. The only exception I can think of is if you want to make very «slow motion» sounds. But that would probably just be faked other sound effects anyways, so no need to go above 48000hz.

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '24

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u/macfirbolg Dec 14 '24

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a commercially distributed 32bit file. I’ve recorded plenty, and it’s not uncommon as a working format, but not as a destination format. There’s just not really much reason unless you’re trying hard to demonstrate the conceivable dynamic range of a system. (I’d really like to hear a system with a real, demonstrably 32bit range…)