My government agency wants to host an audio copy of a conference call for stakeholders to download. We don't want to get our servers hammered for bandwidth and want to minimize download times for users. We also want the speech quality to be acceptable and want to make the audio file easy to use (ie, use a popular, cross-platform container like WAV or MP3).

So my question is this: is there a codec that will stuff this speech-type audio into a smaller package than CCITT u-Law, while still being in a popular container such as WAV or MP3?

Thanks!

mu-law is just a PCM coding format, it's not actually a codec. Typically, you store voice like this at 8 kHz sampling rate with 8 bits per sample (that's phone quality). That's 28 MB/hour. Is that really too much?

If so, then you can use the miscellaneous voice codecs that are built into Windows, and put them into a WAV file. Examples include GSM 6.10, which will cut that size by a factor of 8 or so, down to about 3.5 MB/hour, or Windows Media Audio V2 at a bitrate of 8 kbps (which is similar to GSM 6.10). You can convert the files using the "Sound Recorder" accessory that comes with Windows.

However, you might want to consider just hosting the file somewhere online. DreamHost.com will set you back about $11/month (or less, with pre-paid), and gives you 500 GB of storage space and 5000 GB/month of free transfer. Even with the uncompressed mu-law, you'll have to get 175,000 hours' worth of downloads in a month before you tripped that limit. I've used them for web hosting for a long while, and I think they are first rate! If you sign up, use the referral code "L33TN3SS" to get $50 off and a free domain registration!

Thanks jwatte!