Lame_enc DLL Audacity

Don't be afraid! You'll find there is lots of nerdy lingo in sound recording but don't let it get to you. Follow along step by step and you will get your Audacity recording software working just the way you want it.

Lame_enc is Your MP3 Encoder

LAME is an open source project that created code to create MP3 sound files from other sound formats. According to the Lame Project, Lame stands for "Lame Ain't an MP3 Encoder". The Lame Project describes Lame this way: 

LAME is an educational tool to be used for learning about MP3 encoding. The goal of the LAME project is to use the open source model to improve the psycho acoustics, noise shaping and speed of MP3. LAME is not for everyone - it is distributed as source code only and requires the ability to use a C compiler. (http://lame.sourceforge.net/about.php)

LAME can be compiled on just about any operating system (LAME compiles on Windows, DOS, GNU/Linux, MacOS X, *BSD, Solaris, HP-UX, Tru64 Unix, AIX, Irix, NeXTstep, SCO Unix, UnixWare, Ultrix, Plan 9, OpenVMS, MacOS Classic, BeOS, QNX, RiscOS, AmigaOS, OS/2, SkyOS, FreeMiNT(Atari) and probably a few more.)

Too Much Info?

Ok, this might be too much for the average person to know. Read on to find out what to do with this file!

Instructions for LAME_enc

LAME_enc is going to allow you to encode your sound files as MP3 no matter what format they are in now. Once they are in MP3 format you will be able to upload them as podcasts to sites like iTunes or Amazon.

Download LAME_enc here. This will give you the zip file you need. You should open your download folder and move the file somewhere you won't accidentally lose it, or choose to download to a specific directory. I put it in my Audacity folder.

Double-click to open the file once it's downloaded. It's safe, don't worry about warnings.

The first time you go to Export as MP3 you will be asked for LAME's location. Give the location where you unzipped it. From then on it will do the encoding automatically.

Here are detailed instructions from SourceForge:

Windows

1. Click here to go to the LAME download page.
2. Left-click the link "Lame v3.98.3 for Audacity on Windows.exe" and choose "save file as" and save the file onto on your computer. 
3. Double-click the downloaded file.
4. Follow the "Setup" instructions and install LAME for Audacity.
5. Audacity will ask for the location of your new LAME file the first time you use the "Export as MP3" command. Navigate to where you put the file, open it and click OK.

Mac OS 9 or X

1. Click on the link to go to the LAME download page.
2. Download either "Lame Library v3.98.2 for Audacity on OSX.dmg" or "LameLib-Carbon.sit".
3. Double-click the .dmg file to extract "Lame Library v3.98.2 for Audacity on OSX.pkg" to Finder, or use Stuffit to extract "LameLib" from the .sit.
4. Double-click the .pkg to install "libmp3lame.dylib" in /usr/local/lib/audacity
5. The first time you use the "Export as MP3" command, Audacity will ask for the location of "libmp3lame.dylib" or "LameLib". Navigate to that location, then open the file and click "OK"