When trying to save a 32 bit float file as mp3 WL9 defaults to mp3 32 bit float not 16bit as WL 8.5 did for me, is there a check box I am missing or is it not available without rendering?
hard to say exactly what’s going on since we can’t see your process… but, make sure you’re putting a sample rate conversion step into the RESAMPLING area of the master effect section when you render those files.
Compressed files like mp3s do not have a “bit depth” as they are not storing individual samples but frequency-domain information. They will use greater bit depth in their source to (slightly) improve their representation of the original, but their format remains unchanged whatever the bit depth of the source.
Paul
PS: N.B. Sample rate is not relevant to bit depth.
I think what you’re seeing is that WaveLab doesn’t load mp3 files directly. It has to decode mp3 and compressed formats to WAV. As mentioned, there is not bit-depth for mp3 and lossy files. There is bitrate such as 320kbps but that is a completely different thing.
I believe that 8.5 used to decode mp3 and lossy files to 16-bit WAV but WaveLab 9 now decodes to 32-bit WAV when you open them in the audio editor (or montage).
I don’t think there is a setting your are missing and your actual rendered mp3 is OK, the only difference is that if you try to open the rendered mp3 in WaveLab, the decoding is now done to 32-bit floating and not 16-bit.
If you want to analyze the rendered mp3 without having to decode it, try another app that specializes in mp3 work. Jaikoz, Sonnox ProCodec, Myriad etc.