Glossary
What is bitrate, and is 128 kbps enough for a podcast?
Bitrate is how much data an MP3 spends per second of audio: 128 kbps uses about 1 MB per minute, 320 kbps two and a half times that. For speech, 128 kbps is the common recommendation from podcast hosts and what the big platforms re-encode to anyway; the difference shows on music, and on a voice with a lot of high-frequency detail.
Higher bitrate means a bigger file, not a louder or clearer one — loudness is a separate number (LUFS). A well-cleaned voice at 128 kbps beats a noisy one at 320.
Cast exports MP3 at 128 kbps on the Free plan and 320 kbps on Lite and above; WAV, which has no bitrate because nothing is thrown away, is available on Plus. Pick 320 or WAV when music matters to the episode or when someone else will process the file after you.
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