Record Audio in PPT without Compression

Question

We use the rehearse feature in PPT to actually narrate slides and then export them to a video. This helps us reduce the amount of editing since the person recording can just restart the current slide rather than recording the whole thing again. The problem we face is that there seems to be high compression when recording audio on slides. We would like to know if there is a way to edit the registry so that we can record directly into high resolution .wav without compression so the final product would sound better.

Answer 1

Hello Gerry Pedraza,

Welcome to the Microsoft Community and enjoy the time you've spent sharing detailed information. What I've learned is that want to achieve that the audio won't be compressed when recording slides in PowerPoint. If my understanding is wrong, please correct me in the answer. I am pleased to offer you assistance on this issue.

For your problem, maybe you can try a custom export. You can click here to learn more about recording your presentation. Record is an improved version of Record Slide Show for PowerPoint for Windows. The Export window is another change to the logging functionality. After recording, you can follow the instructions to create a shareable video file of your presentation. By default, the video is in full HD 1080p resolution in mp4 format and will be saved to the same location where the presentation is stored. The exported video includes all recorded timing, narration, animations, transitions, media, ink and laser pointer gestures. The export function is generally of good quality overall, so it will contain the effects you want without the sound being compressed.

Additionally, we've also found an article about improving audio and video playback and compatibility in PowerPoint to help you find it, you can learn more here.

We have to go through a series of steps to find the real cause of the problem. If the above steps do not solve your problem, please let me know and I will continue to help you with the problem. Thank you for your understanding and support.

Sincere greetings

Mavis - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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Answer 2

There's no way to adjust PPT's audio recording settings, unfortunately.

As an alternative, I wrote a free add-in that lets you record better quality audio in a dedicated audio recording/editing program (like the free Audacity), then semi-automatically import each slide's worth of audio into PPT.

You can read about it, download it or just download/view the PDF help file here: https://pptools.com/free/FAQ00004-PPTools-Narrator.htm

Answer 3

Thanks for the reply Steve.

Your add-in seems like a clever way to add good audio to slides.

Unfortunately, I don't think it would work when trying to sync words to animations or handwriting made on the slides. We are trying to make instructors self-sufficient when recording and own the editing so that we don't have to fix errors in post. So having them use several apps will certainly make it more difficult.

Still... Thanks for sharing and offering a possible solution.

Answer 4

Thanks for your reply Mavis. I updated PowerPoint and these new features are great. I love that the record button is disabled if the slide already has audio and this works also when moving from one slide to the next, protecting the previous recordings. And yes! Finally, there is a teleprompter-like feature that can be used, with manual font sizing. It does not advance on its own but is still a very valuable option for the few people that write scripts.

What I don't get is that PPT now allows you to export 4k video but still does not have any options for HD quality audio. If we are using a 24-bit interface capable of 96khz recording the audio gets dumbed down a lot when recording with PPT. I hope this can be improved in the future to give users the option to select their recording preferences.

Thank you all for your time.

Answer 5

>> Unfortunately, I don't think it would work when trying to sync words to animations or handwriting made on the slides.

That's true, it wouldn't, other than maybe by doing the recording first, then adding the animation cues/handwriting to synch with the recording. And as you mention, that's even MORE steps to add to a process that should be simpler and more reliable.