Posted: 12/07/2022

How To Confirm 2 Audio Files Are Identical

The tool Audacity has the capability of telling you if 2 audio files are the same.

Here is the process:

Open one of the files.
Import the other (via the File menu)
Select one of the tracks, by clicking in the box area on the left of one of the tracks (where you can Mute etc)
Choose Effect->Invert from the Menu bar
Select both tracks (Ctrl-A), and select Tracks->Mix->Mix and Render to New Track from the Menu bar.

You will be shown a third track which should have no waveform on it at all if the tracks are identical.

If you playback the tracks, you should also hear nothing if they are identical. This is because the Inverted waveform cancels out the other waverform.

This is very handy when trying to confirm a before and after conversion is bit accurate.

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