16-bit or 24-bit?

[dobro]

I collaborate a lot, and people have to send me wav files of the stuff they've done for my songs. Usually they send 16-bit wav files, cuz of the size of the files involved, and cuz they send me the files over the internet.

Okay, here's my question. Is there any advantage to them sending me 24-bit files? When I mix, I mix at 24-bit/44.1 KHz until the final mixdown; I do that for the benefits of operating in 32-bit floating point for all the math that gets done. But what I'm wondering is this: if somebody sends me a 16-bit file, and I convert it to 24-bit for the sake of the math in the mix, have I lost anything compared to if they sent me a 24-bit file?

 

[Massive Master]

You don't *lose* anything by converting BACK to 24-bit, but the 16-bit files has lost the additional resolution and has added dither that's now part of the sound.

In short, yes, the additional drive space is worth it. It isn't some giagantic huge life-changing difference, but when you think about the resolution in 16-bit (with around 65,000 possible values) vs. 24-bit (with around 16 million possible values), the answer is pretty clear...

 

[dobro]

Thanks, John. We opted for 24-bit.