What is dithering audio

Dithering is the process of adding a small amount of random noise to a digital audio signal in order to reduce the distortion caused by quantization error.

1. Should dithering be on or off?
2. Does dithering reduce quality?
3. Does dithering make a difference?
4. What happens if you don't dither?

Should dithering be on or off?

Remember, dither technically adds noise to your signal, so you should avoid using it unless absolutely necessary. You only need to use dither when bouncing a file at a lower bit-depth than it was recorded. You should always apply dither when bouncing a 16-bit file from a 24 or 32-bit mix.

Does dithering reduce quality?

In such a requirement, dithering is a process that can help in the reduction of the size without losing the quality and much information of the data and helps in minimizing the quantization error.

Does dithering make a difference?

Dithering helps keep digital audio sounding great, even when some data gets taken away. Chances are you've come across the term before, most likely when exporting a song from your DAW. But, you may have found yourself unsure of what exactly it meant, or if it even made sense to dither in different circumstances.

What happens if you don't dither?

The bottom line is that it's a form of distortion and you don't want it to be present in your music. Some engineers say that even if you don't actually hear quantization distortion, it makes the music sound harsher overall. The solution is to add dither when you save the file to a lower sampling rate.