MP3 Encoding: Bit Rate Delineation Between Channels

[Randman]

My question is regarding bit rate delineation between channels. If I were to select a bit rate of 192 for a 16 bit, stereo, 44khz sound file would that rate translate to 96kbits per channel or are the channel effectively combined as one?

 

[mgb_phys]

They are combined (joint stereo) to save space they only store a difference between the channels when it is significant