Teqnilogik
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Today there are a variety of different digital audio formats to choose from. Enough to cause confusion amongst new users who wish to convert their CD library into digital form for easy listening on their computers or portable audio device such as the iPod. This guide is designed to help newer users on deciding on a format to rip his or her music to.
The first thing you should consider is what you need from an audio format. Compatibility? Quality? Playable on your portable device? There is no right or wrong answer on which format you should use. It's a personal choice and it depends on your needs.
There are two types of audio formats: lossy and lossless. Lossy formats throw out audio information when encoding to lower the file size of the song so no lossy format is technically CD quality. However, perceivable quality is more important and lossy formats can provide audio that is indistinguishable from the original CD. Lossless formats work like Zip files. It compresses your audio as much as it can without throwing out any audio information. When the losslessly compressed file is decompressed it will have the same quality it had before it was compressed. In other words, lossless formats retain the CD quality audio on your CDs. There is no quality loss.
The bit rate of a file is the data rate that the audio is compressed at. There is no clear answer to which is best, it all depends on your hearing. Do some comparison tests between the CD quality audio and encoded files at various bit rates and determine which sounds best to you. Bit rates are used in the following ways:
CBR (constant bit rate) - The file is encoded using the same bit rate throughout the entire file.
VBR (variable bit rate) - The bit rate changes throughout the file according to the complexity of the music to offer the best quality.
ABR (average bit rate) - This is a simple VBR mode where the bit rate flucuates through out the song and averages out to be a certain bit rate.
Now let's start reviewing the various audio formats.
LOSSY FORMATS:
MP3
------
This is by far the most popular audio format in use today. It was the first lossy compression codec which means it is also the oldest lossy compression format. MP3 can achieve transparent, or indistinguishable from CD, quality at around 192kbps-256kbps to most people on most samples. The LAME encoder is highly recommended when encoding MP3s by the folks at Hydrogenaudio.org. It is the highest quality MP3 encoder available. When using the LAME encoder, using one of the Q settings with the --vbr-new command is recommended. They provide different bit rates depending on the complexity of the music and the quality level that was chosen. For example, you can choose from Q 0-9 and each will give you different bit rates. Q 0 will give you the highest bit rate and Q 9 will give you the lowest bit rate. See the Recommended Settings link below for more info. If you are concerned about compatibility with software and portable audio players then this is the format to use.
Recommended encoders
Recommended settings
AAC
------
AAC, or Advanced Audio Coding, is a relatively new format. AAC has been made popular by Apple because of its integration into Apple's iTunes music software and its iPod portable audio player. At any bit rate, AAC should sound better than MP3. Likewise, a 128 kbps AAC file should sound better than a 128 kbps MP3 file. However, LAME encoded MP3 files encoded at 128 kbps are statistically tied to the quality of iTunes AAC at 128 kbps according to this listening test. AAC is gaining popularity and so it is becoming compatible with more media players. The Apple iPod and Microsoft Zune are the two major portable audio devices to support AAC. Note that AAC is not owned by Apple. It is defined in the MPEG-4 standard which means any portable audio device has the capability to add support for the format. The iTunes Music Store uses AAC at 128kbps. However, the iTunes Music Store wraps the FairPlay DRM protection around the MPEG-4 AAC files it sells. FairPlay is proprietary to Apple and currently Apple does not license it to other companies so the iPod remains the only player to be able to play files bought from the iTunes Music Store. Any music ripped to AAC in iTunes does not have any DRM protection attached to it. iTunes now has two free AAC encoder competitors. You have FAAC which is an open source AAC encoder but its quality is not up to par with iTunes or the next free offering. Nero Digital is the second free AAC encoder that is now available free of charge.
Recommended encoder: iTunes AAC encoder.
Other encoders: FAAC, Nero Digital, Compaact
Recommended settings: 128 kbps - 192 kbps depending on which sounds best to your ears.
Ogg Vorbis - http://www.vorbis.com
-----------------------------------------------
This is an open-source and patent free audio format. MP3 and AAC are patented formats that must be licensed in order to be used. The advantage to Ogg Vorbis is that it is free to use without any restrictions. Ogg Vorbis should sound better than MP3 at the same bit rate. Ogg Vorbis has a few portable audio players that play it and media player software is beginning to support it more. A lot of game developers are using the format to avoid paying licensing fees. Ogg Vorbis is not supported by the iPod. iTunes can play Ogg Vorbis thanks to a QuickTime plugin available here, http://qtcomponents.sourceforge.net.
Recommended encoders and settings
MusePack - http://www.musepack.net
-------------------------------------------------
MusePack is considered the best lossy audio format today. It excels at bitrates above 160 kbps and can achieve transparency in the 160 - 200 kbps range to most people on most samples. However, MusePack doesn't have much support. No portable audio device yet plays this format and only a handful of media players support playback of MusePack natively. Most media players require a plug-in to support MusePack. iTunes does not support this format and neither does the iPod.
Recommended encoders and settings
WMA
-------
WMA is Microsoft's answer to MP3. Exclusive to the Windows platform, WMA offers better sounding files at lower bit rates but currently WMA is not the best audio format. Better tuned MP3 encoders, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, and MusePack all beat WMA's quality at 128kbps and above. This format is not supported by the iPod but iTunes does offer a feature to convert WMA files to AAC/MP3 files for playback on the iPod.
LOSSLESS FORMATS:
FLAC - http://flac.sourceforge.net
-------------------------------------------
FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec which is exactly what it is. It is non-patented and open-source. It supports multiple computing platforms and is considered the best lossless codec available by many. Encoding and decoding are both fast, compression is good, and seeking throughout a file is also fast. Currently, iTunes and iPod do not support FLAC.
Apple Lossless Audio Codec
------------------------------------
This is a new lossless codec developed by Apple for iTunes and iPod. Apple's Lossless Audio Codec's compression is about equivalent to FLAC's using the highest compression setting in FLAC. Apple Lossless will play in iTunes and iPod (with a firmware update). As this is a new codec support is low at the moment. Currently, only iTunes will play it but there has been plugins popping up for Winamp and I imagine more will surface in the future for other media players.
Monkey's Audio - http://www.monkeysaudio.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
Monkey's Audio is another lossless compression format. It generally compresses better than FLAC using the highest setting, however, having the best compression isn't the best thing when talking about a lossless codec. Monkey's Audio is a Windows-only format and encoding, decoding, and seeking is slower than FLAC.
I wrote this because of the many posts made about which format to choose so I figured this forum needed a sticky about the topic. Feel free to let me know of any inaccurate information in the above and I will correct it accordingly.
Related Links:
- Results of Multiformat at 128kbit/s Listening Test
- Results of AAC at 128kbit/s v2 Listening Test
Updates:
{Edit by AndyH: Added some formatting commands for easier reading; Made thread "sticky"}
09/10/2004 - added recommended encoder and settings links to lossy formats section.
09/16/2004 - updated AAC section, fixed MP3 encoders link.
10/20/2004 - updated MP3, AAC, MusePack sections and added Related Links section.
04/13/2005 - updated various sections; rephrased some statements.
12/12/2006 - updated MP3 and AAC sections.
The first thing you should consider is what you need from an audio format. Compatibility? Quality? Playable on your portable device? There is no right or wrong answer on which format you should use. It's a personal choice and it depends on your needs.
There are two types of audio formats: lossy and lossless. Lossy formats throw out audio information when encoding to lower the file size of the song so no lossy format is technically CD quality. However, perceivable quality is more important and lossy formats can provide audio that is indistinguishable from the original CD. Lossless formats work like Zip files. It compresses your audio as much as it can without throwing out any audio information. When the losslessly compressed file is decompressed it will have the same quality it had before it was compressed. In other words, lossless formats retain the CD quality audio on your CDs. There is no quality loss.
The bit rate of a file is the data rate that the audio is compressed at. There is no clear answer to which is best, it all depends on your hearing. Do some comparison tests between the CD quality audio and encoded files at various bit rates and determine which sounds best to you. Bit rates are used in the following ways:
CBR (constant bit rate) - The file is encoded using the same bit rate throughout the entire file.
VBR (variable bit rate) - The bit rate changes throughout the file according to the complexity of the music to offer the best quality.
ABR (average bit rate) - This is a simple VBR mode where the bit rate flucuates through out the song and averages out to be a certain bit rate.
Now let's start reviewing the various audio formats.
LOSSY FORMATS:
MP3
------
This is by far the most popular audio format in use today. It was the first lossy compression codec which means it is also the oldest lossy compression format. MP3 can achieve transparent, or indistinguishable from CD, quality at around 192kbps-256kbps to most people on most samples. The LAME encoder is highly recommended when encoding MP3s by the folks at Hydrogenaudio.org. It is the highest quality MP3 encoder available. When using the LAME encoder, using one of the Q settings with the --vbr-new command is recommended. They provide different bit rates depending on the complexity of the music and the quality level that was chosen. For example, you can choose from Q 0-9 and each will give you different bit rates. Q 0 will give you the highest bit rate and Q 9 will give you the lowest bit rate. See the Recommended Settings link below for more info. If you are concerned about compatibility with software and portable audio players then this is the format to use.
Recommended encoders
Recommended settings
AAC
------
AAC, or Advanced Audio Coding, is a relatively new format. AAC has been made popular by Apple because of its integration into Apple's iTunes music software and its iPod portable audio player. At any bit rate, AAC should sound better than MP3. Likewise, a 128 kbps AAC file should sound better than a 128 kbps MP3 file. However, LAME encoded MP3 files encoded at 128 kbps are statistically tied to the quality of iTunes AAC at 128 kbps according to this listening test. AAC is gaining popularity and so it is becoming compatible with more media players. The Apple iPod and Microsoft Zune are the two major portable audio devices to support AAC. Note that AAC is not owned by Apple. It is defined in the MPEG-4 standard which means any portable audio device has the capability to add support for the format. The iTunes Music Store uses AAC at 128kbps. However, the iTunes Music Store wraps the FairPlay DRM protection around the MPEG-4 AAC files it sells. FairPlay is proprietary to Apple and currently Apple does not license it to other companies so the iPod remains the only player to be able to play files bought from the iTunes Music Store. Any music ripped to AAC in iTunes does not have any DRM protection attached to it. iTunes now has two free AAC encoder competitors. You have FAAC which is an open source AAC encoder but its quality is not up to par with iTunes or the next free offering. Nero Digital is the second free AAC encoder that is now available free of charge.
Recommended encoder: iTunes AAC encoder.
Other encoders: FAAC, Nero Digital, Compaact
Recommended settings: 128 kbps - 192 kbps depending on which sounds best to your ears.
Ogg Vorbis - http://www.vorbis.com
-----------------------------------------------
This is an open-source and patent free audio format. MP3 and AAC are patented formats that must be licensed in order to be used. The advantage to Ogg Vorbis is that it is free to use without any restrictions. Ogg Vorbis should sound better than MP3 at the same bit rate. Ogg Vorbis has a few portable audio players that play it and media player software is beginning to support it more. A lot of game developers are using the format to avoid paying licensing fees. Ogg Vorbis is not supported by the iPod. iTunes can play Ogg Vorbis thanks to a QuickTime plugin available here, http://qtcomponents.sourceforge.net.
Recommended encoders and settings
MusePack - http://www.musepack.net
-------------------------------------------------
MusePack is considered the best lossy audio format today. It excels at bitrates above 160 kbps and can achieve transparency in the 160 - 200 kbps range to most people on most samples. However, MusePack doesn't have much support. No portable audio device yet plays this format and only a handful of media players support playback of MusePack natively. Most media players require a plug-in to support MusePack. iTunes does not support this format and neither does the iPod.
Recommended encoders and settings
WMA
-------
WMA is Microsoft's answer to MP3. Exclusive to the Windows platform, WMA offers better sounding files at lower bit rates but currently WMA is not the best audio format. Better tuned MP3 encoders, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, and MusePack all beat WMA's quality at 128kbps and above. This format is not supported by the iPod but iTunes does offer a feature to convert WMA files to AAC/MP3 files for playback on the iPod.
LOSSLESS FORMATS:
FLAC - http://flac.sourceforge.net
-------------------------------------------
FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec which is exactly what it is. It is non-patented and open-source. It supports multiple computing platforms and is considered the best lossless codec available by many. Encoding and decoding are both fast, compression is good, and seeking throughout a file is also fast. Currently, iTunes and iPod do not support FLAC.
Apple Lossless Audio Codec
------------------------------------
This is a new lossless codec developed by Apple for iTunes and iPod. Apple's Lossless Audio Codec's compression is about equivalent to FLAC's using the highest compression setting in FLAC. Apple Lossless will play in iTunes and iPod (with a firmware update). As this is a new codec support is low at the moment. Currently, only iTunes will play it but there has been plugins popping up for Winamp and I imagine more will surface in the future for other media players.
Monkey's Audio - http://www.monkeysaudio.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
Monkey's Audio is another lossless compression format. It generally compresses better than FLAC using the highest setting, however, having the best compression isn't the best thing when talking about a lossless codec. Monkey's Audio is a Windows-only format and encoding, decoding, and seeking is slower than FLAC.
I wrote this because of the many posts made about which format to choose so I figured this forum needed a sticky about the topic. Feel free to let me know of any inaccurate information in the above and I will correct it accordingly.
Related Links:
- Results of Multiformat at 128kbit/s Listening Test
- Results of AAC at 128kbit/s v2 Listening Test
Updates:
{Edit by AndyH: Added some formatting commands for easier reading; Made thread "sticky"}
09/10/2004 - added recommended encoder and settings links to lossy formats section.
09/16/2004 - updated AAC section, fixed MP3 encoders link.
10/20/2004 - updated MP3, AAC, MusePack sections and added Related Links section.
04/13/2005 - updated various sections; rephrased some statements.
12/12/2006 - updated MP3 and AAC sections.
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