Most movies don't have any appreciable audio above 16KHz and even if they did most people don't have any appreciable hearing above 16KHz.
#256 kbps vs 320 kbps 320kbps#
With 320kbps you get only frequencies up to 16KHz
![256 kbps vs 320 kbps 256 kbps vs 320 kbps](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3VkW0FY_emA/maxresdefault.jpg)
#256 kbps vs 320 kbps full#
I'm betting on the AC3.Ĥ48kbps is MINIMUM for AC3 5.1 (this means not even 96kbps per channel!), because only starting from that bitrate you get full bandwidth up to 20KHz, and that is equivalent to CD quality. It would be interesting to compare these soundtracks with 5.1 speakers and then figure which sounds best. The reason to use AC3 is for 5.1 channels or to preserve the original audio. The AC3 is CBR and otherwise hasn't been well milked for quality. They've been milking every bit of quality they can from MP3, including improved modeling, etc. what happened to the other 4 channels in your AC3 (considering you only have two speakers)? How were they combined on playback?Īlso, give LAME some credit. How were the channels combined for the MP3 (e.g. Was the MP3 volume cranked up and the dynamic range compressed? This might make the same audio sound better to you. Why did 128ABR MP3 sound better than 256Kb/s AC3? For starters, the AC3 had a cutoff of 12.?KHz while the MP3 probably cutoff at around 14.?KHz.īeyond that, consider how the audio was processed. For most movies, 256Kb/s should be acceptable. This allows you to have a file of greater quality but without pushing file sizes up too much.448Kb/s is overkill for AC3. Using VBR allows the MP3 encoder to use lower bit rates during quieter or less complex parts of a song, and significantly higher bit rates during more complex sections. One final consideration should be to encode MP3s using a 'variable bit rate' instead of a 'constant bit rate'. Check out our MP3 & Digital Music Reviews section to find a player that supports the wonderful lossless compression formats, such as FLAC or Apple Lossless. Lossless is the crème de la crème of audio compression but not all MP3 players support the formats. However, whereas an average song encoded at 128kbps will be around 3.5MB, the same song in lossless format will be around 30MB. Although lossless audio is still compressed, it's done so using a complex algorithm that retains every single bit of data while still managing to reduce file sizes. Lossless encoding throws away nothing - your music file is identical in quality to that of the original CD. This is because in order to reduce the size of a music file, the MP3 encoder literally throws away data from the original recording. 128kbps, 256kbps and similar bit rates are known collectively as 'lossy' formats. Consider this bit rate if you own a player with 4GB of memory or above, or if you only carry a few albums with you at any one time.Īt the top end of the scale we get into what is known as 'lossless' audio. The difference in quality between 128kbps and 256kbps is vast and immediately obvious - your favourite tunes encoded at 256kbps will sound stunning in comparison to the same tracks encoded at 128kbps. This offers vastly superior sound quality over 128kbps, without eating up too much disk space. The happy medium between small file sizes and true CD quality audio is a 256kbps bit rate. If you use the headphones that came with your player and don't listen to that much music, 128kbps will probably suffice for you. This bit rate will allow you to get much more music on to your MP3 player but you'll sacrifice a great deal of audio quality as a result. This was often referred to as being CD quality, but it's far from being so. The absolute lowest MP3 bit rate you should consider is 128kbps. Which is the best rate to use for general music compression?
![256 kbps vs 320 kbps 256 kbps vs 320 kbps](https://progsoft.net/images/alarmdj-3b826ec345d5ee9b8c5eec5fc4e6ff4e6e6189fc.png)
![256 kbps vs 320 kbps 256 kbps vs 320 kbps](https://www.videoconverterfactory.com/tips/imgs-self/320kbps-vs-flac/320kbps-vs-flac-01.png)
I want to use MP3s on a music player but I have no idea which bit rate to use.