Vbr

[iShadowcat]

What's so special about it? What's the difference between it and say a regular old 192kbps MP3? Would I lose any quality converting it to a 192kbps MP3?

Lol...Thanks in advance

-Kitty

[napho]

You always lose quality when you convert.

[DainBramaged]

Variable Bit Rate encodes use more bits when the sample requires them, and less when the sample is not as complex, within a given target bitrate. As well, the psychoacoustics models filter out high and low frequences imperceptible to the human ear. As an example, the final bitrate of a "192 kbps" centered VBR encode would vary between about 165 kbps for very simple samples, and as high as 230 kbps for more complex samples. Generally speaking, file sizes are also generally smaller than a CBR encode at the given bitrate.

VBR is superior to Constant Bit Rate (CBR) encodes without question. Use VBR encoding wherever possible, unless you plan to do some streaming, in which case the variances of VBR make it difficult.

Transcoding will always result in a loss of quality. The exception to this is if you are going from a lossless format TO a lossy format.

[Miniver]

Transcoding will always result in a loss of quality. The exception to this is if you are going from a lossless format TO a lossy format.
Umm...huh? I think you meant that the other way around. Lossy to lossless.

[mp3masta1215]

Umm...huh? I think you meant that the other way around. Lossy to lossless.

no he was correct. lossless to lossy, dont be starting trash Miniver.

~homeya

[notbob]

no he was correct. lossless to lossy, dont be starting trash Miniver.

~homeya

you lose something no matter what

that's why it's "lossy" compression, but lossy to lossy is the worst. once lost, the frequencies cannot be replaced

[Miniver]

no he was correct. lossless to lossy, dont be starting trash Miniver.

~homeya
lossless format mp3masta1215 ----> lossy format mp4masta1315

lossy format mp3masta1215 -----> lossless format mp3masta1215

a lossless encoding will sound as good as whatever was put into it
(garbage in, garbage out)
a lossy encoding will never sound as good as the source
(good in, garbage out)

[shawners]

I go with variable byte rate. aslo called Alternative byte rate. You could tell the difference between the two. I recommend downloading two songs that are identical. One being VBR.. The other constant.

[Sk8er Boi]

Generally (but not necessarily) VBR MP3s will be better quality than CBR MP3s of the same file size, since the bit rates can vary to match content. i.e. where the audio content is more complex the bit rate can be high, and much lower when there is less complexity or silence.

A VBR MP3 with an average bit rate of 192Kbs say, will usually be higher quality than a CBR MP3 with a fixed bit rate or 192Kbs. The quality will in fact be comparable to a CBR MP3 with a fixed bit rate that is close to that of the VBR MP3's peak bit rate. However due to the losses at the lower bit rates, though mostly imperceptible, it will technically be of a lesser quality.

Also, to encode at VBR is the best option for wanting the bets sounding MP3. For instance a song in VBR might have an average bit rate of around 220 or something, but as a constant 192 you're losing around 28 bits of quality on average per frame.