Was just wondering what the difference is between the two formats and which one is higher in quality?
MP3/MP3 Pro - the difference?
- Thread starter jakobkraft
- Start date
Okay, I just found out mp3pro is half the size of reg. mp3 - but as to quality, that info evades me, or maybe I'm not looking hard enough...anyone know from their own experiences which is the better format?
I have tried both, and prefer mp3. I found when I encoded in mp3pro, the music sound like it was played underwater. I found mp3 to have better quality.
people with portable mp3 players don't have a reason to use OGG. Though, i did read OGG is having a hard drive based mp3 player coming out.
Ogg, Actually known as Ogg Vorbis, or just Vorbis is a patent free, open source lossy compression audio format.
In case you did not know the mp3 format is owned by Fraunhofer, they developed it and own all the patents on it. Anyone who makes a mp3 encoder or anyone who makes a hardware mp3 device (such as a portable player, or DVD player with MP3 capabilites), or includes mp3 tech in any commercial application is supposed to lisence the tech from Fraunhofer for a somewhat high fee.
Ogg Vorbis has no such fees for its use. Its completely free, developers are free to use it anyway they see fit without having to pay fees to any liscencing body, and since its open source they can modify it to their needs.
About Mp3 Pro....
Mp3 does not perform so well at bitrates below 128kbps. It just sounds bad..... Mp3 Pro was created to remedy this. Mp3 Pro files are backwards to compatible to regular to mp3s, they can be played on any mp3 capable device. However, mp3 pro files played on a non-Mp3 Pro player will sound bad. To get a benefit from mp3 pro you must have a mp3 pro capable player. For Winamp you can download a plugin that will playback mp3 pro files.....
Mp3 Pro was designed for low bitrates and streaming. Compare a 64kbps mp3 pro file to a 64kbps mp3 file. There will be a BIG difference. At high bitrates you'll hear no difference between it and regular mp3.
mk
Diamond Member
- Apr 26, 2000
- 3,231
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MP3PRO is an extended version of the MP3 format. It uses Spectral Band Replication with conventional mp3 encoding in order to increase compression efficiency.
The encoding of a mp3pro file is basically divided into two parts, sound content up to 8-10 kHz is encoded normally as mp3 while higher frequencies are analyzed by the SBR encoder which stores a small amount of helper data that allows the mp3pro decoder to "guess" some of hf parts during playback.
The method if quite useful when you want high compression (low bitrates, e.g. 32-96 kbps) and need to concentrate on the most important parts of the sound but it's also the reason why mp3pro can't really compete with other formats at higher bitrates (>128kbps) when the whole frequency range needs to be reproduced as accurately as possible.
(The results of a 64 kbps group listening test.)
The encoding of a mp3pro file is basically divided into two parts, sound content up to 8-10 kHz is encoded normally as mp3 while higher frequencies are analyzed by the SBR encoder which stores a small amount of helper data that allows the mp3pro decoder to "guess" some of hf parts during playback.
The method if quite useful when you want high compression (low bitrates, e.g. 32-96 kbps) and need to concentrate on the most important parts of the sound but it's also the reason why mp3pro can't really compete with other formats at higher bitrates (>128kbps) when the whole frequency range needs to be reproduced as accurately as possible.
(The results of a 64 kbps group listening test.)
QueBert
Lifer
- Jan 6, 2002
- 22,873
- 1,082
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ummm how is that? I was under the impression that OGG sounds slighty better, but has no real size benefit. The office web site even says something to that effect
"128k will be the same size regardless of format you encode to"
I'm not arging sound, I love OGG, but it doesn't work that way for 1/2 the size man
Originally posted by: QueBert
ummm how is that? I was under the impression that OGG sounds slighty better, but has no real size benefit. The office web site even says something to that effect
"128k will be the same size regardless of format you encode to"
I'm not arging sound, I love OGG, but it doesn't work that way for 1/2 the size man
I guess technically you're right. I just read what it said on the web site. Personally though, when I take an mp3 encoded at 192k and an ogg encoded at their "3" quality (which on their site, they say is comparable to 110k mp3), I can't hear a difference and the file is half the size. So in my mind at least, I'm getting the same quality at half the size.
I agree with you. I get used to listening to mp3s because that's pretty much all I listen to, so they seem normal. But when I happen to pop up in an actual CD and listen to it, it just sounds amazing.
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