MP3 questions...

[fluxcapacitorMB]

I'm wondering a lil' sumpthin' 'bout mp3'z. When you burn 128 kbps mp3's to a disc as an audio CD, does it come out w/ the same aural quality as an original audio disc? Do good burning programs actually decompress the mp3 data when it writes an audio CD?

 

[SonOfZeuz]

There won't be a huge difference but you will be able to tell. a 128 mp3 burned to an audio cd will not sound as good as the origonal, 192 would sound pretty close

 

[Nefrodite]

If you tell your program to burn an audio cd, it will decompress the mp3s into wavs automatically if its a decent program.

Quality is not the same as a cd, at 192+ its pretty much, but 128kbs...no way, and on better equipment its just plain horrible.

 

[PliotronX]

Sadly, the answer is no. MP3 is a lossy compression algorithm, and "decoding" any given MP3, will result in the exact quality of that MP3. You CAN, however, make a "transparent" MP3 using the LAME codec and setting it to 256Kbps CBR stereo, CRC disabled, but no matter how "lightly" you compress using MP3, the decoded file will never be exactly the same as the original. There are lossless audio compression algorithms available, but they will never be able to yield compression ratios even remotely close to MP3.

Forgot to mention that different decoders can differ in quality themselves. But even the best decoders will only match the MP3's quality. More info here.

 

[Workin']

The simple answer is that an mp3 burned as an audio CD will soundf exactly the same as it did when it was an mp3. The lost quality does not magically come back.