Why are MP3s and MP4s used more than ogg vorbis?

[Anarchist420]

I think digital processing to make mp3s closer to the original is not worth the effort... the efforts put into things like re-mastering could be put into more storage space and making it more secure... of course, sometimes the musicians are perfectionists and they just scrap their originals.

Anyway, what are some reasons ogg came to be used the least compared to mp4s and mp3s?

I hate lossless compression although I don't think we're going to get much of anything in lossless anymore. Sometimes I'll notice the difference sometimes I won't, but it is a shame because I can tell the difference and once you're informed of the original and all you can do is imagine it... I'm willing to just buy more storage space and more security.

 

[blotto]

Ogg isn't really viable anymore. For a while it was a decent middle ground between .mp3 and lossless compression but with bandwidth and storage space being where it is now, ogg doesn't really have a place.
Either use .mp3 for storage or convenience, or .flac or .alac for full quality.
With most portable players offering some form of lossless support, a "better" lossy format is redundant when the difference between a 200mb .ogg album and a 350mb .flac album is insignificant in size.

 

[lamedude]

All that momentum MP3 built up from filesharing has kept it relevant. No DRM meant no iTunes or other stores. Vorbis support today isn't great so no store was going to switch to it after the DRM went away.

 

[skriefal]

Pretty much. MP3 already was established as the de-facto "standard" for lossy audio distribution. Vorbis had no chance to displace it unless it somehow improved on the convenience factor (which is what the masses care about), or offered better DRM support so that Apple (or similar) would pick it up and force it on its users.

Also, portable device manufacturers recognized what I've stated above and so most refused to put any effort ($) into supporting Vorbis or other non-MP3 formats. That was the "nail in the coffin" for Vorbis.

You hate lossless compresion? I assume that you meant to type lossy compression. I can see no reason to dislike lossless.

 

[wirednuts]

i just wish "they" (whoever it is) would have had the foresight to put a lossess setting in the mp3 format- so we wouldnt have the constant headaches of devices supporting everything except a high quality format. even if it wasnt technically lossless, i would have like to see a 'full quality' setting or something that would be around 700kbs or more. 320kbs mp3's are pretty good for most situations, but in my living room on my el grande home theater they simply dont sound as good as flac.

 

[mikeymikec]

My whole collection is in mp3 format. While the idea of lossless audio appeals to me, I doubt I could ever be bothered to dig out all my CDs and start again.

@ wirednuts - if a group of people have spent a load of time in creating a decent lossy format, wouldn't it be a bit of a 180 degree turn to provide a lossless option? There are two diametrically opposing strategies to reduce the amount of storage required to store a sample of data (audio, image, movie) - one is looking to keep everything but reduce the storage required to store 'everything', the other looks to chop what possibly isn't needed and compress through approximation what is needed.

I'm not speaking as an authority on the matter, I've read a few articles about various file formats.

 

[Anteaus]

i just wish "they" (whoever it is) would have had the foresight to put a lossess setting in the mp3 format

Agreed, but you have to consider that the MP3 is just part of MPEG-2 which was designed for film delivery. All of that happened in the early to mid 90s and lossless simply wasn't in the cards then.

 

[Auric]

Too little too late. AAC (MP4) already provided quality and feature improvements over MP3 with a true industry standard.

 

[Anarchist420]

You hate lossless compresion? I assume that you meant to type lossy compression. I can see no reason to dislike lossless.

You're right, I hate lossy compression, sorry about the typo.

 

[skriefal]

Agreed, but you have to consider that the MP3 is just part of MPEG-2 which was designed for film delivery.

Yes. "MP3" = MPEG-1 Layer 3 = MPEG-2 Layer 3

It's a continuation of MPEG-1 Layer 2 (aka "MP2"), which is still used for DAB radio broadcasts, satellite radio delivery (e.g. the music channels on Dish Network), etc.

 

[MikeL DISH]

skriefal,

I saw your post and would like to let you know that we hope you enjoy the music channels! Please let me know if you have any questions and I'll look forward to hearing from you!

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Holy crap. FCN (Fresh-corpse necro) by a Dish guy just because one guy mentioned dish!

Anyways, to add to the discussion, Ogg Vorbis was never about being superior. They at one time stated this on their own project website. Ogg Vorbis was never great at anything. It didn't support DRM, and it wasn't as efficient as MP3. The only thing that Ogg Vorbis ran on was that it was *open*, and that it didn't require licensing like MP3 does. On a quality point, AAC used in MP4 sounds fantastic. I still love my FLAC, and its by far my preference and is what is used in my digitized music collection, but I understand that due to MP3 being licensed by nearly all bodies, Ogg Vorbis just really never had anything to bring to the table.

Now if MP3 licensing had *not* been adopted so readily by companies, then it could have been a much different picture today. The same thing goes on today with h.264 vs. Ogg Theora. Ogg again here had a chance until the MPEG LA group announced that video encoded for internet use in h.264 would no long have to be licensed. From there, Ogg Theora again lost much of its ground. Apple and Google were major pullers for h.264, while Mozilla and Opera were major pullers of Theora. Then Google flopped and said they were going to go all "open" and were only supporting Opera. In fact, they even stated that they were going to pull support for Chrome and h.264. This never panned out. Like MP3, h.264 has far too much traction in the market place now to be superseded by Theora unless some drastic licensing changes occur (h.264 licensing is renewed every 5 years).