Preference on MP3 Settings?

[pingryanime]

Checked around on the wiki but unless I missed a page, it seems there isn't really any "preferred" set of settings. Though I believe I know what the answer's going to be, I'll ask anyway as it's always better to be safe than sorry


Is there are preference between VBRv0 and CBR?(320/256) I don't exactly consider myself an audiophile nor do I believe I even have the hardware to hear lossless, so I never could tell the difference between lossless and lossy, even with such a large difference in bitrates. As such, I sure as hell can't tell the difference between two mp3 files playing VBRv0 and CBR320kbps. So to me, it really doesn't matter as long as anything I'm listening to CBR doesn't really drop below 256. That being said, I would assume anyone downloading a lossy version of a music torrent on bakabt would be, most likely, in a similar situation to me so at the end of the day it really probably doesn't matter, but yeah. Is there any real preference between VBR and CBR? (Most of the torrents I quickly checked that are already on bakabt seems to be CBR)

[Motoko11]

If you're looking to encode audio in a lossy format, personally, I wouldn't use MP3, I'd use AAC, AAC does the same job as MP3 but much more efficiently. Someone correct me if I got these figures wrong, but I think a 30kb/s AAC LC is the equivalent of a 128 kb/s MP3. So AAC has a much higher compression to quality ratio, so if you make an AAC with 128 or 192 kb/s, it's be a much better quality sound as compared to an MP3 the same size.

[Motoko11]

Also, to answer your question, the difference between CBR (Constant Bitrate) and VBR (Variable Bitrate) is that CBR will use the bitrate given all the time, it will not fluctuate much, whereas VBR uses how much bitrate as it needs whilest keeping an average bitrate that you specified in the settings, so VBR will use a little more kb/s at a stage in the file it'll need a little more, and a little less if it doesn't need as much in that part of the file.

[metro.]

For lossy, I would suggest V0. 320 isn't worth the extra space, and AAC has compatibility issues.

[megido-rev.M]

^This

[pingryanime]

Figured v0 VBR would be the best way to go. I haven't exactly seen any lossy audio torrents being uploaded in AAC, granted I don't exactly scourge the site for lossy audio torrents either.

Was thinking of redoing the Milky Holmes OST in mp3 and if I felt like it, adopt the FLAC version as well. I'll see if I can throw together a description first, though.(The most time-consuming part for me xD)

[Mistgun_Zero]

Well, if you are planning on uploading something on BBT or NOT, V0 (i.e VBR 256) is the best way to go. It gives the same quality as CBR 320 at the reduced space.

(click to show/hide)

Also when you are using VBR, the bitrate doesn't stay constant (hence variable, who am I kidding?) and it goes upto 320kbps when the need be and when it doesn't, well it doesn't. But CBR plays at 320kbps all the time and when there is a part that doesn't require that much bitrates, it is filled with null info, basically nothing. So in a sense both VBR V0 and CBR 320 are one and the same. I think they released the two formats 'cause older mp3 players couldn't play VBR perfectly at that time. But times have changed, and every device supports VBR. So there it is

If your device can play AAC though, I can safely recommend it above mp3. And almost every device now can play AAC, so compatibility shouldn't be much of a issue

Disclaimer: Most of the stuff I said are to best of my knowledge, and I might be wrong somewhere.
       Though I have uploaded many torrents on BBT, both FLAC and mp3, and my collection consists of a array of losslesss, mp3 and AAC content which are best available. So, yeah, I guess I am atleast 98% correct.

[metro.]

AAC is just bad manners.

Personal opinion though.

[megido-rev.M]

Just go with MP3 V0.