Best musci format

smittycal · Post by **smittycal** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:28 am

Sorry if this question has been asked before....but I was wondering what format of music will get the best sound quality? Up until now I've been using mp3's but it seems like on some of them the quality diminishes once I finish my AMV. Im using windows movie maker so I dont know if its the program or just the file type?

Thanks in advance

The Wired Knight · Post by **The Wired Knight** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:45 am

MP3 is actually not that great a format to use typically due to a loss in quality. I personally make uncompressed wav rips from my CDs for optimal sound. The only time I use an MP3 is when the soundtrack is proving elusive.

Mosc · Post by **Mosc** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:01 am

Obviously, using a lossless audio codec will give you the best possible quality. Popular choices are FLAC and WavPack, with the former being more supported and the latter compressing slightly better (quite similar to HuffYUV and Lagarith, respectively). Neither AVI nor MP4 have native support for these formats, so you'll have to use a superior container to be able to use either of these (i.e. Matroska). The MP4 standard defines a lossless codec, but absolutely no one uses that and support for it is poor on both the encoding and decoding side.

Vorbis and AAC can be considered the best lossy audio codecs. They're quite equal in quality, although Vorbis seems to have a slight edge at high bitrates (> 128kbps) and AAC at lower bitrates (< 128 kbps).

Dr. Derpface, J.D. · Post by **Dr. Derpface, J.D.** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:27 am

Start with raw wav's directly from whatever CD you choose, then when you finish and go for a release encode, use a high bitrate MP3/OGG/AC3/whatever. The reason you're getting worse quality on finish is because you are making a lossy copy of an already lossy audio track. Think of it like making a VHS copy of something that's already a copy. Any flaws will stand out and you will lose quality.

If you start with HQ source to begin with, then there's no reason even a 192kbps MP3 audio track for the final product won't sound acceptable to the vast majority of people who listen to it (yes, I know there will be audiophiles whining about "killing the soundstage" and other such stuff...but they're few and far between).

dragontamer5788 · Post by **dragontamer5788** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:03 pm

I can only really tell the difference if I hook up the sound to my DVD sound system (IE: I encode the video into a DVD). No matter what format you're in, if you're listening on headphones or on laptop speakers it will sound like crap. (Hell, there is a drum beat that I can't hear at all on my computer on my current project. Only when I rendered to a DVD and played it did I hear it. Fortunately, the sound shows up on the spectrogram :-p).

As far as theory is concerned... you shouldn't be hearing those sounds an MP3 cuts out anyway (thats why they get rid of it). But like the human eye and JPEGs... if you compress it too much you will definitely notice the compression artifacts. MP3s IIRC are worst around drum beats, or any other "sharp" sound. I might be getting confused with another compression though...

smittycal · Post by **smittycal** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:24 pm

Thanks for the feedback everyone...and sorry for posting this in the wrong spot (I see this was moved lol). Ill trying to do a direct rip from CDs One song I want is just a single in Japan but they still want 15.00 for it on Amazon..its cheaper then importing it but still expensive for a 2 track CD lol..It might be worth it for better sound quality for that video....ah the high price of AMV's lol...

smittycal · Post by **smittycal** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:28 pm

Mosc wrote:Obviously, using a lossless audio codec will give you the best possible quality. Popular choices are FLAC and WavPack, with the former being more supported and the latter compressing slightly better (quite similar to HuffYUV and Lagarith, respectively). Neither AVI nor MP4 have native support for these formats, so you'll have to use a superior container to be able to use either of these (i.e. Matroska). The MP4 standard defines a lossless codec, but absolutely no one uses that and support for it is poor on both the encoding and decoding side.

Vorbis and AAC can be considered the best lossy audio codecs. They're quite equal in quality, although Vorbis seems to have a slight edge at high bitrates (> 128kbps) and AAC at lower bitrates (< 128 kbps).

The problem with those options like you said are finding programs that work with the various formats. WMM only likes mp3 and wave files...well at least mine is like that. And Matroska files only play back on my VLC player or GOM player. I sure I could spend the time/cash to find a program to do all that but I would probably need a new computer to make it worth getting it lol...

Thanks for the suggestions tho...Ill see what I can do with that with what I have

Mosc · Post by **Mosc** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:24 am

Matroska files will work fine in any software player that plays MP4 files as long as you installed a splitter that supports it. Incidentally, MP4 requires a splitter too so it's not like it's any more trouble. This means that Matroska files will work in Windows Media Player, Winamp, or whatever DirectShow based player you like using; bad Matroska support is a myth. Can't help you with Windows Movie Maker, though.

requiett · Post by **requiett** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:02 pm

Multi-channel lossless, motherfucker.

Mikay_la · Post by **Mikay_la** » Wed May 27, 2009 6:26 am

Mp3 is the best combination of quality and space

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Best musci format

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