LAME

LAME (LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder) is the recommended encoder. It has been developed by the open-source community since 1998, and has become the highest quality encoder for most purposes.

Some benefits for using LAME

• highly optimised presets
• Exact Audio Copy support
• CBR, VBR and ABR encoding methods
• CDex Support

Note: These settings require Lame 3.90 or later. Lame 3.90.3 found on this website is the recommended version (Check here to download)

Note: At a given bitrate range, the quality scale usually works to where VBR is higher quality than ABR which is higher quality than CBR (CBR < ABR < VBR in terms of quality). The exception to this is when you choose the highest possible CBR bitrate which is 320kbps. In the case of the named VBR profiles "standard" and "extreme" they are usually "effectively" equal in quality to high bitrate cbr, in the range of around 256 kbps due to their ability to scale down the bitrate when necessary but increase the bitrate beyond 256 kbps on a frame by frame basis also, when that is necessary.

Encoder Presets

Recommended Preset

• --alt-preset standard (~190 kbit/s, typical 180 ... 220. Best quality / size ratio)

Other Presets

• --alt-preset fast standard (~190 kbit/s, faster but potentially lower quality)

• --alt-preset extreme (~250 kbit/s, typical 220 ... 270. Quality can be a little better than standard)

• --alt-preset fast extreme (~250 kbit/s, faster but potentially lower quality)

• --alt-preset insane (320 kbit/s CBR, highest possible quality, that can be a little higher than extreme)

Note: Lame version 3.95.1 and above use a different naming scheme for the presets, e.g. --alt-preset standard becomes --preset standard so if you remove alt- from the above presets, they will work with newer versions of Lame.

VBR (Variable bitrate) settings

• VBR can be useful to get good quality from a specific quality level. Size is less predictable than with ABR, but the quality is usually better.

-V(number) where number is 0-10, 0 being highest quality, 10 being the lowest.

Lame 3.96.1 -V n, Presets, bitrates and lowpass of V values

Switch	Preset	Target Kbps	Y Switch	-b	Lowpass	Resample
-V 0	--preset extreme	240		128	19383 Hz - 19916 Hz
-V 0 --vbr-new	--preset fast extreme	240		128	19383 Hz - 19916 Hz
-V 1		210		128	18671 Hz - 19205 Hz
-V 1 --vbr-new		210		128	18671 Hz - 19205 Hz
-V 2	--preset standard	190		128	18671 Hz - 19205 Hz
-V 2 --vbr-new	--preset fast standard	190		128	18671 Hz - 19205 Hz
-V 3		175	Y		17960 Hz - 18494 Hz
-V 3 --vbr-new		175	Y		17960 Hz - 18494 Hz
-V 4	--preset medium	165	Y		17960 Hz - 18494 Hz
-V 4 --vbr-new	--preset fast medium	165	Y		17960 Hz - 18494 Hz
-V 5		130	Y		16538 Hz - 17071 Hz
-V 5 --vbr-new		130	Y		16538 Hz - 17071 Hz
-V 6		115	Y		15826 Hz - 16360 Hz
-V 6 --vbr-new		115	Y		15826 Hz - 16360 Hz
-V 7		100	Y		14581 Hz - 14968 Hz	32000 Hz
-V 7 --vbr-new		100	Y		14581 Hz - 14968 Hz	32000 Hz
-V 8		85	Y		12516 Hz - 12903 Hz	32000 Hz
-V 8 --vbr-new		85	Y		12516 Hz - 12903 Hz	32000 Hz
-V 9		65	Y		9774 Hz - 10065 Hz	24000 Hz
-V 9 --vbr-new		65	Y		9774 Hz - 10065 Hz	24000 Hz

ABR (average bitrate) settings

(128 kbit/s ABR: roughly the same filesize as 128 kbit/s CBR)

• ABR Setting tuned from 320 kbit/s down to 80 kbit/s
  • --alt-preset <bitrate>

Example: --alt-preset 200

• 128 kbit/s ABR
  • -V5 --athaa-sensitivity 1 (when using >= LAME 3.96.1, for best results at 128kbps)
  • --alt-preset 128

or (ff123's and Hans' suggestion: http://www.ff123.net/cbr128.html ):

--abr 128 -h --nspsytune --athtype 2 --lowpass 16 --ns-bass -8 --scale 0.93

CBR (constant bitrate) settings

• CBR Setting tuned from 320 kbit/s down to 80 kbit/s
  • --alt-preset cbr <bitrate>

Example: --alt-preset cbr 96

• 128 kbit/s CBR
  • --alt-preset cbr 128

or (ff123's and Hans' suggestion: http://www.ff123.net/cbr128.html ):

-h --nspsytune --athtype 2 --lowpass 16 --ns-bass -8 --scale 0.93

note: --alt-preset cbr 320 is the exact same thing as --alt-preset insane

Additional reading

List of recommended LAME settings @ HydrogenAudio forum

LAME homepage

-V n (in 3.95.1), Presets, bitrates and lowpass of V value created by Vietwoojagig