Best MP3 Decoder: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:23, 17 July 2005

Since what the MP3 standard really defines is a decoder, there should be no such thing as a better or a worse MP3 decoder. As long as a decoder is accurate, it'll output the expected quality.

All the most popular decoders these days output accurate enough streams. These include:

Winamp's FhG decoder
mpg123, probably one of the most popular decoders, also used in foobar2000, Otachan's winamp plugin, LAME and countless other MP3 players
MPAdec, a very accurate decoder based on mpg123
Apollo, the most mathematically accurate decoder
MAD, another very precise GPLd MP3 decoder

Using any of the above should be enough for all purposes. Quality differences among them are insignificant.

Older decoders could provide bad quality, due mostly to encoder implementation errors. Such bad encoders include Winamp before version 2.666 (using Playmedia's low quality AMP engine), decoders based on old XAudio, and Digideck. Also, some older decoders did not work well with VBR streams.

Revision as of 02:19, 28 June 2005 (view source) Rjamorim (talk \| contribs) mNo edit summary ← Older edit		Revision as of 18:23, 17 July 2005 (view source) Rjamorim (talk \| contribs) mNo edit summary Newer edit →
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	Using any of the above should be enough for all purposes. Quality differences among them are insignificant.		Using any of the above should be enough for all purposes. Quality differences among them are insignificant.

	Older decoders could provide bad quality, due mostly to encoder implementation errors. Such bad encoders include Winamp before version 2.666 (using Playmedia's ~~bad~~ quality [http://www.playmedia.hr AMP] engine), decoders based on old XAudio, and [http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/digideck.html Digideck]. Also, some older decoders did not work well with VBR streams.		Older decoders could provide bad quality, due mostly to encoder implementation errors. Such bad encoders include Winamp before version 2.666 (using Playmedia's low quality [http://www.playmedia.hr AMP] engine), decoders based on old XAudio, and [http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/digideck.html Digideck]. Also, some older decoders did not work well with VBR streams.