Difference between revisions of "Choosing the best codec"

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(Introduction)
(Why no simple answer?)
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==Why no simple answer?==
 
  
There are several factors that you must first consider, my needs aren't the same as yours, maybe we want to do different things with our music, or we have a different amount of disk space to use.
 
 
Common considerations are:
 
 
* Do you want the option of using a portable player now?
 
* Would no playback support other than on your PC be a problem in the future?
 
* Do you need to use a popular format?
 
* How much space do you want to use for you music?
 
* How much music do you want to store?
 
* Are you simply interested in quality?
 
* ''How good is your hearing''?
 
 
The last question is '''the''' most important. Why? I have poor hearing, so something that sounds good to me could well be annoying to you. Only you have your ears, so only you know what sounds good to you.
 
 
We can however make general recommendations based on test results from the entire community - for example:
 
; [[Lossy]] formats:
 
* [[MPC]] is to the majority of people the best performer at mid to high bitrates (> 128kb/s)
 
* [[MP3]] is has the most widespread acceptance among the general population and in hardware players
 
* [[Ogg Vorbis]] and [[AAC]] HE are thought to perform better than others at low bitrates (< 128kb/s)
 
* See additional [[lossy]] formats at the [[lossy|lossy page]].
 
 
; [[Lossless]] formats:
 
[[Lossless]] compression is the ''only'' way to retain all the original quality and lose no information. For a list of lossless formats and their pro's and con's see the [[lossless|lossless page]].
 

Revision as of 03:25, 9 October 2005