Skip to main content

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.

Poll

What lossy codecs do you use on a *regular* basis?

AAC or HE-AAC (.m4a, .aac…)
[ 122 ] (25.4%)
LossyWAV + lossless (.lossy.flac, .lossy.wv, .lossy.tak…)
[ 11 ] (2.3%)
MP3 (.mp3)
[ 191 ] (39.7%)
Musepack (.mpc)
[ 30 ] (6.2%)
Ogg Vorbis (.ogg)
[ 63 ] (13.1%)
Opus (.opus)
[ 32 ] (6.7%)
WavPack lossy (.wv)
[ 6 ] (1.2%)
WMA (.wma)
[ 2 ] (0.4%)
USAC (aka xHE-AAC)
[ 1 ] (0.2%)
I don't really use any lossy codec on a regular basis
[ 23 ] (4.8%)

Total Members Voted: 343

Topic: 2014 codec poll (Read 52423 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

2014 codec poll

Hello!

So, what are codecs of your choice? 

Also there is another nice poll about "lossless vs lossy" and "portable and home use" here.
These two poll complement each other.

2014 codec poll

Reply #1
At this point every device I use to listen to music supports Vorbis except my car stereo. I used to have a USB stick with a subset of my collection encoded to mp3 for the car stereo. But, my car stereo supports bluetooth so now I end up playing the Vorbis files on my phone through it instead. So, my main archive is FLAC, and all portable devices have the archive encoded to Vorbis q2.

2014 codec poll

Reply #2
Apart from expecting a few variations (Opus may be going slightly up, for instance); as the number of voters piles up, does anyone think there will be too much of a difference from 2012's or 2013's results?
Listen to the music, not the media it's on.
União e reconstrução

2014 codec poll

Reply #3
Here is the graph.


P.S. Table
Code: [Select]
	   MP3	  AAC	 Vorbis	 MPC	Opus
2007 54.2 12.8 22.8 4.4
2008 56.2 16.3 17.7 3.8
2009 59.1 16.3 14.3 4.5
2010 53.4 19.1 15.1 4.4
2011 46.4 23.8 16 4.3 0.6
2012 45.4 25.8 15.4 3 2.8
2013 42.5 25.46 13.83 3.37 5.56

2014 codec poll

Reply #4
The next-to-last option causes some confusion.

Recording, editing, or converting audio involves using uncompressed PCM on a regular basis. Heck, just playing a CD qualifies, and you could make a case that even just playing back your FLACs means you're "making use of" a decoded uncompressed PCM bitstream. But I don't think that's useful to know in this context, because it's completely incomparable to the responses for the lossless compressed formats. To compare to the other answers you presumably want to know whether people keep WAV etc files around for playback or long-term storage, not whether they record to it or use it as an intermediate format.

Also, one has to call uncompressed PCM a lossless format, but to me it seems that to call it a codec is to push that term, already strained by the confusion between formats and codecs, beyond the breaking point. So someone who only uses raw PCM might answer yes to each of the last three options.

I imagine what you mean with the last three options is more along the lines of

Quote
Other losslessly compressed format
I leave PCM etc in uncompressed files (WAV, AIFF, RAW) for playback or long-term storage
I only use lossy formats for playback or long-term storage

2014 codec poll

Reply #5
I don't think it possible to use xHE-AAC this year yet

I found this while googling for xHE-AAC: http://www.indexcom.com/streaming/codec/xheaac/
Are those files really encoded with a xHE-AAC encoder?

2014 codec poll

Reply #6
Apple Lossless (ALAC) (.m4a). AAC only for portable (which I almost never do) and for the "Random" folders I keep just to remember single songs (that they play when everything is shuffled).

2014 codec poll

Reply #7
FLAC on my PC, lossyFLAC on my Rockboxed iPod Classic, Musepack on my Rockboxed Fuze+.

2014 codec poll

Reply #8
I don't think it possible to use xHE-AAC this year yet

Maybe.
You mention it as xHE-AAC. Me think too that  it's uncomfortable to pronounce another name loudly. 

I found this while googling for xHE-AAC: http://www.indexcom.com/streaming/codec/xheaac/
Are those files really encoded with a xHE-AAC encoder?

yes, those files are encoded by some xHE-AAC encoder.


2014 codec poll

Reply #10
Since finding some really great settings with vorbis it will become really difficult for me to change codec in the future. The most important parameter for me is impulse_noisetune=-15.

2014 codec poll

Reply #11
Thanks IgorC.

Oh yes, the codecs I use:

Car: MP3

Home: hybrid Wavpack (MP3s, MPC, AACs encoded a long time ago making way for it).
Main reason: as I already stated before, the moment I switched to hybrid Wavpack, all the headaches with managing a bloated lossy+lossless library became a thing of the past.

Rockboxed DAP: lossy Wavpack. Encoding new stuff mostly, as the other lossy formats in it were already well-encoded, assorted lossy files.
Listen to the music, not the media it's on.
União e reconstrução

2014 codec poll

Reply #12
Huh, at this point (59 votes) no one chose Monkey's Audio? I thought it was still being used by quite a few people here?

Anyway, for me MP3 + Vorbis + FLAC for sharing recordings (Vorbis and MP3 for the HTML5 audio tag and MP3 and FLAC for download), Vorbis for portable, FLAC for archival.
Music: sounds arranged such that they construct feelings.

2014 codec poll

Reply #13
FLAC and Wavpack (lossless and hybrid) on my PC; Musepack and mp3 on my portable devices.
loquor mee menti: factus de materia, cinis elementi...

2014 codec poll

Reply #14
Huh, at this point (59 votes) no one chose Monkey's Audio? I thought it was still being used by quite a few people here?


Though early to confirm anything, with the poll tallying 60-something votes, it's also interesting to see ALAC lagging behind both WavPack and TAK.
Listen to the music, not the media it's on.
União e reconstrução

2014 codec poll

Reply #15
Though early to confirm anything, with the poll tallying 60-something votes, it's also interesting to see ALAC lagging behind both WavPack and TAK.

Not much WavPack but TAK. Weirdest thing to me since Apple is so big and influential.

2014 codec poll

Reply #16
But, as I said, it's maybe too early.

Besides, this being mostly HA folk's opinions, I think Apple can put its head on the pillow tonight, reassured its world dominance is not threatened by that in the slightest, I'm afraid.
Listen to the music, not the media it's on.
União e reconstrução

2014 codec poll

Reply #17
ALAC for the computer

AAC for the iPod

MP3 for the car cd player


2014 codec poll

Reply #18
tak for archival & playback on pc.
vorbis for my sansa clip+.
i also voted mp3 because i sometimes buy from the amazon mp3 store and download dj sets/podcasts/etc.
although i have a handful of AAC files i did not vote for it because i despise having to buy from itunes. i have done it on the very rare occasion something is not available anywhere else.

2014 codec poll

Reply #19
ALAC for my archives and AAC for general listening, portable listening, and in my car.  I used to encode everything to AAC and mp3 so that I could burn mp3 data CDs for my car but I installed a Bluetooth receiver negating the need for having an mp3 library as playback is all done through my phone.  I use iTunes and OS X so ALAC made the most sense to me, it's hard using a different lossless format inside of Apple's world.

2014 codec poll

Reply #20
Still MP3 and FLAC, still not seen any reason to change.

2014 codec poll

Reply #21
Musepack, because I don't have to keep two libraries. It's (almost) lossless and still economic. If necessary, it can be transcoded to other lossy format with minimum damages.



2014 codec poll

Reply #24
Lossy for portables- Vorbis, lame mp3, and Musepack, depending upon the device, with some purchased aac's and mp3's on all the DAPs.

Lossy for desktop computer- aac (qaac and Winamp FhG-aac) and lame mp3; as well as iTunes aac and Google mp3 purchases.

Lossless for desktop computer- ALAC

Lossless for archive- FLAC, ALAC, and a few Windows Media Lossless.

Not much has changed from last year except for the additions of Musepack (which replaced the overkill FLAC files on my Sansa Clip Zip) and Winamp FhG-aac.  I'm not "married" to a particular codec; but rather try to match codecs with particular devices and usage situations in terms of audio quality, efficiency, battery consumption, storage constraints, etc. without transcoding.