HydrogenAudio

Hi, people.

This is a new version of poll for lossy codecs.
This time WavPack Lossy/Hybrid (.wv) was included as there was interest during previous years. 2018 Format poll [Lossy Formats] (https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=115722.0)

Our polls have made into Chris'es blog http://www.ecodis.de/audio.htm  :)

Have a nice day.

 For what reason its a single selection poll when the title: "What lossy formats do you use on a *regular* basis?" make it thinks it a multiple selection poll

Yes, ideally I'd have a two-part:
1) Which is your main / preferred lossy format of choice
2) Tick all the lossy formats you currently use

Something like that .... but maybe there's backwards compatibility issues - i.e. comparing to previous years.

C.

Complicated here but I'll be honest here.  Mainly because there's no multi-choice in this poll.  Usually I end up with lossy formats if that's all that is available.  Hence why my usability doesn't change much as it's either in my digital music collection as is or that it's some product or service that I use.  For stuff I do have more control over (buying a new CD or recording something myself, etc.) I always use lossless formats.

MP3 = Some internet arrangements that I still have from OverClocked ReMix, as well as music from certain PC games that used MP3.
Dolby Digital or AC3 = Over the air television broadcasts (it's ATSC standard and you're using it if you're watching TV), DVD viewing (they all pretty much have this).
OPUS = Youtube? 
Vorbis = Spotify?  I don't stream music that often.
AAC L/C = iTunes Purchases for sure, maybe some streaming services?
Other = Bunch of compressed formats for games.

FLAC is the main format in my library but it's not a lossy format so it doesn't count here.

MP3 for me, as it is the only format that is the compatible with all the devices i own. Some devices i own can obviously play other lossy formats aac/m4a or opus but then there other devices that cannot work with those formats.

I know it's the forum software... but multiple selections would be really nice at some point :)

I chose lossyWAV but would have liked WavPack, mp3 and Musepack as well.

It depends on the situation, but the fact that I couldn't select more than one made me think of why I use Opus the most often (the selected choice). It's the most transparent for the 14-144 kbps VBR range. (Lower rates pretty much require AI to sound transparent.) It works great not only for voice but general radio, which made it ideal for general YouTube.

Until certain improvements are made to Opus or Vorbis, AAC remains on top for best quality when it comes to higher bit rates, but Opus is on top for general content.

I chose "MP3" since a larger part of my 150k track collection is still in this format—collected over decades, and of course I keep these.
Everything that’s new is ripped to FLAC.

MPC because with certain options I can ensure transparency even for a set of killer samples where other lossy codecs fail pretty bad, and the average bitrate is still less than with lossywav or anything of that sort. (about 260) It's not really optimal for most content, but I can live with that, SD cards are pretty big nowadays.
I'd be happy to switch to Opus when a couple of edge cases is fixed.

LossyWAV and Opus on cell phones. MP3 in the car.

LossyWAV and Opus only

As with all these polls, I tick the one I use as a codec, rather than what I kinda come in contact with casually.
Alas, I had to select AAC / HE-AAC this time. I kinda do a bit of life-streaming on the side right now, and using AAC encoding is more or less the standard there.
Has been Opus for many years, let's home things change back to it.

Also, props to IgorC for including Codec2!
And yes, I'm still lazily working on VoIRC using Codec2... ¦D

WavPack@450 for PC /HiFi and Musepack Q5 for portable (especially with additional settings which give very high/transparent quality in general). Still, both archives are 30% smaller than lossless. :)

MPC because with certain options I can ensure transparency even for a set of killer samples where other lossy codecs fail pretty bad,

If You mean synthetic samples in your topic (https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=118074.0) by killer samples then there are  few important moments here.

• Nobody listen synthetic samples as sine wave as it was music or speech.
• Performance on synthetic samples isn't representative. It was discussed several times and conclusion was pretty the same. Codec A can be much worse than B on synthetic samples but significantly better on music/speech files. I've made a few expriements in past as well.  You can try it yourself to encode  music and  synthetic samples to  Musepack, AAC and Opus let's say at 128 kbps+. The results will be very revealing.  The same thing happens with a video codecs. Nobody tests video encoders on white noise or fancy color squares because more advanced formats explore psychovisual properties in a  way that can fail miserably on such samples but actually much better for average material (i.e.  formats with advanced deblocking/inloop filters etc...)

I'd be happy to switch to Opus when a couple of edge cases is fixed.

Don't hold your breath.  Synthetic samples aren't priority for developers for a very good reason.

BTW There is a listening test between  Musepack, Opus and AAC at 192 kbps https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=&sl=ru&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Faudiophilesoft.ru%2Fnews%2F200_kbps_abc%2F2014-06-27-105
I tend to trust this test because  the listener is a very trained guy.

For what reason its a single selection poll when the title: "What lossy formats do you use on a *regular* basis?" make it thinks it a multiple selection poll

It's been discussed https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=115722.msg956043#msg956043

If I needed to stay under 128 kbps, I'd not use MPC, of course.
If I had about 3x more memory available or smaller music collection, I could just copy the original FLAC files and not use lossy, because why not. It would remove the need for a little bit of work and it's just simpler. Also just in case I need to copy from there to somewhere else while away from the main archive, I'd still have the freedom of choice to compress or not compress (and to which format), because these are still original files.

Musepack Q5 for portable (especially with additional settings which give very high/transparent quality in general).

 
 

What additional settings, please?

Our polls have made into Chris'es blog http://www.ecodis.de/audio.htm  :)

 
Just wondering... is he a regular here?

@includemeout
 C.R.Helmrich (https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?action=profile;u=64012)
It was a while since his last post. Well, there isn't much to see anyway.  Development of  most of audio encoders is finished. 

Quote from: Shinichi on 2019-10-02 09:20:14

Musepack Q5 for portable (especially with additional settings which give very high/transparent quality in general).

What additional settings, please?

You can see here:
https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=96108.50

I have some ogg vorbis laying around, and a smattering of mp3. Most of my archive is FLAC, and when I need to have access to lossy somewhere (pretty much just on my phone), I encode with opus.

I haven't encoded anything other than flac and opus for general audio in years now.
I use aac for video audio tracks just because that's what most video devices expect.

Usage of lossy codec depends on use case.

Video MKV: h264 and AC3
Audio Book: AAC
Music Mobile: AAC
Music Library: FLAC

I pick MP3 so pretty much 192kb/s with the heavier samples at either 320 or just flac. Since i don't see a point going full lossless when 99.5% of my collection sounds fine at VBR 192Kb/sec.

If I needed to stay under 128 kbps, I'd not use MPC, of course.

It's not about bitrate but usefulness of testing a samples that nobody listen in a real scenario.

I got a 512GB card for the phone, I don't think about lossy.

Quote from: includemeout on 2019-10-03 00:55:02

Quote from: Shinichi on 2019-10-02 09:20:14

Musepack Q5 for portable (especially with additional settings which give very high/transparent quality in general).

  What additional settings, please?

  
You can see here:
https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=96108.50

 
 Thanks.That's quite an interesting thread you lot had going on. I had been away, see? :))

@includemeout
 C.R.Helmrich (https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?action=profile;u=64012)
It was a while since his last post. Well, there isn't much to see anyway.  Development of  most of audio encoders is finished.

 
 Definitely! 

Thanks anyway.

I chose mp3 (LAME 192 VBR for pop, 320 VBR for classical), because that's what my current rips are.  Yesterday I came across a post that got me thinking about re-ripping my CDs to Vorbis (q6), but I'm not sure it's worth the trouble.  I ripped a few albums and compared the mp3 to Vorbis, and I thought the mp3 sounded a bit harsher.  The Vorbis sounded a bit more refined, which I liked.

Thanks to foobar2000 on Android I use lossy WavePack (no correction files) more and more, but that's for my own CD and vinyl rips, the majority of my Bandcamp and similar downloads are still AAC.

Wavpack lossy on android for the last six years , poweramp or foobar.

Opus - as it works very well with Chiptunes and any other kind of old computer music :)

Thank You guys for all votes. 

If somebody hasn't voted yet, please, feel free to do it.

As for lossless poll, I think there isn't much sense as FLAC has 80%+ of share in  2018 Format poll [LOSSLESS] (https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=115721.0)

Yeah, still MP3. FhG AAC for multichannel and Opus for mobile devices.

AAC (& some MP3) here for listening on the go, made from FLAC at home.
Also working with AC3 and DTS while messing with DVDs and BluRays.