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Topic: Question regarding converting AAC to AAC (Read 2460 times) previous topic - next topic
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Question regarding converting AAC to AAC

Ok, this is a puzzling question, but for those sharp enough, bear with me.

AAC carries greater quality than mp3 with the same bitrate and size.

So if you have 254kbps mp3, and you convert it to 224kpbs AAC, it's essentially the same quality.

However, once a file is AAC, you seemingly lose this benefit when you convert it to a lower-bitrate AAC, right?

To make it clearer, I'll describe my particular situation:

Throughout the past year or so, I've been converting mp3s into AACs of equal or slightly less bitrate, so as to not lose any quality. In other words, If I had a 237kbps mp3, I'd convert it to a 224kbps AAC. If I had a 192kbps mp3, I'd convert it to a 192kbps AAC.

However, now I'm thinking all I really need are 128kbps AACs. BUT, my entire music library is already in AAC, not mp3. So, I'd be converting from 160+kbps AAC down to 128kbps AAC.

My question, then, is that if I'm already STARTING with, say, a 192kbps AAC, and I convert it to a 128kbps AAC, will this 128kbps AAC still have the same quality as a 192kbps mp3, which is what it would have had if it had been converted from an mp3?

I guess the fundamental, implied question I'm asking is:

If I converted all my mp3s into equivalent or slightly less AACs, and then converted all those AACs into 128kbps AACs, would those last files be of lesser quality than had I just converted all my mp3s directly into 128kbps AACs?

I realize this problem is rather hard to grasp, but if you understand what I'm saying, PLEASE help.

Thanks in advance!

Question regarding converting AAC to AAC

Reply #1 –
Others may be more subtle, but my answer is: Don't do it.  Any conversion from lossy to lossy is loss upon loss, even if to an "equal" codec, even if to a higher bitrate (though it's worse if you're going down in bitrate or to an inferior codec).  It's just like taking a jpeg of a jpeg.

 

Question regarding converting AAC to AAC

Reply #2 –
Bah, I wish I never made the stupid decision to "standardize" all my music into AAC. So what if I have mp3s and AAC's in the same music library?
Diversity ought to be appreciated, not cleansed!

Ugh. I do regret converting all those source files into lossies. 80 days' worth of music, all tainted by an unnecessary and perverse desire for file-type homogeneity.