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Poll

What lossy format(s) do you use on a *regular* basis?

AAC or HE-AAC v1/v2 (.m4a, .aac…)
[ 33 ] (18.9%)
LossyWAV + lossless (.lossy.flac, .lossy.wv, .lossy.tak…)
[ 5 ] (2.9%)
MP3 (.mp3)
[ 45 ] (25.7%)
Musepack (.mpc)
[ 10 ] (5.7%)
Ogg Vorbis (.ogg)
[ 11 ] (6.3%)
Opus (.opus)
[ 45 ] (25.7%)
WavPack Lossy/Hybrid (.wv)
[ 4 ] (2.3%)
xHE-AAC (USAC)
[ 5 ] (2.9%)
I don't really use any lossy codec on a regular basis
[ 17 ] (9.7%)

Total Members Voted: 175

Voting closed: 2021-01-01 23:45:44

Topic: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]  (Read 18975 times) previous topic - next topic
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Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #25
Added Graph to OP (the results over the years).
Thanks to includemeout and kode54. 

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #26
Opus 50%
40% acc and rest is mp3 :(
<3 foobar

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #27
AAC at various bitrates, depending on use case.

96 Kbps for my GFs Garmin watch.
128 Kbps for tablets that are way down the list for listening on.
144 Kbps for our mobile phones.
160 Kbps for my DAPs that are used for corded headphone usage and lots more power to drive headphones.

Based on Guru's latest 128 Kbps test, I should probably cut out 160 and possibly even 144.

I tried going with Opus and it works fantastically, but I didn't want the potential headache of Opus being transcoded for use over Bluetooth to AAC enabled headphones. And, with AAC working so well down to 128 Kbps, why have yet another one in the mix.

 

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #28
Looks like OPUS is on quite a rise but will this change next year due to xHE-AAC?

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #29
AAC at various bitrates, depending on use case.

96 Kbps for my GFs Garmin watch.
128 Kbps for tablets that are way down the list for listening on.
144 Kbps for our mobile phones.
160 Kbps for my DAPs that are used for corded headphone usage and lots more power to drive headphones.

Based on Guru's latest 128 Kbps test, I should probably cut out 160 and possibly even 144.

I tried going with Opus and it works fantastically, but I didn't want the potential headache of Opus being transcoded for use over Bluetooth to AAC enabled headphones. And, with AAC working so well down to 128 Kbps, why have yet another one in the mix.

Pretty much the same for me using Apple’s TVBR AAC Codec. It’s compatible with all of my devices and equipment around the home and has 100% replaced mp3. Opus isn’t compatible with anything I own but I hope xHE-AAC gets major support. I haven’t dabbled with HE-AAC which perhaps I should, but with the increase in storage sizes and reduction in costs, I haven’t felt the need to. Which HE-VBR version is considered the best these days?

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #30
I encode lossless to Opus for portable (= phone) use - but if what I have is in a lossy format already (mainly MP3 then), I just copy it over to my phone.

I guess that leaves three different answers depending on interpretation: MP3, not at all, or Opus.
Opus for the reason I just outlined.
MP3 because that is the main format I play back at home AND the main lossy format when I actually want lossy - I simply don't transcode when I can copy.
And then the previous scenario can be interpreted as "I don't use lossy". That is, for my main playback purposes, I don't do lossy encoding. Nor do I personally downsample/bitreduce my CDDA format files from the DAW format in the studio, I take what I got delivered.

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #31
Any lossless files I have that I want to listen to portably (mostly just my phone) then I transcode to Opus (~170kbps).

I have vastly more mp3s though, so will - like Porucs said above - simply listen to those when required.

I also have some M4A/AAC files that I will of course leave as is.

So, right now my lossy choice is Opus if I need to transcode from FLAC/lossless to lossy.

I have also played with the recent versions of xHE-AAC (USAC) and am keeping an keen eye on it with the potential to use that as my lossy file choice.

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #32
I only use lossy encoding very sparingly, and when I do, it's Opus, unless MPEG stuff is required for compatibility, which doesn't happen often in my case.
I use Opus for the little music I put in my phone,  and I've passed Opus-encoded tracks for a friend to play in his store.
For most of my music, self-ripped or downloaded, I go with FLAC, or I convert to it if I get something in another lossless format.
When nothing else is available, and I download something lossy, I don't transcode, obviously.

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #33
Looks like OPUS is on quite a rise but will this change next year due to xHE-AAC?
From my understanding an adoption of xHE-AAC by internet community largely depends from pending ffmpeg decoding support. Once ffmpeg will support it then VLC, foobar2000 and MPC players will support it natively.

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #34
I switched to Spotify (Very High quality), so Vorbis.
sox -e float -b 32 -V4 -D gain -3 rate -v 48000 norm -1
opusenc --bitrate 128

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #35
Switched to Musepack --Standard, With --nmt 19 on some noisy/loud albums to stop them being 79 ~ 100kbps which seems hurt sound quailty.
Got locked out on a password i didn't remember. :/

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #36
Switched from Apple AAC tvbr 96kbps to Opus vbr 96kbps as I was able to notice some artifacts on a couple of tracks during casual listening which went away with Opus. Great quality and small file size, used mostly on my mobile phone (where space is always lacking) and at work where I have a laptop with SSD drive (again, limited space).
Main library is of course in lossless. :)

I see that MP3 is still strong even within Hydrogenaudio community but I suppose that's because LAME at -V2 (~192kbps) sounds great (notwithstanding some hard-to-encode test cases and electronic music) and the compatibility is unmatched.

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #37
Nowadays I listen to music only via Linux computer or Android smartphone, hence I've been able to go almost completely WavPack lossless on the former and WavPack lossy on the latter thanks to foobar2000, I still have some FLACs and ACCs floating around though.
WavPack 5.6.0 -b384hx6cmv / qaac64 2.80 -V 100

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #38
I use Musepack (~192kbps) both at home/portable. For LAME(compatibility) i use V3 ~ V0.

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #39
Pretty much just using FLAC now but, when I use lossy, I'm still using LAME -v2. Seriously considering Opus for use on my phone.

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #40
I use Opus 1.3.1 at 128 kbps for portable use (Sansa Fuze+ with Rockbox).

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #41
Wow, Opus is used by more people each year.

I have also played with the recent versions of xHE-AAC (USAC) and am keeping an keen eye on it with the potential to use that as my lossy file choice.
Me too. Let's hope that a software decoding support comes in some near future. Right now Android 9+ and foobar+plugin can playback xHE-AAC.

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #42
Pretty much just using FLAC now but, when I use lossy, I'm still using LAME -v2. Seriously considering Opus for use on my phone.
If your phone supports it, go for it. foobar2000 for Android supports Opus just as well as MP3. You'll be able to go down to 128 kbps and thus reduce the amount of space while maintaining or even increasing quality a bit with really little killer artifacts (if any). I'm now a Spotify user, but back when I was listening to my own rips, moving to Opus from MP3 was a no-brainer.
sox -e float -b 32 -V4 -D gain -3 rate -v 48000 norm -1
opusenc --bitrate 128

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #43
I still use lame mp3 at -V5  since I only want lossy for portable and flac for backups.
I encode them from flac to mp3 in linux with ffmpeg like this:

for f in *.flac ; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -vn -c:a libmp3lame -q:a 5 -id3v2_version 3 "${f%.*}.mp3"; done

or with GNU parallel

parallel ffmpeg -i {} -vn -c:a libmp3lame -q:a 5 -id3v2_version 3 {.}.mp3 ::: ./*.flac

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #44
MP3 = Compatibility

I prefer FLAC, but I have to live with MP3.


Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #45
Hi @IgorC, by the looks of it, and with dreadful 2020 even here in our GMT-3 meridian being just hours away from ending, we've already have a total of 170-something votes - which I'll be feeding in the new graph in the next week or so, for you to publish it as you see fit.

Happy 2021 to one and all! =)
Listen to the music, not the media it's on.
União e reconstrução

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #46
Hi, includemeout

Sure, the poll will be closed tomorrow so You can post here  an updated graph.

And Happy New Year!!!  ... infidels  :P



Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #47
MP3 for me.  Using LAME  256VBR most of the time, 320CBR sometimes.

I've played around with AAC and Ogg, but always go back to MP3 for compatibility. And in many, many ABX tests, I can't tell the difference between 256VBR mp3 and high-res FLAC, so I don't worry about MP3 being a "lossy" format. For me, it's transparent.

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #48
Wow, Opus is used by more people each year.

It's truly an amazing format. For my ears, it's transparent at 128kbps. The small file size blows my mind.  I would abandon mp3 in favor of opus if there was more hardware support.

Re: 2020 Format poll [Lossy Formats]

Reply #49
includemeout has made this graph of comparison year-by-year