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Topic: wma vs. mp3 quality comparison (Read 13292 times) previous topic - next topic
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wma vs. mp3 quality comparison

I have an older recorder that records only to wma format. Unfortunately for wider use of the records have to be converted to mp3 so I could play everywhere.
The best wma bitrate with this recorder (OlympusDS-40) is 128kbit. After converting to mp3 same bitrate, the sound considerably worse. Will not improve much even with the big increase. What is equivalent to the quality/size when converting wma to mp3? There is somewhere a comparison of the two formats?
Thanks for response
Peter

wma vs. mp3 quality comparison

Reply #1
Since both formats are lossy, and both use different algorithms, the results of transcoding to MP3 can range from inaudibly worse to vastly worse. The only way to not degrade audio quality, and use a more widespread audio format, would be to use uncompressed WAV or FLAC. Both formats are lossless, so the files will be considerably larger than the source WMA.
It's only audiophile if it's inconvenient.

wma vs. mp3 quality comparison

Reply #2
As a very general rule, at low bitrates wma will have higher quality at the same bitrate as mp3. At high bitrates the situation will be reversed, with mp3 having higher quality than a wma of the same bitrate. 128 kbps falls into that in-between region where it depends on the material as to which is better.

wma vs. mp3 quality comparison

Reply #3
As a very general rule, at low bitrates wma will have higher quality at the same bitrate as mp3. At high bitrates the situation will be reversed, with mp3 having higher quality than a wma of the same bitrate. 128 kbps falls into that in-between region where it depends on the material as to which is better.


I would have though that WMA *PRO* was superior at all bitrates But its probably not used with the Olympus.


wma vs. mp3 quality comparison

Reply #5
I have an older recorder that records only to wma format. Unfortunately for wider use of the records have to be converted to mp3 so I could play everywhere.
The best wma bitrate with this recorder (OlympusDS-40) is 128kbit. After converting to mp3 same bitrate, the sound considerably worse. Will not improve much even with the big increase. What is equivalent to the quality/size when converting wma to mp3? There is somewhere a comparison of the two formats?
Thanks for response
Peter



Could it be that the recording (wma) is in mono and the MP3 is in stereo?
I ask because I find it strange to have a big difference between those two formats at 128kbps.

Back then, Microsoft said that wma at 64kbps was like MP3 at 128kbps. That was mostly marketing, and while some wma at 64kbps could sound decent, the general rule was more like 96kbps wma like 128kbps MP3 (CBR), and only if the listener liked more the wma artifacts than the MP3 artifacts. (wma was said to be metallic-like and less muffled)

Finally, note what pdq said: this is not a linear scale. When increasing the bitrate, the quality preference can reverse.

If there is any recording that you can share (or if you can make one for testing this), short, 30 seconds is enough, you could upload it to here (there is an expecific uploads forum) and we can try and see.


wma vs. mp3 quality comparison

Reply #6
After converting to mp3 same bitrate, the sound considerably worse. Will not improve much even with the big increase.


Use a better encoder.

What is equivalent to the quality/size when converting wma to mp3? There is somewhere a comparison of the two formats?


128k WMA is about equal to 128k MP3.  Maybe mp3 is a bit better these days, WMA hasn't been worked on in a very long time.