Re: My MP3 low bitrate encoding guide
Reply #2 – 2018-07-01 04:12:39
When it comes to lower bit rate encoding, I figure keep it simple with MP3... v7 (100kbps) (AAC equivalent = 64kbps) = THE minimum I would use for music. v5 (130kbps) (AAC equivalent = 96kbps) = the safe minimum for music. I say that because v8(85kbps) becomes fairly easy to spot differences between that and the lossless source on a decent set of speakers. but unless someone must use MP3, if one is trying to get maximum amount of songs into the least amount of storage space, chances are if they can play MP3 there is a good chance they can play AAC and in that regard one could do 96kbps with AAC as that's about the equivalent to MP3 @ v5 (130kbps) based on listening tests around here (which seem to be the general safe minimums for most people with those two formats). plus, one could even use 64kbps AAC (AAC-LC of course to keep compatibility high) as I would say that's roughly equivalent to v7 (100kbps) MP3 as that's (64kbps) THE minimum I would consider using for AAC as going any lower you can notice more obvious drop offs in the overall sound quality vs the lossless source. but with that said, since your talking more 'radio' range of quality for MP3, I suspect one could use lower than v7 (100kbps). but I would generally avoid that and switch to AAC since unless one has a fairly old lossy playing device chances are it can play AAC.