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Topic: MP3 Quality Check (Read 7883 times) previous topic - next topic
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MP3 Quality Check

Hello


i wanted to know with which programm i can check if a MP3 with 320 kbps has really 320 kbps.




thanks ahead
   



PS: sorry for my bad english

MP3 Quality Check

Reply #1 –
1. Create the MP3 yourself
1b. Hydrogenaudio is not here to help you have confidence in illegitimately acquired files.
2. Search

MP3 Quality Check

Reply #2 –
kbps is kilobits per second.  If you know that there are 8 bits in a byte, and converting seconds to minutes, and with a little rounding you get:
Bitrate in kbps = (File Size in MBx140) /Playing Time in minutes   

Of course, if your file is encoded with variable bitrate, that calculation will give you the average.

Quote
MP3 Quality Check
But, don't confuse bitrate with sound quality.  Higher bitrates don't always give you better sound quality...    If a 160kbps sounds identical to the 320kbps file, or identical to the CD (in a blind listening test), you can't say the 160kbps is lower quality.

MP3 Quality Check

Reply #3 –
1b: I don't trust "boutique" online (legit) music distributers not to transcode their files from lossy audio. I remember a time when audio CDs with DRM came with very low quality MP3s (with lots of audible artifacts) for playback on computers. Not all professionals can be trusted to do it right.

MP3 Quality Check

Reply #4 –
Sorry, yes: that is a possibility, too, and I should not be so quick to assume (based on previous quantities of questions about warez).
 

MP3 Quality Check

Reply #5 –
Quote from: DVDdoug on
Bitrate in kbps = (File Size in MBx140) /Playing Time in minutes

untagged file size ... if the file has tags, just using its raw size is going to inflate the bitrate estimate, especially the higher the ratio of tag size to duration.

Quote from: skamp on
1b: I don't trust "boutique" online (legit) music distributers not to transcode their files from lossy audio.

Along those lines, I verified by private email with the people who run BandCamp that although they require uploaders to supply a lossless original, they don't try to dissuade anyone from transcoding from lossy in order to satisfy that requirement. IIRC, the reasoning was that the uploaders who would transcode aren't really interested in or able to process anything technical; they just want their music to go up with as little effort as possible. :/