Wavpack 4
Reply #1 – 2004-08-05 22:29:52
I'd like to keep the lossy files as small as possible, so I still can share them with a couple of friends. The Speek's Wavpack frontend default seems to be 320 kb/s, but I still consider that a very high bitrate for my purposes, so I'm wondering what are the consequences of lowering this bitrate (if any). Please have a look at http://www.wavpack.com/wavpack_doc.htm The lowest bitrate that I recommend for WavPack lossy is 256 kbps which can provide transparent reproduction for most non-critical listening situations and is roughly equivalent to MP3 at 160 kbps. Above 256 kbps the quality of WavPack's lossy mode increases rapidly, with added quantization noise (which is the only artifact) dropping by about 1 dB for every 15 kbps. At 320 kbps the quality is difficult for even critical listeners to distinguish from the original, and at 384 kbps WavPack becomes essentially transparent. Since I use WavPack for hybrid archiving on DVD-R media (with even added error correction files (PAR2)), the lossy encoded files will have only to be copied/opened for listening. I therefore chose the 320 kbps option, which most often produces bigger .wv than .wvc files for classical music and to me, is indistinguishable from the original. For distribution you should think about lossy compression, such as MP3, MusePack or Vorbis. If your friends really like what you give them, you could still create a lossless copy for their pleasure. ed: typo