Thursday, 02 May 2019
I’ve heard that not all encoders/codecs give equal quality results. Which encoder/codec is best?
While there is no way to arrive at an absolute answer to «which is the best» the contributors the a.b.s.m.* groups at this time mostly use LAME. There are many places online where you can read technical discussions. Hydrogen audio is one, but the purpose of this document is not to tell you what to do but rather to help you decide what you want to do. In the end, all you can do is either trust your ears or go along with the consensus. There does seem to be more of a clear cut agreement as to which codecs not to use.
NOTE: Some people (and many journalists) will rank MP3 encoders based solely on their speed. In the a.b.s.m.* groups, audio-quality at reasonable size is by far the most important factor. When you hear or read information regarding «the best encoder» you should try to determine what factors are being taken into consideration.
The quest for the ‘perfect encoder’ seems to be never ending. It seems that certain encoders are better suited for certain types of music and not so much for other types. There is also a subjective aspect that will become quickly obvious as soon as you post your question in a.b.s.mp3.d.
The bottom line? Use your ears and do some testing. A good set of headphones can give you information that a set of computer speakers won’t. And if you don’t have the time for that, then ask around in a.b.s.m.d and see what the current consensus appears to be, but always listen to your MP3s before uploading them.
