Tag: 48 kbps aac vs 128 kbps mp3

Find out in detail what is the MP3 and ACC music format

Songs have become part of our daily life and we rarely listen to a single song during our day, during our breaks or in our free time. New music never stops appearing and it is likely that on many occasions we would like to download these songs.

Many of us listen to hundreds of songs by our favorite bands every day, and we may never really analyze the format of each song in detail. We have heard of the existing formats, but we really do not know the benefits of each of them and their characteristics.

For this reason, Solvetic on this day will analyze in detail the two most common formats at a musical level, such as MP3 and ACC.

What is AAC?

AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) is a new audio format developed by the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany in collaboration with companies such as AT&T, Nokia, Sony and Dolby.

AAC, whose extension is m4a, is responsible for compressing a part of the audio files of an element called lossy compression, that is, some data that affects its optimal quality since inaudible frequencies are removed from the audio element, etc.

This AAC format is based on the international standard ISO / IEC 13818-7 and is basically an extension of MPEG-2. It is important to note that Apple chose AAC as the default format for the iPod and for iTunes, demonstrating its high level of quality.

Among its main characteristics we find:

It uses a bit rate encoding variable called VBR, which adapts the number of bits used in one second to encrypt the audio data.
Supports up to 48 channels for polyphonic sounds
It offers frequencies ranging from 8Hz to 96.0kHz.
They are smaller in MP3 size
AAC focuses on broadband usage
Provide high quality sound
As we can see little by little, AAC is establishing itself as one of the best music formats of the time.

What is MP3

MP3 (Motion Picture Experts Group) is an audio format that delivers quality while drastically reducing file size.

MP3 uses a lossy algorithm with which we can reduce the size of an element without losing its quality. This format, like AAC, was developed at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany. MP3 has the ability to compress using a lower or higher bit rate, which will affect the sound quality.

Its main characteristics are:

Supports frequencies from 16 to 48 kHz
Allows compression of the audio object with a ratio of 11: 1
With the MP3 format, music is divided 44,100 times per second and each of these parts is 16 bits.
MP3 can contain tags with information about the included file
With these concepts in mind, we will see that AAC and MP3 behave in certain situations.

Audio file size

Both formats perform the function of reducing the size of the original file while maintaining sound quality. At this point AAC reduces the file size more than MP3, for example a 20MB MP3 file will weigh 16MB in AAC format.

compatibility

As we already mentioned, the ACC is being implemented by Apple for its devices, and therefore there is no doubt that the most compatible format is MP3, since since the 90s it has accompanied us on various devices such as cell phones, audio systems, televisions. , team. calculations, etc.

Sound quality

In this regard, AAC surpasses Mp3 for technical reasons such as a higher audio frequency, a higher level of audio compression to eliminate elements that affect its quality, better encoding, among other things.

Next, we will see the relationship between these two audio files:

The death of the MP3 has been mentioned in some places, but this is not really the case where the licenses of this format have stopped being active, so the MP3 will continue to be active in many of the songs we listen to, and there is no doubt that that ACC will gradually gain strength until it surpasses it. MP3 medium term, but for now, AAC users can enjoy and appreciate AAC.

Let’s continue enjoying our favorite songs and remember that the purpose of these files is to offer quality sound in a small storage space.