
Audio (audio) compression comparison [mp3, wma, ogg, atrac]

MP3-typed audio, etc., for storing music that was recorded on cassette tapes, music borrowed from CD rental shops or purchased music CDs, or for easy enjoyment with a portable player or car.

More and more people are recording with compression technology. However, there are many standards such as WMA recommended by Microsoft as well as MP3 when it comes to audio compression. Also, since the sound quality and compression rate of each standard change depending on the bit rate setting and the like, there is a wide variety of compression methods depending on the combination of the standard and the setting.
So, I wanted to check what the sound quality and file size would be when recording with which standard and with which settings, and select the standard that suits my purpose, so I took this survey. However, due to the investigation of the ideas of fans, the software and equipment used were covered by those that are freely obtainable in hand or on the net, so the result may be different from the original performance. , but it is only one. Take it as an example.
Since this test focuses on sound quality, it does not test at a low bit rate, which deteriorates sound quality.
Finally, in conducting this survey, I referenced many documents on the Internet. We would like to express our gratitude to each person (individual/corporation) for facilitating us to review materials that have been researched and created with considerable effort from their respective points of view. The sites I mainly referred to will be featured at the bottom of this page, so I recommend that those who are viewing this also take a look.
[Survey outline]
1. 1. Destination standards
As mentioned above, there are many audio compression standards, but here we have limited them to MP3, WMA, OGG, and ATRAC. The standards and reasons for the survey are shown below.
・MP3 ( Moving Picture Experts Group 1 Audio Layer – 3 )
I chose it because it is probably the best known and most popular standard and there are many compatible players for the same reason.
・WMA ( Windows Media Audio ) _ _
It is widely known alongside MP3. Recently, it has become compatible with car audio and DVD players. Also, according to a theory, the same bitrate is rumored to have higher sound quality and compression than MP3, so I chose it.
・OGG (Ogg Vorbis)
It may not be familiar to you yet, but although MP3 requires a license, the number of compatible players is gradually increasing due to the fact that it is unlicensed but offers high sound quality and high compression. Since it is (apparently) high-performance and license-free, it is easy to develop encoders and playback software, so we chose it with the expectation that it will spread in the future.
・ATRAC ( Advanced TR Transform Acoustic Coding ) _ _
This name may not be familiar to you, but you can understand the standard adopted by MD. Many people think that MD has the same high sound quality as CD, and since it is widely used as a storage medium for music, it was used as a reference for comparison.
・ Reason for not targeting other standards
There are many compression standards in addition to the above, but there are few compatible software and players, and considering the interaction with others (although I cannot say publicly), I judged that the comparison with the three types above is adequate. In addition, there is a standard called OpenMG (ATRAC3) recommended by SONY, etc., and there is no need to adopt other than SONY in mobile players, etc., but there are still few (limited) supported players, and recording is done. except for VAIO users, since it is difficult to do so, it was excluded from the target.
2. 2. Survey method
The three types of sounds selected for the survey were converted to various bit rates of each standard, visually compared to the original sounds, and listened to and evaluated. Also, I heard rumors that although the standard is the same, there are differences depending on the conversion software, so I used various types of software (encoder). the detail is just below.


















