MP3 and FLAC audio formats Part 6

At the conclusion of this article, I cannot ignore one of the most popular questions from locals: which is better, FLAC or MP3?

The questioner generally wants to get a simple, unequivocal, and fair answer in all cases. However, there is no such thing and it cannot be. Below, I will give my opinion on when and why each of the discussed formats should be used.

In terms of sound quality, experience shows that with a competent approach to the MP3 compression process, the difference between MP3 and non-hearing loss formats is very small in the vast majority of situations. Only well-trained people can reliably record differences when listening to proper music on high-end equipment. Yes, there are specially selected test samples where the lossy compression artifacts are clearly visible to everyone, but ask yourself a question: are you planning to listen to these samples or is it just ordinary music? Overall, the bottom line is clear: MP3 is more than adequate as a music storage format for high-quality playback. But I will repeat once more: this thesis is true only if the audio files are prepared correctly. Unfortunately, the web is full of MP3s,

To form your own unbiased opinion on the topic under discussion, I strongly recommend that the reader personally try different formats in blind tests. This is not only educational, but also quite an exciting activity.

Now let’s see the advantages of using FLAC or other lossless formats.

Unlike the situation with MP3, where the quality of the output is highly dependent on the encoder ratings, in principle it is impossible to spoil the sound with compression in FLAC. Therefore, the question of how and how the material was coded loses its relevance (with the exception of the clinical cases of FLAC production by loss described above, but this is easily verified). When listening to lossless music, you can be sure that imperfections in the sound, if any, are not the result of someone’s crooked hands at the compression stage, but rather a property of the original phonogram that you have to accept with.
The same confidence that the registry is stored “as is”, without irreversible loss, provides some people with psychological comfort. In an area as subtle as audio, this factor can be quite significant.
The lossless material is ideal for a variety of processes: it can be compressed into any other format, edited, cut into samples without fear of getting “canned meat” at the output. For those who are serious about sound, this is important.
Isn’t all of the above about you? Then there is no point in bothering with lossless formats, feel free to use MP3 or other lossy formats.

Personally, at home, I save and listen to music mainly in FLAC, and I make MP3 myself if necessary, for example to use on portable devices.

MP3 and FLAC audio formats Part 5

FLAC encoding and decoding

Let’s consider file compression with the FLAC encoder, which can be downloaded here. For it to work, we need the flac.exe file. If you run it without parameters, you will get a short help on using the encoder. For detailed help, type flac –help (the information will be displayed) or flac –help> usage.txt (the information will be displayed in the uses.txt file).

WAV to FLAC encoding with default compression ratio (5):

flac infile.wav

WAV to FLAC encoding with specified compression ratio:

flac -n infile.wav where n is a number from 0 (minimum compression) to 8 (maximum compression).

FLAC to WAV decoding:

flac -d infile.flac

To ensure that FLAC compresses the data without loss, you can use any software that can compare files bit by bit, for example the built-in Windows utility fc. For the experiment, select any WAV file and perform the following transformations on it: original.wav (original file)> compressed.flac (encode file to FLAC)> decompressed.wav (decode FLAC back to WAV). Next, compare original.wav and decompressed.wav using fc in binary comparison mode:

fc / b original.wav decompressed.wav

After the verification is complete, the utility will display the message “No differences found between files”, indicating your full identity. This means that when converting to FLAC and vice versa, not a single bit was lost, which needed testing. If you do the same experiment with MP3, the result will be completely different, there will be a lot of differences between the files.

MP3 and FLAC audio formats Part 4

Does the encoder setting affect the sound quality when compressing in FLAC? What compression ratio should I choose?

The FLAC encoder settings do not affect the sound quality at all. Only the size of the resulting files and the time spent on compression can depend on them, and even that is negligible. So most of the time I don’t bother and code in FLAC with the default settings, which I advise you to do as well. In rare cases, when you need to get files of the minimum size and have to save every byte, it makes sense to increase the compression ratio to the maximum value.

Does the cable box affect the sound quality when listening to FLAC material? What is the best way to play FLAC on your PC?

In the case of FLAC and other lossless formats, the decoder does not affect the sound quality, the original audio data is restored with bit precision during playback. Therefore, to listen to FLAC, you can use any player that supports this format and you personally like it. However, I will once again recommend foobar2000 as a time-tested all-in-one solution for playing music on Windows.

MP3 encoding and decoding with LAME
As mentioned above, in the case of MP3, the sound quality of the resulting files is directly dependent on the choice of the encoder and its settings during compression. To date, the LAME encoder provides the best results for this format. The original project site seems a bit confusing, so I’ll immediately give a link to the files. From the archive, we need the lame.exe file. We open the command line.

For a quick reference on using LAME, type lame –help (the information will be displayed) or lame –help> usage.txt (the information will be displayed in the uses.txt file). For detailed help, replace –help with –longhelp.

Let’s get straight to the compression functionality. Should bit rate and other compression settings be specified separately? No, this is completely optional, the developers did most of the work for us, making it as easy as possible to use the encoder. LAME has a set of presets (presets) that allow the user to obtain excellent results with a minimum of technical knowledge. Almost all presets use VBR (Variable Bit Rate) mode, which provides an optimal balance between sound quality and file size. The command invokes help for the lame presets –preset help. Let’s consider the most relevant presets.

The preset standard. Description of built-in help:

This preset should be “transparent” to most people in most music, with a fairly high quality.

The average bit rate when using the standard is 170-210 kbps, the HF cutoff starts at about 18.7 kHz. I recommend using this preset as the default mode, it is the most balanced in terms of combination of features.

Encode WAV to MP3 with this preset:

lame –preset standard infile.wav outfile.mp3, where infile.wav is the name of the source WAV file, outfile.mp3 is the name of the resulting MP3 file (the latter can be omitted).

Extreme preset. Description of built-in help:

If you have extremely good hearing and the same equipment, this preset will give you slightly higher-than-standard quality.

The average bit rate when extreme is used is 220-260 kbps, the high pass filter is not used. I recommend using this preset when you want to get MP3 with very high sound quality. When listening to music on an average computer, this preset, compared to the standard, generally does nothing more than increase the file size.

Encode WAV to MP3 with this preset:

lame –preset extreme infile.wav outfile.mp3

MP3 and FLAC audio formats Part 3

Is it possible to compress material from loss to loss, eg MP3 with lower bit rate to MP3 with higher bit rate?

If you want to get an improvement in the quality of such a clamp, then no, you do not need to do this: the sound will not only not improve, but will even slightly deteriorate. If your goal is to reduce file size and sound quality is not very critical, then compressing from a higher bit rate to a lower one is quite justified.

Which lossless format is the best in terms of sound quality: FLAC, Monkey’s Audio, WavPack?

As mentioned above, lossless formats compress data losslessly. This means that, in terms of sound quality, they are all absolutely identical. You should choose a lossless format to use in each specific case, focusing solely on its compatibility with the software / equipment and your personal preferences.

Does the choice of encoder and its settings affect the sound quality when compressing material to MP3?

It affects significantly. About which encoder and with what settings provides the optimal result, I will tell you below.

Does the cable box affect the sound quality when listening to MP3 material? What is the best way to play MP3 on PC?

The MP3 decoder can affect the sound quality. Some decoders (especially older ones) noticeably distort the sound when playing MP3, which can create a false impression of the inferiority of this format as such. To play music on a PC, you must use proven playback programs, preferably the latest versions. I use foobar2000, which I recommend to everyone; it has no problem with the quality of playback of MP3 and other supported formats.

Does the encoder setting affect the sound quality when compressing in FLAC? What compression ratio should I choose?

The FLAC encoder settings do not affect the sound quality at all. Only the size of the resulting files and the time spent on compression can depend on them, and even that is negligible. So most of the time I don’t bother and code in FLAC with the default settings, which I advise you to do as well. In rare cases, when you need to get files of the minimum size and have to save every byte, it makes sense to increase the compression ratio to the maximum value.

Does the cable box affect the sound quality when listening to FLAC material? What is the best way to play FLAC on your PC?

In the case of FLAC and other lossless formats, the decoder does not affect the sound quality, the original audio data is restored with bit precision during playback. Therefore, to listen to FLAC, you can use any player that supports this format and you personally like it. However, I will once again recommend foobar2000 as a time-tested all-in-one solution for playing music on Windows.