The M4A Format Part 2
M4A vs. MP3
Some people say that M4A, as a format for storing audio, can be considered the successor to MP3 format. However, compared to MP3, the advantage of M4A format is that it can compress the smaller file while keeping the same bit rate. The main stereo bitrate parameters of M4A files are 128 Kbps, 192 Kbps, and 256 Kbps (Note: Bitrate refers to the amount of data that can be transmitted in a specific time. Usually, your drive is Kbit/s or Mbps, i.e. the amount of data that can be transmitted per second kilobits and how many megabytes of files can be transferred per second (regardless of the unit used, the higher the number, the higher the speed and quality If you know more about encoding music, you should know that M4A audio files in 192Kbps parameters can get the highest quality music with the least memory consumption, for more details please read below .
Quality – The audio quality of ALAC compressed M4A files is very high as both original sound waves are lossless. AAC compressed M4A files have lossy compression. By comparison, M4A performs better than MP3 at the same bitrate, especially below 128Kbps.
File Size – File size and quality are directly related to bitrate. As bit rates increase, so do audio quality and file sizes. For example, to get the same quality audio file, MP3 needs to be encoded at 192 Kbps, while M4A only needs 128 Kbps. From this point of view, M4A files take up less space.
Compatibility: The MP3 format certainly ranks first in the audio market for compatibility, almost all software and hardware can play MP3 files. However, M4A is relatively limited and can only be used on Apple brand computers, iPods, iTunes and other software/hardware.
