Digital Home Thoughts: Audio Compression Comparisons

"I've compiled a table containing the same audio sample compressed into different bit rate using several common compression techniques. Namely MP3 (canstant bit rate and VBR,) windows media audio, ogg vorbis, AAC and flac. My intention is that you can use this to work out the lowest bit rate at which the audio sounds clear to you. this will depend on the equipment you're using, and your hearing. I firmly believe that if you can't her the difference then there is no point wasting space."

I think we've all spent time deciding what format and bitrate is the best for encoding our audio. If you want to do a bunch of side by side comparisons, Nigel has put together a sample file encoded in multiple formats and bit-rates. Basically, you keep working your way up until you can't tell the difference anymore and that is the sweet spot to maximize the quality while minimizing the file size. Before you go crazy downloading all the files, please see the notes on the page regarding bandwidth and take care not to blow his site out of the water.