I've just downloaded one of my long time favourite mp3. The huge file size about 13 MB really took me by surprised. What the heck?! 13 MB for one mp3 file?
It's sure big because of the sound quality is marvelous, near CD Audio quality!
Below are the common bitrates for mp3:
96kbs: The sound clearly lacks definition: as an example, hall's noises are perceived as some breath. The result is comparable to a good FM radio.
112kbs: The sound seems less present and less natural than the original. The definition is a bit less good, the voice is less clear. Attacks are less spontaneous. The spatialization is different from the original recording: the sound seems to be located more far and more lower. There is however a very noticeable improvement compared to 96kbs.
128kbs: Hall's noises are slightly less defined than the original. The violin is a bit less present and the piano attacks a bit less sharp. The voice is nearly identical to the original recording but sibilants are less pronounced. We can notice the same spatialization problem as with the 112kbs's one although there is again a good improvement compared to the 112kbs rate.
160kbs: The sound is more natural than 128kbs but the improvement is less spectacular than during the two preceding stages. The sound is different from the original, without however being possible to tell in what. I think that the difference resides more in what we feel rather than in what we hear.
192kbs: The sound is not felt as the original recording. It is however totally impossible to tell in what.
320kbs/256kbs: The sound is indiscernible from the original. It is impossible to make the difference with the original recording.
After understanding the bitrates quality stuff, I wanted to convert that 13MB file for standard listening in computers. That is 128kbs. I don't want to waste my hard drive space for only one song.
So, I found this great software, called CDex (it's FREE!).
CDex is a tool to do all sorts of things audio related. Mainly focused on ripping and converting, things like turning your home Compact Disc collection into an mp3 collection on your hard drive become extremely easy.
I try to convert the 13 MB file using 128kbs and the size had been change to 5MB. Whew, that's really save my space a lot!
But remember not to improve your sound quality from lower bitrates to higher bitrates, because whenever mp3 file has been compressed to lower bitrates, it is certain that part of the volatile sound which can not be compressed has been lost. So the result after the conversion is the same quality!
Ever try to convert mp3 before? Drop your comments to share your experiences.
You can download CDex here.
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