How do the following audio codecs compare please..

[torrenter]

LAME, Ogg Vorbis, Monkey Audio, APE, AAC (which I use in iTunes
So many audio codecs out there and their various programs, but how do these stand up to each other? Are there many differences between them, which is the most popular and what do the experts use? Thanks for any advice.

 

[N3051M]

LAME uses their own version of the lossy MP3 format (i think.. can't remember)
AAC is tonnes better than MP3, since the compression algorithm are audibly better for it
Ogg vorbis is supposed to be like MP3, but i haven't heard what they sound like yet
monkey audio and APE i haven't heard of either.

Nothing beats fully uncompressed 24bit/48k/stereo .wav or .aif files... or the original multitrack files

the higher the sample rate/lower compression the better the sound, but it does chew up your hdd like nothing..

think of it this way, if you can't hear the difference, then there is no difference to you, but if you can hear it then you can tell whats the difference.. (not trying to pull a Yoda here )

 

[LNCPapa]

ape files are lossless files - lossless is lossless - which means you should have the same quality as the original source. If you're defintely an iTunes user there is the option of Apple Lossless which would give you the same audio quality as ape files/Monkey. I prefer flac myself (also lossless) but good luck getting that to work fluidly with iTunes.

 

[hynesy]

I stick with ACC or the highest bit rate wma, as N3051M said it does eat up the HDD space, but if you have a primary and Seconary HDD set up its not much of a problem, thats the way I have gone, 2x160gb cavier western digitals.
cheers
hynesy:wave:

 

[Nodsu]

LAME, Ogg Vorbis, Monkey Audio, APE, AAC (which I use in iTunes
So many audio codecs out there and their various programs, but how do these stand up to each other? Are there many differences between them, which is the most popular and what do the experts use? Thanks for any advice.

The most popular is MP3 of course and LAME is the free encoder for that. Ogg and AAC give you better quality than MP3, but they are less supported by all kinds of gadgetry. Monkey Audio and APE are one and the same lossless codec.

Any kind of professinal/expert audio work is done losslessly, so we are talking about FLAC, WavPack or any other lossless comperrors here or just plain uncompressed stuff (WAV). Read up on lossy vs lossless audio compression

If you want your stuff to play on everything, use MP3. If you want no quality loss, use FLAC.