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General discussion

Still Unclear about CBR vs. VBR

by PsychoCerberus Jun 24, 2010 7:07AM PDT

I've been reading all over, the differences between CBR (constant bit rate) and VBR (variable bit rate) regarding mp3 encoding. I'm fairly certain I understand each individually. I'm clear on how each works and the advantages and disadvantages of each. I have been reading that VBR is the way to go when it comes to quality. What I'm unclear about is the differences between bit rates. I mean when is VBR better quality? I see VBR Mp3 files labeled anywhere between 192-224 VBR all the time. Those seem to be the most common. Wouldn't encoding 320 CBR always produce better quality sound than the same song encoded in VBR? I've read VBR sometimes doesn't always decide what bit rate is the best for any given segment. And VBR can occasionally produce artifacts.

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3 Posts
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CBR 320 is better quality, but a bigger file.
by Ed Mead Forum moderator Jun 24, 2010 11:47AM PDT

It depends on how you set VBR bitrate, 128-320, 192-224, 192-320, etc. If you set bitrate at 192-224 and the music quality your ripping might go as high as 320, you loose a little something. If you set VBR at 192-320, then overall quality stays and the file size is smaller then CBR 320. With hard drives as big as they are now and broadband internet as fast as it is now, size probably isn't a factor to many anymore. I myself don't mind the bigger file size of CBR along with better quality. Just my way of thinking.

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That is what i was Thinking
by PsychoCerberus Jun 25, 2010 1:28AM PDT

Size definitely isn't an issue for me. However, nowhere have I found a post from someone that shares our opinion. It certainly makes sense that 320 CBR would be better quality than VBR, but I would like to hear from some more people who are knowledgeable on the subject. Secondly, I use a program called "FreeRIP" to rip music. If I choose to rip VBR MP3's, the quality of those files seem they might be on a scale of some sort. In the options it doesn't allow me to select minimum and maximum bit rates. Instead it has a quality option, where the default quality is set to 5, whatever that is. It seems the only way to figure out that setting is to rip a bunch of tracks and slowly increase the quality setting by 1 each time. After doing that I would probably discover the highest quality setting and the bit rate range it uses. That is a lot of work if I should just be using 320 CBR in the first place for the best quality files. Some more feedback from the audiophiles out there would be greatly appreciated.

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Most audiophiles won't use lossy formats,
by Ed Mead Forum moderator Jun 25, 2010 10:30PM PDT
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