OGG VORBIS vs MP3

[invisibleplanet]

Does anyone here use ogg vorbis to encode music files instead of mp3?

[MUX]

sounds like a scandinavian breakfest treat... wtf?

[invisibleplanet]

many people keep asking me why I encode music using ogg vorbis (in short: ogg) and not mp3. So I decided to put up this page to post some facts here to give you the chance to decide yourself about what's "good" and what's "bad".

Facts

- mp3 is owned by a german institute (you may have heard the name "Fraunhofer" before) who have patented the mp3 format. It is their good right to have people pay for using it, since it's their property. ogg is open source, which means, it is free. so tell me, why should I choose mp3 then? (Details see here: http://mp3licensing.com/royalty/index.html)

- an mp3 file encoded below ~160kb per second does NOT sound like the original cd. So, as an absolute minimum, you have to encode mp3 @ 128kbit per second to get something people call "good quality".

- encoding ogg at about 96kbit per second already has an even better quality than mp3 at 128kbit per second. just try yourself, if you don't believe me.

- a 74 minute cd encoded in ogg is about 45MB, where as mp3 is somwhere around 70 to 90MB, or, if you encode at high quality bitrates, somewhere around 110MB.

- now tell me: why should I encode using mp3 if the filesize is double than ogg at same sound quality? WHY?

- and finally, just because you don't know anything else than mp3 this doesn't mean that there are no good alternatives. think about that.



Can i play it with my favorite player?

OGG files can be played easily with winamp and a special plugin, get it here: http://www.blorp.com/~peter/misc_wa.htm, same goes for sonique (I don't know the link right now). Winamp will support OGG by default when winamp3 is done.

There is also a media filter for ogg files which lets you play ogg with media player: http://www.whisset.com/

Audio editors like cool edit already support OGG by using a special filter. A big list is here: http://www.vorbis.com/software.psp



What do I need to encode files in ogg vorbis format?

Encoding is very very easy.

- First, you have to get the music from your cd to your harddrive. I recommend http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/ for this. It has built-in freedb support, so in most cases you don't even need to insert the titles yourself.

- Second, get the latest Oggdrop encoder here: http://ogg.benjamin-lebsanft.de/Download.htm (Left column below "Aktuell"). Select your WAV files (the one which appear after using audiograbber) and drag them in the oggdrop window. Here are the encoder settings: ENCODER SETTINGS

- Third, when the encoder is done, you should tag the files. That means, enter information like track title, track number and genre. A very good ogg tagger is WinVorbis: http://winvorbis.stationplaylist.com/



Here are some useful links:

Ogg vorbis developer Homepage: http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/

Ogg vorbis directshow media filter for movies: http://tobias.everwicked.com/

Ogg vorbis: mp3 contender? http://www.tnl.net/newsletter/2001/vorbis.asp

Ogg vorbis pages:
http://www.vorbis.com
Benjamin Lebsanft's OGG Page (very good!!)
http://www.inf.ufpr.br/~rja00/ogg.html (lots of ogg developer, encoding and decoding tools

[MUX]

was file size ever a problem...?
was quality every a problem...?

dont know about u but i consider myself a fulltime mp3 collector...
and when i actually encode my own stuff, it always 256 or 320 k so quality is never a prob... and file size... is a 20 pence cd price differece.. not a problem either...

why ride a donkey, when the horses do the same job better??

[c s]

it doesn't matter on cdr but it can matter on webspace, and in fact i was thinking about using ogg instead of mp3 on my site in the near future.

[wheezer]

well one critical point might be that ogg vorbis actually generates better quality sound than comparable mp3 encoding, nonetheless when I encode my mixes I still use mp3 becoz I know that everyone can play that back, while with ogg vorbis one generally gets 10-20 asking "whazzat?" ...

it's the classic chicken vs. egg dilemma really...

[sacul]

so you like ogg vorbis?








please use bladeenc

[JE:5]

There is a better one called " Egg Vorbis" but you have to shell out for it...

[Sheridan]

I think that last post by je:5 needs to be moved to the joke thread.

[invisibleplanet]

looks like soon you'll be able to go portable with your ogg files

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2121760,00.html

sacul: what is bladeenc, please?

[wheezer]

blade is just one type of mp3 encoder, like lame is. I'm not sure quite how this ties into anything as development on blade has ceased and it doesn't encode to ogg format afaik.

... unless sacul is trying to tell us not to use ogg vorbis...

[sacul]

yes, use lame, blade or gogo

[invisibleplanet]

use a 'dead' tool? *lol*

why? what are the advantages of encoding with blade, usw?

u gotta convince me first!

[sacul]

use ogg anyway.