I have a lot of FLAC, APE, OGG and other very high quality classical music on my drives. Right now, I don't have speakers but I am using good headphones and I can't hear the difference between lossless and MP3 music and these files are taking a lot of unnecessary disk space.

I am looking for the best free software that will do the best job to convert these files to mp3.

I also wanted to know what highest quality format mp3 I should convert to, that would take advantage of 1000 to 1500 baht speakers, 192, 256, 320 and do I go with CBR or VBR?

I do have all my music files properly backed up so I could always return the lossless files if I got high end speakers.

Thanks for any advice.

dBpoweramp Music Converter - not free but worth it.

Variable bit rate (VBR) encoding gives the best quality. For more information about encoding MP3s, visit Hydrogenaudio -- the best audio forum on the web.

Edited February 4, 201016 yr by Supernova

dBpoweramp Music Converter - not free but worth it.

Variable bit rate (VBR) encoding gives the best quality. For more information about encoding MP3s, visit Hydrogenaudio -- the best audio forum on the web.

I know people,who can hear diff between VBR and 320CBR and they say - 320CBR is better;VBR save space.

So,they listen to 320CBR on their mobile music devices.

I do not hear that diff however.But I dont claim to have golden ears.I would call my ears - silver - to match my hair!

I know people,who can hear diff between VBR and 320CBR and they say - 320CBR is better;VBR save space.

So,they listen to 320CBR on their mobile music devices.

I do not hear that diff however.But I dont claim to have golden ears.I would call my ears - silver - to match my hair!

I don't have 'golden ears' either, but there's a difference. Given a choice between 320 CBR or VBR, I'd go for VBR without a doubt. I don't know how else to explain it. I've also done side-by-side comparisons, VBR definitely sounds better (to me). But then again, audio perception will vary from person to person.

Thanks for the information.

I just downloaded this free software called Switch Audio Converter. Has anyone heard or used it? Is it a reliable encoder.

It has encoder options which includes of course VBR.

The VBR has a minimum bitrate and a maximum bitrate.

A quality setting where "0" is the highest.

It doesn't use pre-set VBR settings, so can someone suggest what min/max setting I should use to get "alt-preset extreme (~250 kbit/s, typical 220 ... 270)". For best quality, should I use Joint or Stereo in the channel mode setting?

I have experimented with different min/max with "0" highest quality and with my headsets, I can barely hear a minor difference ( possibly imaged) in the music at the same places.

Again, thanks in advance for any suggestions.

It's been more than a year since I tried, but I had some APE files that I desperately wanted to convert and was never able to. I had wasted so much time trying that I avoid the format. Let us know if you succeed at it.

It's been more than a year since I tried, but I had some APE files that I desperately wanted to convert and was never able to. I had wasted so much time trying that I avoid the format. Let us know if you succeed at it.

Using the software previously listed, I was able to convert ape files to mp3.

Perhaps someone can clarify VBR for me.

Using "Switch Audio Converter" I used a flac file size 41,172 KB and converted to VBR using min/max bit rate of,

032 320 I got 10,466 KB final bit rate 152

128 320 I got 10,909 KB final bit rate 154

160 320 I got 11,798 KB final bit rate 171

192 320 I got 13,330 KB final bit rate 194

224 320 I got 15,383 KB final bit rate 224

Before I guess why the 192 and 224 is using 30+% more space, I was hoping someone might be able to explain it to me.

Edited February 5, 201016 yr by vagabond48

Just use the LAME V0 preset. This will give you optimum quality for lossy. 320 CBR is a waste of disk space. Make sure you have the latest stable version of the encoder from here. There are many free front-ends you can use for the encoder. I would recommend MediaMonkey. dBpoweramp is also excellent as someone already mentioned, but not free. The front-end isn't important anyway, it's the encoder that matters. Make sure it's LAME.

Edited February 5, 201016 yr by MKAsok

Perhaps someone can clarify VBR for me.

Using "Switch Audio Converter" I used a flac file size 41,172 KB and converted to VBR using min/max bit rate of,

032 320 I got 10,466 KB final bit rate 152

128 320 I got 10,909 KB final bit rate 154

160 320 I got 11,798 KB final bit rate 171

192 320 I got 13,330 KB final bit rate 194

224 320 I got 15,383 KB final bit rate 224

Before I guess why the 192 and 224 is using 30+% more space, I was hoping someone might be able to explain it to me.

Because you have more data, you have a wider range of frequencies, the lower bit rate you go the more frequencies you get rid of, therefore a smaller file size.

Just use the LAME V0 preset. This will give you optimum quality for lossy. 320 CBR is a waste of disk space. Make sure you have the latest stable version of the encoder from here. There are many free front-ends you can use for the encoder. I would recommend MediaMonkey. dBpoweramp is also excellent as someone already mentioned, but not free. The front-end isn't important anyway, it's the encoder that matters. Make sure it's LAME.

Spot on.

Perhaps someone can clarify VBR for me.

Using "Switch Audio Converter" I used a flac file size 41,172 KB and converted to VBR using min/max bit rate of,

032 320 I got 10,466 KB final bit rate 152

128 320 I got 10,909 KB final bit rate 154

160 320 I got 11,798 KB final bit rate 171

192 320 I got 13,330 KB final bit rate 194

224 320 I got 15,383 KB final bit rate 224

Before I guess why the 192 and 224 is using 30+% more space, I was hoping someone might be able to explain it to me.

Because you have more data, you have a wider range of frequencies, the lower bit rate you go the more frequencies you get rid of, therefore a smaller file size.

I guess I don't understand how VBR works.

My wild guess why the file with a min/max of 32/320 was smaller than 192/320 was that many frame sizes could use a lower bit rate while at 192/320 the same frame size would be forced to use the minimum 192 bit rate which made the file larger. I thought that was the reason why one shouldn't use 320 CBR because all frames would use the constant 320 bit rate whether it needed it or not but I guess I am wrong because using either preset extreme VBR 256 or VBR V0 245 gives you a much larger file.

Just use the LAME V0 preset. This will give you optimum quality for lossy. 320 CBR is a waste of disk space. Make sure you have the latest stable version of the encoder from here. There are many free front-ends you can use for the encoder. I would recommend MediaMonkey.Make sure it's LAME.

I am currently using the free version of MediaMonkey 3.2.0.1294 . I uninstalled and re-installed it to access the 30 day free audio conversion option. Does MM already come with the Lame encoder or do I have to install it?

Just use the LAME V0 preset. This will give you optimum quality for lossy. 320 CBR is a waste of disk space. Make sure you have the latest stable version of the encoder from here. There are many free front-ends you can use for the encoder. I would recommend MediaMonkey.Make sure it's LAME.

I am currently using the free version of MediaMonkey 3.2.0.1294 . I uninstalled and re-installed it to access the 30 day free audio conversion option. Does MM already come with the Lame encoder or do I have to install it?

Ignore the above message.

I just did some research and found that it does

Edited February 5, 201016 yr by vagabond48