Which File Format Is Best Aac Or Mp3?

[Wentworth]

I bought an Ipod Touch and I copied songs from my CDs to it via Itunes. I didn't realise it at the time but Itunes seems to have encoded the songs in AAC instead of MP3 by default. I'm told that AAC has better sound quality and takes up less space, but I'm not sure if that's just Apple Propaganda. I did some quick research and the techies seem to be talking about bit rates etc, which I don't understand. Could someone give me a layman's explanation?

[JusMe]

I think I can hear a very slight difference. I generally prefer AAC to MP3, thinking it's a bit clearer and more full sound.

Then again, it's easier to transfer MP3s to another platform, which often refuses AACs.

My iTunes library has both formats.

[RKeith]

I don't think you can tell the difference if you're not using high quality equipment and if you're not in a totally quiet environment. Just for your iPod touch, AAC is fine. But I'd suggest MP3 since this has wider  support for different audio equipment. If space is a concern in your iPod and you're just using the default white buds, stick with 128kbps mp3. If you want slightly higher quality (yet majority of the masses can't tell the audio differences anyway), in your iTunes Import Settings, choose "custom", check VBR and choose 192kbps. 

[Jimi007]

ACC! I am an audio engineer and I use 256K ACC. There is also an Apple lossless setting but the files are a bit large. But ACC won't play on my Samsung phone...

[Jimi007]

Bit rate is in essence how big of a file is used for the compression. The higher the bit rate, the better the sound. CD's are less compressed then either an ACC or MP3 file, the less compression the better the sound quality... In itunes you can change files from one format to another. See link here for how to do it. How to convert a song

[nikster]

ACC! I am an audio engineer and I use 256K ACC. There is also an Apple lossless setting but the files are a bit large. But ACC won't play on my Samsung phone...

=> There you go!

Use 256k either AAC or MP3 - AAC is a bit more advanced, MP3 is more widely supported, both formats are open and thereby future-proof.

The biggest difference between AAC and MP3 is that AAC sounds better at very low bit rates, like 64kbit - then you'll hear a big difference. But you don't want to do that anyway as HD space is cheap and there's no reason to go lower than 256K.

I trust what German computer magazine c't has tested nearly 10 years ago when mp3 was still new. They put a bunch of audiophiles and music professionals in a professional studio with $100,000+ equipment, and let them try and figure out which is the CD, and which is the mp3. A blind test. They found that at 256Kb nobody was able to tell the difference - the guesses were all over the place.

Footnote: Later on they invited a guy who claimed he could _always_ hear the difference - that turned out to be true but it was because this person had some sort of hearing problem and didn't hear like a healthy person, so the human-hearing-optimized algorithms used by mp3 didn't work on him.

[Jimi007]

ACC! I am an audio engineer and I use 256K ACC. There is also an Apple lossless setting but the files are a bit large. But ACC won't play on my Samsung phone...

=> There you go!

Use 256k either AAC or MP3 - AAC is a bit more advanced, MP3 is more widely supported, both formats are open and thereby future-proof.

The biggest difference between AAC and MP3 is that AAC sounds better at very low bit rates, like 64kbit - then you'll hear a big difference. But you don't want to do that anyway as HD space is cheap and there's no reason to go lower than 256K.

I trust what German computer magazine c't has tested nearly 10 years ago when mp3 was still new. They put a bunch of audiophiles and music professionals in a professional studio with $100,000+ equipment, and let them try and figure out which is the CD, and which is the mp3. A blind test. They found that at 256Kb nobody was able to tell the difference - the guesses were all over the place.

Footnote: Later on they invited a guy who claimed he could _always_ hear the difference - that turned out to be true but it was because this person had some sort of hearing problem and didn't hear like a healthy person, so the human-hearing-optimized algorithms used by mp3 didn't work on him.

I find the higher frequencies sound better in AAC than MP3. Also the bass seems to get boosted in MP3 files. As I mentioned in the post just prior to yours, you can change formats in itunes. You can makes an AAC into an MP3 for devices that don't support AAC, which is also know as MP4a. I had a discussion about the different types of compression with some colleagues and one guy compared the algorithms used and he said Apple loss less is indeed loss less. Of course I use AIFF when burning CDs... Some guys I know will only use AIFF or WAVE, you can always compress the files later for different devices... Once you compress the file you can't decompress it. We even discussed tape and I said tape compresses sound as well. I was a member of the AES or Audio Engineering Society in 1976, the year we decided what the sampling rate of a CD would be. I still prefer the sound of a vinyl record over a CD. I actually really prefer live acoustical music over amplified music and I'm a live sound engineer. It also has a lot to do with the acoustics of the room you are listening in!

Edited November 1, 2010 by Jimi007

[Jimi007]

By the way, I am listening through my Sony V6 Studio headphones, as it is a bit to crank up the tunes, and I can really tell the difference between the different encoding. AIFF is awesome, the rest suck by comparison. But ACC 256K stereo is acceptable... MP3 is weak, no high frequencies...

Actually I just found a song or two that are MP3's that encoded at 320 kbs per second and they have some decent high frequencies...

Edited November 13, 2010 by Jimi007