In this way, it is possible to combine the useful with the pleasant: greater amount of information (when it is needed) and smaller file size. Their big difference is that, unlike CBR MP3s, not every second is compressed in the same way. VBR stands for “variable bit rate”, or “variable bit rate”. It is this demand that MP3 VBR files meet. Some seconds may contain more information than others, in which case it is better to compress the seconds more with less information and less those with more information.
It turns out that in some cases, it doesn't make sense to compress every second of the music in the same way. Therefore, it is common to see these files labeled "MP3 CBR 320" or "128 CBR MP3". They contain much less information per second (resulting from much more compression), but they also take up much less space.Īs in all these types of files the bit rate is constant (since each second contains 320 kilobits, regardless of what is in that second), these files are called MP3 files with constant bit rate, or “constant bit rate” in English. Therefore, it is common to find MP3 files with rates of 256 kbps, 192 kbps, 128 kbps or even less.
320 KBPS MP3 VS FLAC 320 KBPS
MP3 files at 320 kbps are like high-quality JPEG images: they have compression, but so little are practically the same as uncompressed images.īut as they contain more information per second, they also take up more space. This means that every second of music in this file has 320 bits of information.
MP3 files with the best possible quality have a rate of 320 kbps, or 320 kilobits per second. It is the bit rate that is normally associated with the “quality” of an MP3 file. But the exact amount of information per second - or bit rate - varies with MP3 files. The fact is that every second of MP3 music contains less information than every second of that same WAV song. For the average human ear, it doesn't make much difference for yours, you can do it. When a file is converted to this format, some of the sounds that are considered less audible to the average human ears are discarded, as well as other sounds that are very close to each other and therefore can hardly be discerned.
320 KBPS MP3 VS FLAC PORTABLE
For this reason, it is a very good format for use in portable music players or cell phones: it offers very good reproduction quality for a relatively small file size.īut make no mistake: MP3, as mentioned above, can achieve this smaller size through compression that generates loss of quality. And it's no wonder: it can be 75% to 95% smaller than uncompressed formats (like WAV) without much noticeable loss of sound quality. Perhaps MP3 is the most popular audio format today it is certainly one of them.