I've noticed that people are starting to encode in VBR. The bit rate fluctuates from 192 to 224 to 160 in song play. Whats up with that? Is the quality as good as straight 192KBit? I noticed the file size is as big or a little bigger then 192, so that can't be why.
VBR = Variable bit rate.. meaning the bitrate is variable according to the music. if there's a lot of full range dynamic music, itll have a higher bitrate, compard to something less dynamic. Its perfectly normal (heck, its EXACTLY what encoding in VBR does).
People have been using VBR for a long time. It can be set at whatever the encoder wants, for example I use peak at 192kbps and minimum at 128kbps when I use mp3 (though most of the time I'm a lossless/wav guy ). DVDs use VBR mpeg-2 btw, you don't need 6-7mbps when it fades to black. It's the most efficient way of encoding, downside is it takes longer to encode.
I encode using CDex/Lame's "-alt preset standard," which produces VBR .mp3 files. They are, on average, larger than 192 kbps files and smaller than 320 kbps, but, to my ear, they are as "transparent" as 320 kbps.
To me, 256kbit is hard to tell it is better over 192, so 192 has become my fav over the last 4 years.
To me, 256kbit is hard to tell it is better over 192, so 192 has become my fav over the last 4 years.
