Constant Bitrate (CBR) vs Variable Bitrate (VBR)

timxyz

Hello,

I just purchased the WavePad Master's Edition and consider it money VERY WELL spent... a truly great program!

My question comes from reading WavePad's Help File on the section of MP3 Settings: Constant Bitrate Encoding (CBR) vs. Variable Bitrate Encoding (VBR).

I get that VBR is considered to produce higher quality MP3 files, and may even prove more fun to play around with... but my question is one of compatibility: are MP3 files of variable bitrates very common? Most of the files that I am editing in WavePad end up on a Creative Zen MP3 player-- and all of them have worked just fine-- but I have always just used the 'default' settings of CBR with 'High Quality', instead of venturing into the VBR territory.

Q: Are MP3s that I may create/edit in WavePad of variable bitrates common and generally compatible across the broad and ever-increasing spectrum of MP3 players out there in the world? Or is sticking with CBR safer in that regard?

Thanks!

Tim

musikone

timxyz wrote:

Hello,

I just purchased the WavePad Master's Edition and consider it money VERY WELL spent... a truly great program!

My question comes from reading WavePad's Help File on the section of MP3 Settings: Constant Bitrate Encoding (CBR) vs. Variable Bitrate Encoding (VBR).

I get that VBR is considered to produce higher quality MP3 files, and may even prove more fun to play around with...

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Sorry, but you get wrong :-)

What VBR does is produce a similar (although not identical) "quality" to that which is obtainable using a CBR, but with the advantage that this done with a smaller file size. In other words, to get a sound which is virtually indistinguishable from the sound produced using a CBR, you can use VBR and get it with a smaller file size.

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but my question is one of compatibility: are MP3 files of variable bitrates very common?

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no

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Most of the files that I am editing in WavePad end up on a Creative Zen MP3 player-- and all of them have worked just fine-- but I have always just used the 'default' settings of CBR with 'High Quality', instead of venturing into the VBR territory.

Q: Are MP3s that I may create/edit in WavePad of variable bitrates common and generally compatible across the broad and ever-increasing spectrum of MP3 players out there in the world?

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As far as I know, the answer is YES.

I use VBR regularly and am very happy with the results. I think that you will be also, and do not expect that you will have any compatibility problem.

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Or is sticking with CBR safer in that regard?

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I don't think so.

Musikone

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Thanks!

Tim

timxyz

musikone wrote:

I use VBR regularly and am very happy with the results. I think that you will be also, and do not expect that you will have any compatibility problem.

Thanks! As a new user of WavePad, I have browsed around this forum quite a bit and have seen that you always give well-reasoned responses from a clearly experienced point of view-- so your "I use VBR" vote makes me feel much more comfortable about making a switch to actually using VBR full-time. I appreciate it!

Q: Any other endorsements out there from forum users in terms of actual, normal usage?

CBR or VBR ?

Tim

[deleted]

I prefer VBR. During the complex sections of your audio you will get a higher bitrate, but during the quiet, simply sections where you don't need as much information the bitrate can be reduced to decrease the overall size of the file.

Priscilla

nchto wrote:

I prefer VBR. During the complex sections of your audio you will get a higher bitrate, but during the quiet, simply sections where you don't need as much information the bitrate can be reduced to decrease the overall size of the file.

Could you please tell me where to access the menu for bitrate settings?

Thanks!

Priscilla

[deleted]

Priscilla wrote:

Could you please tell me where to access the menu for bitrate settings?

Thanks!

Priscilla

You can find the option to save as a VBR mp3 by clicking File -> Save as, choosing mp3 and when you click ok to save you will be able to choose CBR or VBR.

m3w

If you're not concerned with the size of your mp3 files I would stick with constant bitrate 256k. Great quality and you don't have to rely on the encoder to decide which bits of the song need more detail and which don't.

musikone

m3w wrote:

If you're not concerned with the size of your mp3 files I would stick with constant bitrate 256k. Great quality and you don't have to rely on the encoder to decide which bits of the song need more detail and which don't.

Using the above-stated logic, I would suggest that you stick with an uncompressed .wav file, rather than using any mp3 compression. By doing so, you will get great quality and you don't have to rely on the encoder to decide which bits of the song need more detail and which don't.

That's what this nasty mp3 compression does to you, _whether it is done at a constant bit rate or at a variable bit rate_.

Musikone