Depends on what you're doing, what player you have etc. If you want compression but the least loss - lossless - then FLAC or similar is the way to go, its smaller than Wave but sounds exactly the same.
Most modern day Media players handle FLAC however the FLAC files - though compressed - are still bigger than MP3 but not by all that much if you were using 320K MP3 so - if you have enough disk space - FLAC would be certainly worth considering. AAC+ is a smaller file size, it uses a different compression standard to MP3 but these files - if encoded at a high bit rate - can get pretty large too! - if anyone's bought anything from iTunes then they'll know what I mean - so here's were FLAC gets another mention, for a few extra Meg you can have your music as it originally sounded. Also note that MP3 is not capable of providing HD Audio, I know FLac can and I'm quite sure AAC/M4A can so as you can see, there's a bit more to it than file size. For most people file size isn't an issue given how cheap hard drives and other memory devices have become, $50 for a pocket 1TB drive is just too cheap for the brain to comprehend but that's the going price these days. If you're unsure of what format you should use then use MP3 with VBR encoding, this will ensure a small file size whilst leaving the best quality of audio in the file though encoding will take a little longer and you'll need to set up the VBR encoder correctly. Most good CD Ripping Software and Audio File converters have most of the VBR Encoding settings available to tweak. On 3 Feb 2014, at 2:42 pm, Joe <[email protected]> wrote: > In reading the recent posts, It seems most agree that M4A IS THE MOST SPACE > SAVING WITH STILL GOOD AUDIO. is that correct? I know there's no free lunch > and you must give up something to get something in audio, but what do you > guys think is the best. This may be a dangerous question to ask and I may get > as many different opinions as there are people on this list. 192KBPS sounds > good to me, but can I get the same quality with another file type at a > smaller foot print? Thanks. Joe. ********** Dane Trethowan Skype: grtdane12 Phone US (213) 438-9741 Phone U.K. 01245 79 0598 Phone Australia (03) 9005 8589 Mobile: +61400494862 Fax +61397437954
