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Topic: MP3 at low bitrate encoding (up to 96kbps and VBR @ V9) (Read 936 times) previous topic - next topic
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MP3 at low bitrate encoding (up to 96kbps and VBR @ V9)

If you already know, MP3 is a great codec.

But I tested 2 versions of LAME and Blade at low and very low bitrates.

Song that I used for this test: French Fuse - Positive Fuse (a 29-second sample of it)

Here's the settings for each encoder:
Blade: BladeEnc.exe -96 input.wav
LAME 3.99.5o: lame3995o.exe -b 96k -q 0 --lowpass 44100 --resample 44k input.wav output.mp3
LAME 3.100.1 CBR: lame.exe -b 96k -q 0 --lowpass 44100 --resample 44k input.wav output.mp3
LAME 3.100.1 VBR: lame.exe -V9 -q 0 --lowpass 44100 --resample 44k input.wav output.mp3

Bitrates and qualities tested:
32, 48, 64, 80, 96 kbps and VBR V9.

Result:
At 96 kbps, LAME did a great job! Very good quality sound, a bit worse (has more artifacts) than MP3 at 128kbps but easily nailed it.
V9 is about the same, a bit better and a bit worse.
80 kbps is worse but still good enough! More artifacts than 96 kbps.
64 kbps is of decent quality, not the worst quality but it's worse than 80 kbps.
48 kbps has a lot of artifacts. It ends the decent-ish quality at 56 kbps and below.
32 kbps has WAY TOO many artifacts. Lowest quality.
Blade is worse than LAME:
At 32-48 kbps, it sounds VERY CRAP, with too many artifacts, worse than LAME.
At 64 kbps, it still sounds crap, but it's improved. Less artifacts than 32 or 48 kbps.
At 80-96 kbps, it's improved, it sounds DECENTLY enough but still has a lot of artifacts.

So:
If you want to stream in lower bitrates, go with LAME at 80 kbps.
If you hear artifacts, raise up to 96 kbps or switch to VBR @ V9.

Attached ZIP file. Please let me know with other LAME versions and users. Maybe they tell that 96 kbps still sounds poor!  :D

Re: MP3 at low bitrate encoding (up to 96kbps and VBR @ V9)

Reply #1 –
If you were choosing -V9 to test LAME's lowest VBR quality level, you should know the lowest is -V9.999.

--lowpass and --resample defaults were chosen with care; raising these values reduces quality.

LAME's sample rate filter is noisy. When judging the output of LAME at low bitrates, or with custom --resample values, consider resampling the input audio yourself with something better like SoX, so LAME doesn't have to resample at all.
 

Re: MP3 at low bitrate encoding (up to 96kbps and VBR @ V9)

Reply #2 –
Let's answer each quote separately:
Quote from: mjb2006 on
If you were choosing -V9 to test LAME's lowest VBR quality level, you should know the lowest is -V9.999.
Attached file. Nothing too different from V9. V9.999 is a little smaller and has a slightly lower quality. But the difference is so small.
V9.999 has 95.1kbps average
V9 has 97.6kbps average
Just 9KB and 2.5kbps difference.
Quote from: mjb2006 on
--lowpass and --resample defaults were chosen with care; raising these values reduces quality.
This test uses the full bandwidth, so you're enjoying the fullest and brightest sound. We don't use the default values, as it sounds dull.
But actually I've attached 96kbps with default lowpass. But I like the 22kHz one, as the default lowpass it's clocked at 15kHz:
Quote
Using polyphase lowpass filter, transition band: 15115 Hz - 15648 Hz
Quote from: mjb2006 on
LAME's sample rate filter is noisy. When judging the output of LAME at low bitrates, or with custom --resample values, consider resampling the input audio yourself with something better like SoX, so LAME doesn't have to resample at all.
I took it from the full song and exported to WAV using REAPER 7.33 and r8brain free (the highest quality method that's currently available)