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Topic: Can files from audio CD be converted to MP3 (or WAV) w/o quality loss? (Read 3349 times) previous topic - next topic
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Can files from audio CD be converted to MP3 (or WAV) w/o quality loss?

Can wav audio files from a burned cd-r be converted to mp3 data files
(or even wav data files) without loss of audio quality?

Can files from audio CD be converted to MP3 (or WAV) w/o quality loss?

Reply #1
Again that slippery word. What does "Audio quality" mean to you?

First you must extract from the CD-R. Then, in Windows, you will have wav files. If you tell your extraction program to produce something else, such as mp3 or FLAC, it first extracts to what is essentially wav format in  work files, makes the encoding you indicated, then deletes the work files. IF you extract to wav, with no additional encoding, you have full control of what to do next.

Wav format is lossless, the "audio quality" can't be different than what was on the CD-R (if the extraction went well, which is exceedingly often the case).

Mp3 is lossy. The data is passed through filters and additionally reduced in resolution according to the perceptual encoding formulas. If no loss of quality to you means that the data is identical, no mp3 ever is. If quality means how it sounds to you, mp3 is often, depending on the settings, without any quality loss.

Both can easily be written on another CD-R as data files.

Can files from audio CD be converted to MP3 (or WAV) w/o quality loss?

Reply #2
Outstanding answer. Exactly what I needed to know.

Thank you much.