I hear a lot about CBR and VBR; what’s wrong with ABR?, Was “MP3 ABR WHY NOT.” (shouting won’t make anyone likelier to reply) Options

[soylentgreen]

I have read numerous forums and articles about mp3 cbr and vbr, some swear by cbr others vbr, the debate just goes on and on. I,ve tried cbr 256, vbr 256, cbr 320, cbr 192 cbr etc and I cant hear any difference. My question is why bother with cbr or vbr, why dont people just go with MP3 ABR, would this not be the ideal compromise, or I am missing something, as there does seem to be lack of mp3 abr on offer as downloads from the likes of Napster etc.

[Canar]

ABR is for the case where you want to optimize for quality but have somewhat flexible bandwidth constraints. VBR is intended to provide constant quality. CBR is intended to provide constant bitrate. ABR is intended to keep close to some bitrate but squeeze as much quality as you can from that bitrate. You could look at it, as pdq says, as the worst of both worlds, but you could also look at it as the best of both worlds. You keep a nominal bitrate, like with CBR, but you maximize quality by allowing variations in the bitrate, like VBR.