Help - Search - Members - Calendar
Full Version: mp3 popular for audio, but not for audio streams in video ?
Hydrogenaudio Forums > Lossy Audio Compression > MP3 > MP3 - General
chrizoo
Hi, any idea why mp3s are so widespread for music (audio), but very rarely used for audio streams in videos (which much more often use AAC, etc.) ?
ZinCh
audio in video streams use lower bitrates, when other codecs sounds better then mp3

but I dont think it is true that AAC is popular format for video, may be only on web video (where it is supported by flash)
rpp3po
MP3 has not a single technical advantage over AAC. It started earlier than AAC and built up a lot of momentum before the first capable AAC encoders where even available. For many less technically literate people "MP3" still is equivalent to lossy music compression. Also hardware support is broad.

It is different for video. Codecs are installed with codec packs for ages and you usually have both MP3 and AAC support out the same box. Nothing speaks against using the better (quality/bitrate) codec here. Additionally, for 5.1 material it makes a considerable difference, wether you use AAC or MP3. Either the sound quality is quite bad or you waste large shares of bandwidth for audio that would better serve the video stream. AAC is also a standard compliant, first class citizen regarding the latest MP4 containers while MP3 isn't (although it works anyway).
chrizoo
QUOTE (rpp3po @ Oct 19 2009, 10:36) *
MP3 has not a single technical advantage over AAC. It started earlier than AAC and built up a lot of momentum before the first capable AAC encoders where even available. For many less technically literate people "MP3" still is equivalent to lossy music compression. Also hardware support is broad.

It is different for video. Codecs are installed with codec packs for ages and you usually have both MP3 and AAC support out the same box. Nothing speaks against using the better (quality/bitrate) codec here. Additionally, for 5.1 material it makes a considerable difference, wether you use AAC or MP3. Either the sound quality is quite bad or you waste large shares of bandwidth for audio that would better serve the video stream. AAC is also a standard compliant, first class citizen regarding the latest MP4 containers while MP3 isn't (although it works anyway).


excellent explanation. Thank you !!
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.
Invision Power Board © 2001-2009 Invision Power Services, Inc.