Question on Music & Play:

Which is better: WMA or MP3? I'm looking for the best, or better, sound quality and which takes up less file size. My portable MP3 player can play both formats.

Submitted by Reader, via email

Answer:

Between both codecs, WMA will be superior to MP3 at low bitrates such as 64kbps. The difference between the two is marginal if a higher bitrate is used during the encoding process.

If you're thinking of smaller file sizes, encoding to the WMA format at low bitrates would be the best option.

For better sound quality, the advantage of WMA over MP3 is diminished as they would sound identical at anything above 128kbps. Unless you have a very limited storage space on your device, I would pick the MP3 format for better compatibility among devices and software.

gsr5867

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gsr5867 says...
Well said, Kelvin.

Nov 09, 2009 23:14