MP3 vs. WMA: What One is Best for You?
June 9th, 2006 Jason Dunn
In previous posts I’ve talked about bit rate and compression as they relate to Windows Media Audio (WMA) and MP3 files, so here’s where it comes together into and becomes useful. A common misconception I run into very frequently on this subject is people who say “WMA files are half the size of MP3 files”. That’s only true if the WMA file is half the bit rate of the MP3. Confused? Here’s the breakdown.
One of the advantages that WMA, OGG, and other modern audio formats have is that they have more efficient compression models - meaning they do a better job of retaining song quality with less data. If you were to rip a song from a CD to a 64kbps WMA and a 64kbps MP3, the WMA would sound significantly better because it’s more effective at removing data from the song while still retaining what matters (is that psychoacoustic thing again). When WMA was first introduced, Microsoft made some comparisons between WMA and MP3, and declared that a 64kbps WMA sounded as good as a 128bps MP3. And since 64kbps is half the bit rate of 128kbps, guess what that means? The WMA is half the size of the MP3, and if the sound quality is the same, the you end up with the idea that WMA files are half the size of MP3s. Whether or not a 64kbps WMA sounds as good as a 128kbps MP3 is certainly debatable – it depends on the song, the headphones/speakers used, and most important of all, the ears of the person listening.
So what bit rate and file format should you rip your CDs to? The answer is a bit nebulous: it depends. It you want to take the easiest route, rip at 256kbps MP3. Why? 256kbps is a high bit rate that will retain the vast majority of the original song’s quality. MP3 is the most universal format – every player out there supports it. And this happens to be the format that I currently rip in. Not good enough for you? Ok, then you should do some experiments to figure out the best format for you. Take a CD with a song on it that you know really well, and rip it to the following formats:
64 kbps WMA
96 kbps WMA
128 kbps MP3
160 kbps WMA
256 kbps MP3
Give the song a listen with some headphones, ideally the same set you’re going to use with your audio device. Listen closely to each file, starting with the 64kbps WMA. If you hear distortions in the audio (listen for the swish of drum cymbals in particular), or if it just doesn’t sound good to you, move up to the next highest bit rate until you find one that sounds great. Listen to the one lower in bit rate to confirm that it really does sound worse to you, and the next higher bit rate to confirm that it doesn’t sound any better. And there you have it: you’ve picked your preferred bit rate! If you want to be extra thorough, take your preferred bit rate audio file, and listen to it on your PC speakers as well. Burn that track to a CD and put it in your car – listen to it everywhere to make sure the quality is high enough. If you don’t want to go through the work of ripping files, Microsoft has an audio quality comparison page where they’ve ripped the same CD track at various bit rates.