Monday, July 1, 2002

the great MPEG-4 cook-off Before you head out to the patio for some holiday grilling, we've got a special treat for you here. Our own Mike DeMaria took Friday off from the normal grind to create the following set of encoded files, comparing current audio encoding formats. This really came about while Mike prepared for today's This Week at Network Computing show, where he, Sean Doherty, and I talk about Apple's new QuickTime 6 preview release, which sports a very fine MPEG-4 encoder. So grab your player and tune into these clips to compare for your yourself. Audio Encoder comparison (Compliments of Mike DeMaria) WAV MP3 MP4 OGG Topaz.wav Topaz16.mp3 Topaz16.mp4 War48.ogg War.wav Topaz128.mp3 Topaz128.mp4 War192.ogg War40.mp3 War40.mp4 War192.mp3 war192.mp4 Notes: The numbers refer to the bitrate the files were encoded at (16 for 16kbps, 128 for 128kbps). MP3 files were encoded with the iTunes encoded, MP4 files with Apple QuickTime Player. OGG files converted with "Ogg Drop" for Mac OS X. If possible, listen to these with external speakers, especially with a subwoofer. You can really hear the differences between formats in the 1812 Overture if you crank up the woofer. Posted by Network Computing at 12:32:05 AM