VBR

[ruthie]

I am about to ask a stupid question but I'd ask anyway. :blush:

What does VBR mean? Someone told me it stood for variable bit rate. But what does it do to the quality of your mp3 file? Say, is downloading a VBR file better than downloading a 192kbps one?

[Kenneth]

Hi Ruthie

Yup, thats what it means. VBR encoded mp3s advantage is its smaller file size compared to a CBR (constant bit rate) counterpart. So a 192kbps VBR would have a smaller file size compared to a 192kbs CBR mp3. How it works is (assuming iTunes encodes it) it analyzes a song file and takes out more song info at certain parts in a song like silence, etc. However the process isn't perfect so it sometimes takes out more info than it should. However at those rates, you almost won't hear any difference (depending on your ears). So on paper, CBR mp3s have more quality than VBR.

However VBR would be a preferred format for those with limited capacity mp3 players.

A more thorough explanation can be found here.

[Edited on 10-5-2004 by Kenneth]

[ruthie]

muchos gracias for the explanation.