Can't Undo Ogg Vorbis Encoding

[captaincruncher]

Does Encoding mp3 or wave files to like the 64kps Ogg Vorbis permanently ruin the file??

how can i restore the original file.

It seems permanent. is this true?

Thanks.

[Wayne]

Re: Can't Undo Ogg Vorbis Encoding

ogg vorbis,like mp3, is a lossy format. By that I mean that the compression process removes sections of the audio file that it deems unnecessary without supposedly any noticable effect.

Unfortunately this does mean that you can not restore your original wav or mp3 files if they consisted of better audio quality.

Read Spoon's Audio guide on dBpowerAMP's product page or search Wikipedia for details of the various formats and audio compression techniques.

[xoas]

Re: Can't Undo Ogg Vorbis Encoding

Does Encoding mp3 or wave files to like the 64kps Ogg Vorbis permanently ruin the file??

Let me add a little bit to what Wayne has said:
I believe by default that if you start out with a file, say xyc.wav and convert it to ogg vorbis, you will end up with a new file (xyc.ogg) and your old file (xyc.wav). The old file is often called your source file. As long as you hold on to the source file, it will be available for further conversions. This original source file will maintain all of it's quality as long as you keep it.
There is an option (a dsp option with dMC r12+, a Power Pack option with dMC r11.5 or earlier), to automatically delete source files after conversion. While this is sometimes a powerful and useful tool, generally use of this option should be discouraged until you are convinced the conversion as worked out to your satisfaction.
Once you delete the original source file, then your converted source file becomes your new source file. You can never make a copy of that source file that is better than the source. This means that if you convert file xyc.wav to a new file xyc.ogg at a bitrate of 64 kbs, you cannot make a better copy of xyc.ogg using that file. You can convert it to .wav but that new wav file will be the same quality as xyc.ogg, it will not be similar in quality to the original xyc.wav file (although it will be at least roughly the same size as the original xyc.wav file).
The exception to this is when you use a lossless codec (such as Monkeys or FLAC) to encode your original file. If you start with file xyc.wav and convert it to xyc.flac, the flac file will retain all off the qualities of xyc.wav and it will be a little smaller than te wave file also. You can convert the lossless file later and it will be the same as converting from the original .wav file.
While you can use a lossless codec to make a copy of a file in a lossy format, this will result in a perfect copy of the lossy file, but it will not restore the audio quality that was lost in the creation of the lossy file. So if you convert from xyc.ogg (converted at 64 kbs) to xyv.flac, the new file will have the same quality as xyc.ogg (not the same quality as the original source file, xyc.wav). Because the flac file will be much larger than the lossy .ogg file, it almopst never makes sense to copy a lossy file to a lossless codec. (This is the reasoning behind my rule that a lossy file is always its own best copy).
Finally, let's imagine that you copy xyc.wav to xyc.ogg at 64 kbs and that you then want to make a conversion to .mp3 at 192 kbs. If you convert from xyc.ogg (64 kbs) to xyc.mp3 (at 192 kbs) the result will be somewhat lower in quality than the xyc.ogg file (which is, after all a lossy copy of the original .wav file). If you convert directly from xyc.wav to mp3 at 192 kbs, you will get a file that better reflects the quality of the .wav file. So when you have the option you are always better off re-ripping or converting from a lossless source than converting from a lossy source.

So converting a file does not harm that file. Deleting the file after conversion leaves you with only whatever copy or copies you have made. If these are lossy copies, you cannot regain the quality of the original source.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Bill