difference between abr/vbr/cbr?

[andreii_1989]

not like the technical definition, but rather which one should i pick when i convert my songs from mp3 to aac?
i've tried searching on the internet but i only found extremely technical answers that i didn't understand.
or could you at least point me in the direction of a site/forum/etc where i could be enlightened? :P
thanks in advance

[neilthecellist]

I'm going to try to give you the simplest answer possible, so forgive me if there are a few technicalities involved:

Your question regards "which one should (you) pick". Honestly, it depends on a lot of things:

Are you using a portable media player, like an iPod or Creative Zen? If so, do you have lots of space? (like gigabytes of space) If so, you may want to consider CBR, because that'll produce the best quality sound possible.

If you're on limited space, you may want to try VBR or ABR, but honestly, it doesn't matter for 99% of people who can't aurally tell the difference between an audio recording recorded in CBR versus that of ABR and VBR.

Hope this helps. If you have more concerns, feel free to continue posting.

[LtData]

From a somewhat-outdated but still mostly accurate page http://www.dbpoweramp.com/spoons-aud...de-formats.htm

Constant Bit Rate (CBR) the same bit rate is used to encode the entire file.
Variable Bit Rate (VBR), Mp3 files are made up from 100's of small audio chunks, called frames. Whilst encoding a VBR file, the encoder decides which bit rate to use for each frame. The bit rate can drop down to lower value when it is permissible (if there is not much audio going on), and switches up to a higher value when required. VBR files are not all good news though, because the bit rate is constantly changing many players have difficulty displaying correct track lengths. A standard exists where the track length is encoded into the first frame after writing, though not all encoders do this and the ID3v2 tag can mess this up,
Average Bit Rate (ABR) a little like VBR except with VBR the end file size is not known (could be small, could be big), ABR is VBR with known end file size, it works by regulating how variable the compression is, so at the end of the compressing the average is exactly the value specified.

Does this help? We can elaborate on it if you need more.

[andreii_1989]

your posts were definitely helpful and educational :D
and i really appreciate how fast you replyed, thanks alot
i think now i understand why when i play the song in winamp the time display skips alot and it doesn't read the track length properly. but i've made another thread about that.

[neilthecellist]

The time display skips because you're encoding it with an outdated VBR/ABR encoder. The new VBR aac/mp3 encoders ensure the right time is displayed on media players.

[LtData]

Also, andreii: what version of Winamp are you using?

[andreii_1989]

i'm using the latest version of winamp. it still does that.
neilthecellist: well where could i get the latest encoders for dMC?

[LtData]

Codec Central, but make sure you are using the latest version of dMC r12.2.

[neilthecellist]

i'm using the latest version of winamp. it still does that.
neilthecellist: well where could i get the latest encoders for dMC?

If you're using version 12 or above... you should be fine. I don't get any incorrect display times in Winamp, unless the mp3 is currently downloading from... somewhere.