Guide to Ripping & Encoding High Quality MP3s

Guys, what's the difference between the modes "new VBR" and "old VBR" on Lame encoder?
I am kinda new in ripping my CDs using VBR. Previously I ripped'em using CBR.
I use the following settings in Easy CD-DA Audio Extractor
http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8054/settings1u.jpg


Should I be using Min bitrate limit when I am ripping with VBR V0?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Thanks Moguta & LiquidAcid!

Originally Posted by Moguta

I know the Min & Max Bitrate settings are probably a bit confusing for newbies. They do NOT refer to the averaged bitrate of the overall file. To explain what it means, I have to get a bit technical, so I hope I don't lose you here:

MP3s consist of a series of audio "frames", each frame representing about 26 milliseconds of audio. Variable bitrate (VBR) works by giving these frames different sizes based on how complex the audio-data is in that section. In a constant bitrate (CBR) MP3, however, these frames are all the same size. For example, every frame in a 128Kbps CBR MP3 is about 417 bytes.

Somewhat confusingly, those minimum & maximum bitrate settings mention Kilobytes per second when they're actually limiting these 26ms frames. For example, setting a minimum bitrate of 128Kbps means the VBR encoder will use a minimum frame size of 417 bytes (the frame size used in 128Kbps CBR MP3s). Restricting the frame size like this is a problem, because an unrestricted VBR MP3 can use any frame size from 104 bytes (32Kbps equivalent) to 1,044 bytes (320Kbps equivalent). For VBR to work best, it needs access to this entire range.

Even if you need smaller files, a maximum bitrate setting is NOT the way to go. One, you'll be limiting the encoder's ability on the most complex audio passages, making audio flaws much more likely. Two, a graph of frame sizes is usually spike-shaped... meaning the larger and smaller frames are used far less often than the mid-size frames. So limiting the maximum bitrate won't even affect that many frames, and thus won't save much filespace anyway.

Setting a minimum bitrate is just wasteful, as there are many songs which won't need high bitrates to sound just like the original. I have some -V2 encoded files that are slightly less than 120Kbps, and others that are over 200Kbps. It's just VBR working as intended: encoding based on the audio complexity, with the goal of consistent quality, rather than encoding to a certain filesize.

The lesson here is to never use the minimum & maximum bitrate settings under any normal circumstances. If you want different filesizes, either change the VBR preset number, or use average bitrate (ABR) mode for more targeted sizes.

I understood.
First of all if you saw, I am using 320Kbps for the Max bitrate, which is the highest bitrate for the MP3 format. Ergo I am not "limiting" the VBR algorithm, because I chose the Max Bitrate to be 320Kbps.

The truth is that VBR is marvelous (in compare to CBR 320Kbps), because I save space for the whole album, which "additional" space was killing me in the upload (as I happen to have relatively slow upload speed).


On the other hand by using a min bitrate, I just waste some space, right?
For istance there's a frame tha needs 140 Kbps, but I've set the min bitrate on 224Kbps. Hence the VBR algorithm is going to choose 224Kbps for that particular frame, and subsequently waste some bits (224-140 = 84), right? My rational guess is that this won't affect the transparency of the mp3, right?

There's nowhere I can't reach.