hi guys just wondering what the better format is, between the two.

size/quality wise.

thanks

AAC is supposedly better quality at lower bitrates (64, 96, 128kbs etc) and it's usually smaller in filesize, averaging about 1mb per minute (3min50sec track = 3.5mb).

But if you've got higher quality tracks at, say, 192kbs, you'll more than likely notice no difference whatsoever.

It's personal preference though at the end of the day, I prefer AAC for it's smaller (slightly) file size.

All MP3 players support MP3, hence their name. But not all support AAC.

you might try ogg or flac format - especially flac if you want to preserve quality of sound.

If you have a choice of mp3 encoders, use the LAME encoder rather than the Blade encoder

thanks for the input, Just thinking of the best format to use on my phone, that supports both :)

On your phone, I'd go for AAC. Using a lower bit rate, say 96kbps on AAC will give you the same audio quality as a 128kbps MP3 file, but in less space. Given the sound quality of most phones, I'd go for even lower than 96kbps, cos you're not going to notice the difference IMHO.

FLAC is interesting if you are a real audiophile wanting a real lossless digital audio system at home, but for portable devices its entirely a waste of time. OGG is the answer to the problem of MP3 being propriatory and controlled by the Fraunhoffer people. They suddenly sprang licensing costs on everyone as MP3 took off and screwed a few smaller players. But, it's not supported in any mainstream hardware devices so a bit of a deadend. there are some niche players that can cope. Bit sad really.

AAC is another commercial format with much wider support. But, many players won't play it. Creative devices for example are MP3 and WMA only still (IIRC). It's a bit more of a mac/apple format.

So I just stick to MP3 because any device or software that doesn't support the defacto standard is screwed anyway. But, since this is for your phone, I guess you're safe enough with the size benefit of AAC.

OGG is quite a bit larger file size than Mp3 also.. When encoded at the same rates.

Hmm, my OGG files routinely come out at about 150kB less (3.5 mins) than an 'equivalently' encoded mp3. They sound better too. OGG is playable on many phones, including all Symbian and Windows smartphones.

Can you play flac files on a windows 2006 smartphone? I guess you will need a codec or a different player to media player

Short version is AAC gives better quality for a given filesize *however* I've personally stuck with MP3 for my entire music collection for a simple reason - *everything* plays it - my phone, my iPod, computers, car stereo, PSP everything - I don't have to fanny around with changing the data container for the device I'm using to play it and for that reason I'm sticking to MP3 :)

Can you play flac files on a windows 2006 smartphone? I guess you will need a codec or a different player to media player

yes you will. see here - http://www.losslessaudioblog.com/2006/12/16/mobile-lossless-players/

Any PC/Mac media player worth it's salt will be able to play Flac, Ape and Ogg file natively. I note that neither Itunes nor Winamp do.... neither of which are worth their salt IMO.

I'm considering changing my ripping process to convert to Flac instead. I'm not going to the trouble of reencoding my existing music, but from now on, I think I will be adopting lossless compression. Hard drive space is cheap! Which is just as well because flac files are about 4 or 5 times bigger (typical compression is down to 50-60% of the original file size).

It will be nice to listen to music via the computer without the artefacts common to all lossy compression mechanisms.