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can anyone explain why I should care about MP3 anymore? YouTube hasnt used MP3 in years, they use Opus or AAC.

by 38 3y ago

supertrope 3y ago
If you don’t control both the encoding and playback ends, you have to accommodate legacy decoders. Podcasts use constant bitrate MP3 because it’s the lowest common denominator. Even though iPods popularized AAC, there are millions of clip-on MP3 players and car head units that don’t decode AAC and might even choke on variable bitrate MP3. Spotify still hasn’t migrated from Ogg Vorbis to Opus.
CharlesW 3y ago
You don’t need to care about it, but (1) it did change the world, (2) it’s a good format to start with if you want to understand perceptual audio encoding, and (3) it is (only because of inertia, really) still used to deliver almost all open podcasting content.
- astrange 3y ago
  > it’s a good format to start with if you want to understand perceptual audio encoding It honestly isn't, it's actually more complicated than later codecs like LC-AAC for no benefit because of the weird filterbank thing. Though, I would start with ADPCM.
Minor49er 3y ago
The vast majority of people on Soulseek are trading MP3s. Who cares what YouTube uses?
- astrange 3y ago
  Do they hate being able to hear cymbals or something? MP3 can't properly encode those even at 320k.
  - qup 3y ago
    The result is that you can't hear the cymbals?
    - astrange 3y ago
      You can hear that they sound different from lossless audio - it will be smeared out and start too early due to artifact called "pre-echo". Basically it's the same thing as what people call ringing or mosquito noise in image compression. eg: https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,77128.msg674479.html#msg674479 https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,77128.msg674479.html#...
  - Minor49er 3y ago
    I can hear them just fine in all of my collection, even at 192kbps
pier25 3y ago
It's still the most widely supported encoded digital audio format.
- userbinator 3y ago
  It's like the JPEG of digital audio.
chalcolithic 3y ago
For some reason all the music on my phone/computer is in mp3. I've never really made that choice, it just happened. Some of it was recorded in 2023. I'm considering creating an small project that (as a part of a bigger task) needs to be able to play users' sound files. I'd be happy to know that I don't need to support mp3s anymore, but so far I've failed to convince myself that it's a right choice.

can anyone explain why I should care about MP3 anymore? YouTube hasnt used MP3 in years, they use Opus or AAC.

by 38 3y ago

can anyone explain why I should care about MP3 anymore? YouTube hasnt used MP3 in years, they use Opus or AAC.

If you don’t control both the encoding and playback ends, you have to accommodate legacy decoders. Podcasts use constant bitrate MP3 because it’s the lowest common denominator. Even though iPods popularized AAC, there are millions of clip-on MP3 players and car head units that don’t decode AAC and might even choke on variable bitrate MP3. Spotify still hasn’t migrated from Ogg Vorbis to Opus.

CharlesW 3y ago

You don’t need to care about it, but (1) it did change the world, (2) it’s a good format to start with if you want to understand perceptual audio encoding, and (3) it is (only because of inertia, really) still used to deliver almost all open podcasting content.

astrange 3y ago
> it’s a good format to start with if you want to understand perceptual audio encoding It honestly isn't, it's actually more complicated than later codecs like LC-AAC for no benefit because of the weird filterbank thing. Though, I would start with ADPCM.

Minor49er 3y ago

The vast majority of people on Soulseek are trading MP3s. Who cares what YouTube uses?

astrange 3y ago
Do they hate being able to hear cymbals or something? MP3 can't properly encode those even at 320k.
- qup 3y ago
  The result is that you can't hear the cymbals?
  - astrange 3y ago
    You can hear that they sound different from lossless audio - it will be smeared out and start too early due to artifact called "pre-echo". Basically it's the same thing as what people call ringing or mosquito noise in image compression. eg: https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,77128.msg674479.html#msg674479 https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,77128.msg674479.html#...
- Minor49er 3y ago
  I can hear them just fine in all of my collection, even at 192kbps

pier25 3y ago

It's still the most widely supported encoded digital audio format.

userbinator 3y ago
It's like the JPEG of digital audio.

chalcolithic 3y ago

For some reason all the music on my phone/computer is in mp3. I've never really made that choice, it just happened. Some of it was recorded in 2023. I'm considering creating an small project that (as a part of a bigger task) needs to be able to play users' sound files. I'd be happy to know that I don't need to support mp3s anymore, but so far I've failed to convince myself that it's a right choice.