| The essential byte on bitrates | Wednesday, 8 November 2000 We define what a bitrate is and explain its importance to MP3 encoding and playback. By Bella Tu Read on | |
The essential byte on bitrates
Bitrate is the amount of information (bits) transferred in a second ('bps' is the abbreviation of bits-per-second). In terms of MP3 audio files, the bitrate unit is more commonly referred to as 'kbps', which is thousand-bits-per-second. The higher the bitrate or 'kbps' of an MP3 file, the higher the sound quality. Most MP3 encoders support a range of bitrates from 24kbps up to 320kbps (or 320,000 bits per second). The most widely used 'standard' bitrate for MP3s is 128kbps, but below that is not especially enjoyable to listen to. At around 160kbps there is a noticeable improvement in the audible quality of an MP3 encoded audio file. Related Links:
Variable and Constant Bitrate Encoding
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