Guaranteed higher quality files.
More efficient use of storage space.
Minimal reduction in quality.
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Possibly more limited support.
Many factors impact the quality of your digital music library.
Bitrate is one of them.
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CBR Encoding Pros and Cons
Set quality.
More control over the audio quality.
Requires a connection to support it.
CBR stands for constant bitrate and is an encoding method that keeps thebitratethe same.
VBR, by contrast, is a variable bitrate.
In general, the higher the bitrate, the better the quality of the audio.
The advantage of using the CBR method is that audio data typically processes faster compared to the alternatives.
CBR is useful for streaming multimedia files.
VBR Encoding Pros and Cons
Smaller file size.
Flexible reduction in bitrate.
More efficient in many situations.
Possible decreases in quality.
VBR allows the bitrate of an audio file to dynamically increase or decrease within a target range.
The LAME encoder, for example, varies between 65 Kbps and 320 Kbps.
Like CBR, audio formats such as MP3, WMA, andOGGsupport VBR.
The biggest advantage of VBR when compared to CBR is the sound quality to file size ratio.
The bitrate reduces for silence or quieter parts of a song.
This variation in bitrate reduces the storage space needed compared to CBR.
It also takes longer to encode audio using VBR because the process is more complex.
Which One Should You Choose?
VBR gives you the best balance between quality and file size.
