What Audio File format do you use/prefer?

[dog [away]]

We've had polls on audio players, so as an extension of that - What audio file format do you use/prefer? And why?

My preferences have changed over time ... I've gone from MP3 to MP4/AAC back to MP3 and my preferred format is now Ogg Vorbis. I've tried most formats including Monkey aka APE, FLAC, WAV, WMA ... While the lossless formats are great for an audiophile, storage isn't infinite (on a PC or portable device) or practical. The other consideration is available support in portable or other audio devices. Portable players are starting to support file formats from the ogg project (http://www.xiph.org/) aka Ogg, FLAC, Speex; but commonly the majority support the three mainstream formats, MP3, MP4/AAC, WMA.

I have settled on Ogg Vorbis for a few reasons ... "fully open, non-proprietary, patent-and-royalty-free" (http://www.xiph.org/vorbis/) and all in all it has great compression and delivers outstanding quality.

It should be reasonable to assume the most popular choice will likely be MP3 followed distantly by WMA and AAC/MP4 (Apple's standard) ... I'm curious to see how popular they are and also see if any of the less mainstream file formats are popular.

[Firecat]

I mainly prefer WMA, it has decent compression and good quality. I've only recently started using Ogg Vorbis and AAC, and I've liked it. Perhaps I'll shift to Ogg Vorbis soon as it has a very good compression:quality ratio. :)

[WSFuser]

i use just MP3. theyre supported by all mp3 players ;D and its the most common format when downloading.

even if i just left teh files on my comp, im too lazy to bother converting them.

[InfinityAz]

While I actually prefer Ogg Vorbis and AAC, I stick with VBR MP3 using the LAME codec. MP3 is the standard when it comes to most mainstream and my own players (my portable, car in-dash player, etc.).

It's just not worth the effort, storage space, and time to use multiple formats.

[MikeBCda]

I'm an old-timer still on dialup, so the vast majority of mine aren't exactly in the field you had in mind - MID. File sizes for "real" audio are too cumbersome for me.

But on the rare occasion that I do want them, like when I recently discovered a great collection of stuff from the Godspell soundtrack, I'll stick with MP3. As others have said, it's nearly universal in terms of player compatibility.

[nicM]

For me, music is too serious to listen from a computer ;D .

With computers, you compress your music :ouch: most of the time... when you can use upsampling (http://www.dcsltd.co.uk/index2.html) or oversampling (http://www.audiosynthesis.co.uk/dax_decade.htm) to get the MOST and every bit of music from your CDs!

--- cheating mode off ;) ---

Now, for the few funny sounds/samples I like to play on the computer (as I do not listen music on this), I use wav or wma.

[Brian N]

Ogg ..

[Alphalutra1]

ogg for the compressed formats and wav for the uncompressed.

Alphalutra1

[jvillas]

For portable I use Lame vbr, for lossless wav. My purley subjective best soundiing lossy is MPC.

[Brian N]

FYI: dBpowerAMP (http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm) is a free audio converter that can convert basically anything into anything.
It's my favorite tool when converting files, just make sure to get the extra codecs (http://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central.htm), they are free too.

[jvillas]

-{ Quote: "FYI: dBpowerAMP (http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm) is a free audio converter that can convert basically anything into anything.
It's my favorite tool when converting files, just make sure to get the extra codecs (http://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central.htm), they are free too." }-
I agree it is the best, and Spoon is a very dedicated developer. If I may add the forum leaders are very helpfull. I have been using the paid and free versions for nearly 4 yrs.

[Nick Rhodes]

Mp3 because its the only format I can use on my computer, stereo, car and mp3 player.

OGG and AAC get my vote as formats I would chose if I did'nt have the above limitations.

[nigglesnush85]

I use .mp3, least hassle

[lucas1985]

For storage and listening on a high-end setup:
WavPack, the most feature-rich lossless (same as FLAC or Monkey´s Audio) codec.
Daily use:
LAME MP3, almost transparent around 192 Kbps.

[cthorpe]

I use mp3. My hearing isn't good enough to notice any problems at 192kbs and above, so I really don't feel the need to go with lossless, etc.

[Brian N]

-{ Quote: "I use mp3. My hearing isn't good enough to notice any problems at 192kbs and above, so I really don't feel the need to go with lossless, etc." }-
192 is losless unless you use pro equipment, so no worries :)

[lucas1985]

Encoding to lossless offers great advantages:
-Backup of your music collection.
-Transcoding without quality degradation.
-If you have a high-end audio setup, you could extract the most out of it.
-Lossless is future-proof. You can transcode at any time to any codec.
Storage is so cheap these days :)
Link1 (http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Lossless)
Link2 (http://losslessaudioblog.com/)

[Anti_Virus]

.mp3

Technically not the best, people aptly quoted above.
But it is the most popular, thats why I prefer it.

[serador]

AAC

ATRAC

[ErikAlbert]

I prefer the MIDI format. ::) ;D
(Just kidding, in case somebody would believe me.)

[lucas1985]

The recent patent lawsuits initiated by MP3 copyright holders should drive the adoption of patent-free non-profit formats such as Vorbis and most lossless codecs.

[Rasheed187]

Well I don´t really have a choice, most of the music I download comes in the mp3 format. But I think AAC is better, it has a smaller size but still great quality. :thumb:

[Dr. Lucien Sanchez]

I use .mp3, but would love to start using .ogg, but my mp3 player doesn't support it yet, it should do once RockBox comes out.