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converting mp3 to WAV...is quality lost?
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| Jake Benson |
Let's say you get an mp3 of a track you want to spin but you spin only WAVs. If you converted it from an mp3 to a WAV (for example on iTunes) will there be lost/less quality compared to just getting a WAV file of that song to begin with? Or does converting it on your own (in iTunes) successfully make the file a true WAV file?
I know mp3 is more of a compressed/crappy file, but I'm not sure whether it takes out detailed sound information that can never be restored if you wanted to convert it to a WAV file. |
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| JD8180 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jake Benson
Let's say you get an mp3 of a track you want to spin but you spin only WAVs. If you converted it from an mp3 to a WAV (for example on iTunes) will there be lost/less quality compared to just getting a WAV file of that song to begin with? Or does converting it on your own (in iTunes) successfully make the file a true WAV file?
I know mp3 is more of a compressed/crappy file, but I'm not sure whether it takes out detailed sound information that can never be restored if you wanted to convert it to a WAV file. |
as far as i know, converting from wav -> mp3 you lose quality
converting from mp3 back to wav, you don't lose any quality, but you don't gain any of it back. (you will just have a wav file that has the same quality as the 320kbps mp3 or w/e it was that you originally had) |
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| Freak |
An analogy for you:
You have a 0.5 litre jug full to the brim of beer
You transfer the contents to a 1 litre jug...
do you now have 1 litre of beer?
No...
In other words, you cant replace whats been taken away...
| quote: | | So will there be lost/less quality compared to just getting a WAV file of that song to begin with? |
Yep
| quote: | Or does converting it on your own (in iTunes) successfully make the file a true WAV file?
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nope |
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| System101 |
| if you can tell that there is any substantial quality loss between a 320kbps mp3 and a 1411kbps WAV, you're a ing liar. |
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| JD8180 |
| quote: | Originally posted by System101
if you can tell that there is any substantial quality loss between a 320kbps mp3 and a 1411kbps WAV, you're a ing liar. |
no one said such a thing? :conf: |
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| Nightshift |
| quote: | Originally posted by System101
if you can tell that there is any substantial quality loss between a 320kbps mp3 and a 1411kbps WAV, you're a ing liar. |
agreed:haha: :haha: :haha: :haha: |
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| derail |
It may also depend on the mp3 codec you're using - I know I did some frequency analysis of mp3 tracks and they had everything above 16kHz completely removed. So in that case, hihats for example can end up sounding quite different when the wav is converted to an mp3.
But this high-end "chop-off" may relate to 128 kb/s mp3s. 320 kb/s mp3s may be full range, or close to full range. In any case, it's easy enough to check how much of the frequency spectrum has been removed. And no, converting it back to a wav file won't bring those high-end frequencies back. |
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| Jake Benson |
| quote: | Originally posted by System101
if you can tell that there is any substantial quality loss between a 320kbps mp3 and a 1411kbps WAV, you're a ing liar. |
I'm confused. Are you saying that converting a 320kpbs mp3 to a 1411kpbs WAV doesn't make much different in quality? |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jake Benson
I'm confused. Are you saying that converting a 320kpbs mp3 to a 1411kpbs WAV doesn't make much different in quality? |
It won't sound much different to most people. I can't tell the difference myself, but I know some people who can.
As far as the original question: MP3 is a "lossy" compression format; that means that by compressing it, you lose information in such a way that it's impossible to reconstruct all the sound data that was in the original WAV file. Converting from an MP3 back into a WAV won't give you higher quality. |
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| derail |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jake Benson
I'm confused. Are you saying that converting a 320kpbs mp3 to a 1411kpbs WAV doesn't make much different in quality? |
Converting a 320 kb/s mp3 to 1411 kb/s wav won't make ANY difference in quality. The quality will be the quality of the 320 kb/s mp3. The wav format can fully accomodate all the audio in the mp3, but the reverse isn't true. As I stated before, you won't get the full possible quality out of the wav format if you start with an mp3.
The point system101 was making is that for most practical purposes, 320 kb/s mp3s sound just as good as wav files. |
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| Darkarbiter |
Any conversion bears a small loss (assuming its not from a lossless format to another lossless forumat) because of the quality of your encoder.
WAV to MP3... big loss
Mp3 to wav... quite similar but very small insubstantial loss due to encoder mistakes.
Mp3 to higher mp3... same as latter. |
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| System101 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jake Benson
I'm confused. Are you saying that converting a 320kpbs mp3 to a 1411kpbs WAV doesn't make much different in quality? |
no.. if you convert an original WAV to a 320kbps MP3, you wont hear a difference in quality. |
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