Smaller audio files with almost the same mp3 quality
Just found about this yesterday.
There’s an audio format in town that is almost the same audio quality as mp3 but 80% less the file size!
AACPlus!
aacPlus is widely adopted by many international standardization bodies. aacPlus v2 is specified as the high quality audio codec in 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), and all of its components are part of MPEG-4. aacPlus v1 is standardized by 3GPP2, ISMA (Internet Streaming Media Alliance), DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting), the DVD Forum, Digital Radio Mondiale, and many others. As an integral part of MPEG-4 Audio, aacPlus is ideal for deployment with the new H.264/AVC video codec standardized in MPEG-4 Part 10.
Example applications
• 3G mobile music and A/V services
• Internet audio for streaming and download
• Digital Radio
• Digital Satellite and Cable broadcasting
• IPTV
• Portable playersSource: Coding technoligies
This audio format is mostly used in audio streaming (internet radio) due to its low bit rate yet light weight format, its the ideal format!
If you’ve tried to listen to online stations, you know they sound grainy if they’re streamed at any less than 128 kilobits per second—maybe 96 kbps if you’re not fussy. That makes a broadband connection a must. But aacPlus sounds nearly as good as a CD, even when it’s compressed enough to play through a dialup line. Don’t take my word for it—see the results of the European Broadcasting Union’s listener tests, in which aacPlus was deemed the “clear winner” at a dialup-friendly 48 kbps.
t seems crazy until you try it, but Mostly Classical proves that aacPlus can sound great at 24 kbps. At 48 kbps, it’s almost as crisp as a CD. At 128 kbps, it can deliver 5.1 channel surround sound. AacPlus works by combining three technologies, each of which shrinks the size of an audio signal. The first is AAC, the Advanced Audio Coding technique that Apple licensed from Dolby for iTunes. AAC analyzes the sound and throws away any data it knows human ears won’t be able to hear, which is a lot. Then, aacPlus adds Spectral Band Replication, which strips out all of the music’s high frequencies and replaces them with a tiny bit of analytical data. AacPlus players reconstruct the highs as a mathematical function of what’s left. As a final space-saving trick, aacPlus tracks are recorded in parametric stereo. Instead of a left and a right channel, one channel is the sum of the left and right signals (L+R), and the other is their difference (L-R). This takes up less bandwidth, and the player can easily flip the two channels back to the original left and right.
Source: www.slate.com
What does this means to me?
Well… smaller file size with ALMOST the same audio quality as an mp3 file = more songs to be carried on your portable player. And my portable player is my nokia 6233. Good thing the Nokia 6233 plays accplus files. NICE!
So 6233 + aacplus = more songs to be played = less battery life! hahahha.
Before I made this post, i tried this new thing first. I made some tests using mp3toaacplus a free mp3 to aacplus converter. (download all the files and read the “Read me”file for instructions). Or you can use Easy CD-DA extractor. U can use it during the trial period. You can buy one if you like how it works. or settle for the free mp3toaaacplus. =>
Ok.. so the main mp3 file is ” This Time” by Jojo. - 4.8 mb (rounded off). I used both mp3toaacplus and Easycd-da extractor to convert the file to an mp4 file with aacplus as its audio format. I chose a bit rate of 32kbit/s, both programs gave an output file of less than 900 kb. The other file formats you see on the picture below are part of my experiment on determining what file formats will best be paired with aacplus.
The winners are: (file format + audio format) aac + accplus and mp4 + aacplus. The sound is ALMOST THE SAME as the original mp3 file. If you’ll ask me if there is a loss in quality. I’ll say YES.. for sure there would be. But if you are not that conscious about a slight change in quality of your file, then you’ll find this great!
I have now 57 mp4 files in my music folder in my 6233. It only uses 55.3 mb on my micro sd! That’s less than 1 mb per file! NICEEEEEEEEEEEE!
The sound.. well as ive said.. with a 32 kbits/s bit rate.. its close to an mp3 file.. If you want better sound and less the file size, just increase the bit rate.. =>
Update:
I use Easy CD-DA extractor. But i learned that the nokia PC suite can convert mp3 to aac. Haven’t tried it though.
Related Posts:
yay! ^_^
MIGS PARA SA SENADO!>
Winamp free version also includes the best free audio format batch converter. Just select any or all files on playlist editor, right click, select send to - format converter.
this is great…
grabe ang dami na tuloy laman ng 65mb na sd… haha
is a very good
do you know of any free program to convert audio cd or mp3 to e-aac plus or aac plus?
ang galing… superb talaga…
hello how are you
Looks like my post is not coming up the page. Are they supposed to be reviewed first?
Hello all! I have actually started doing conversions with my old aac files to aacPlus. The thing is, I don’t use the mp3toaac pack, I have found an opensource converter that reduced the conversion steps significantly. Take a look at this software here… http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/
I’ve converted all of my files and I’ve never had so much free space in my 256. Thanks MIGS for the advice. I actually have thought of converting to AAC+ before, but was hesitant because the switch might not be worth the space savings, but by giving me the figures, I was immediately attracted! You guys should try MediaCoder, works for me, maybe it would for you, too!
arvinoids ,
Akismet caught it. marked it as spam. heheheh
There you go.
Btw,
media coder didn’t work for me.. that’s why i didn’t recommend it.
I tried using it but it just stops decoding.
If it works for you guys then good.. its simple to use.
=>
Ah. Ok, that’s why. Well, it’s not spam, the URL is going to sourceforge, and it’s and opensource software. I strongly recommend opensource products and in fact I even use Linux at home. Mediacoder is simple to use, but not that simple. As in the site, it was made by a programmer, for programmers. But still, it’s easier than having to do the steps in the mp3toaacplus. By the way, would it make a difference if I just keep the file as m4a? I did not convert it to aac. Plays on my phone.
Yup..
Akismet captures 99% spam.. the remaining 1% are non spam comments like yours.. hehehhe that’s why i need to visit the akismet page once a week to check if all of the reported spam that it caught are really spam..
well… as long as it sound good and plays on your player then use it! hehehe
Oh, and also, how do you edit ID3 tags on m4a files? The winamp editor can edit but my phone does not recognize it. Help!
arvinoids,
i tried m4a on my phone..
As long as it works..l as long as you are satisfied.. then i guess its good!
=>
Ok! So far so good with my m4a’s. I’d be very glad if someone could have an idea about how to make the title and artist of an m4a track appear on the player. I only see the filename even if I have set the tags on my pc.
I CANT PUT MPEG4 AND MP3 files ON MY 6233. IT SAYS INCORRECT parameter… please help me..
gud morning.. could you please help me.. I can’t transfer mp3, mpeg-4 files and other music files from my pc to my nokia 6233.. it always says “INCORRECT PARAMETER..” PLEASE help me
i do have also a N6233 phone, and i can easyly transfer files from PC to my phone, using card reader and / or data cable.. i just dont know why is it not working for you..
Hi migs. I was wondering, what I actually was able to do was that I have converted my files to m4a (he-aac v2). the thing is, because this does not support id3 tag, i am thinking of going back to the aac format. could you tell me how you converted your mp3 to the files in the first 2 lines in your screenshot? Are those files having the same quality as the others (i.e. 3gp, m4a)? And also, I suppose the .aac files support id3 tags. Cheers!
hey, migs kindly help me naman.. waaah.. how come i can’t run enhaacplusencfrontend..it say’s the operation failed to initialize properly…waaaaahhh. can you tell me step by step proccess on how to install that enhaacplusencfrontend(folder five) correctly.. please!! t.y so much your a great help.!!
Hello all. I finally solved the problem on tags not showing on my music player when using the aac+ format (i.e. mp4 audio/m4a). I used Winamp’s converter to output a .aac file that has ID3 tag. So now all my files show track info. cool! I wrote an article on the process on my blog. http://arvinoids.5gigs.com/blog/?page_id=22
hi. i have on my phone 275 songs and it takes only 145mb of my 512mb memory stick
Hi migs hope u can help me figure ds out i was trying to play .AAC files in my n6233 but it prompts “file corrupted” i converted mp3 files using mp3toaccplus converter the .AAC file works on my PC but once i transfer them to my n6233 they are all corrupted. i tried playing d nokia tune (an .ACC format) and it works, how come d files that i converted doesn’t work in my cp but does work on my PC… thanks a lot hope to hear frm u…BTW ur site have helped me a lot i enjoy exploring ur site thanks to u and to all d pipol hu hve shared some tips, tricks, etc. for n6233!
what’s your comment on the file quality of Mp3??
same hir ive also followed the steps on how to convert mp3 files to aac and it also says file corrupted,now hoe do i fix this one pls…
To ice,
when i tried playing those aac files that i’ve converted none of them worked, they are all corrupted but mp4 files are less in file size and they worked so i just sticked to those mp4 so all my music files are in mp4 format and they are all up and running… i am no longer interested in converting them to aac format since mp4 files are good enough
hi migs. i am new to your buddy blogs.i have just purchase my 6233 last week. i am confused with my music player. how can i deselect ringtones, alert tones on my tracklist because they are included in it and so that only mp3 songs can be save and played on the tracklist. is there a need to install an audio or mp3 player on my 6233 that can select mp3 songs to my tracklist… please help…
alright tnx a lot vergel i think thats what im going to do also leave it as mp4,but if someone could explain why the files are corrupted that would be nice and by the way is mp4 much better than aac?tnx
Hi guys…
Regarding using mp3toaacplus… you may have missed a process..
but really i don’t know why.. coz i’m using easy cd-da .. works perfectly…
================
most AAC+ files are smaller and sounds better than mp4 files.
ice,
just use Easy CD-DA Extractor it’s much easier to convert audio files with this program, mp4 file format + aacplus audio format now works in my n6233…
just to perview this
I can convert hahaha.. yung enhanceaaplus may error.. I tried another way to run.. useless…
ive tried it na… naconvert sya pero nung inilgay ko n sya s phone ko… it was read as corrupted… is there anything wrong?? phone ko b???
guys you might also want to try converting your MP3s to WMA 96 to make the files smaller. (half the size of a mp3 12
WMA 96 is equals to MP3 128.
6233 plays WMA files and it sounds good.
[...] Windows Media Player aacPlus plugin I’ve posted about how aacPlus (or aac+) can dramatically shrink large music files (mp3 files) and still maintain a good sound quality in one of my previous post (Smaller audio files with almost the same mp3 quality). [...]
wah…there was an error when I tried to convert. The program >>> enhAacPlusEncFrontEnd AACPlus Encoder says application error? and is there a free ware where we can jst make all those steps into one? it’s time consuming. migs. help!
Hi Migs,,
I m really excited 2 see dis site as i newly bought a N6233 a week back. I also bought a 1GB Kingston MicroSD Card for my cellfone.
I used the zip file mp3toaacplus posted by you and followed all the seteps as provided by you,,,,,n Voilaaaa …I converted a 8MB mp3 224kbps into a 1mb 32kbps wid same quality of sound..Till now I dint founded any software which can do this. As they convert to accplus 32kbps but sound quality is drastically suppressed ..even in nokia music manager only upto 96kbps acc files u can convert which is around 3mb …but even that not stand in front of 1mb 32kbps file generated by your mp3toaccplus zip file..I was very happy 2 get a 1mb file wid same quality and it plays nice in my winamp 5.5
Happily i transfered around 100 songs converting all those thru ur mp3toaccplus zip file ..but the sad part begins here which makes me cry a lott
..coz i spent few hours converting those music file…and in my nokia 6233 none of the files played…my cell shows dem as broken or corrupted file..in the detail option of d music file ..format field is also blank….y this so migs??? m very sad 
…even i had 5.60 firmware version ….
Unhappily i hve 2 load ma cellfone wid dose 3-4mb mp3 files
which occpies around 300mb of my memory card place….
Please help Migs …y d music files r showing broken or corrupted on d cell instead dey r very much working on my pc wid winamp
..plssss help Migs :((
Deepak,
The problem is in the conversion.
I use EASY CD-DA Extractor. Download it.. i think you can try it out for free.
google around to unlock it. you know what i mean.. =>
Portable version of the popular Easy CD-DA could also help you. The best thing on it - it’s totally free. No need for serials, warez, cracks, whatsoever - please correct me if i’m wrong.
why my 6233can’t play the aacplus files. it says file corrupted… help me. whta i done wrong.
first i convert files to wav. then convert to mp4. then convert to aac. size become smaller yes. but my 6233 says file corrupted.why???????????
hi migs ,,, i tried wid Easy CD DA Trial Also …
but the problem is dat at after conversion wid it at 32kbps ..size becomes nice but quality drastically suffers in it too …instead in the method u hve written in mp3toaccplus zip …it wrks grr8 ..coz at 32kbps also songs sound like playing at 160kbps mp3 …but the same din’t hppnd wid Easy CD DA …
…please help
yaiks!
at the bitrate level of 32, quality of the song will really suffer. I only use bitrates 80 above.
And i’m happy with that - quality and file size. anything below bitrate level of 60 would really have a bad sound except if you are using a new version of AAC. i think its aac+ or eAAC.
you can use the nokia pc suite and covert your mp3 files to m4a. it reduces the fiel by almost 60%. i tried it and there is no difference in the sound quality.
Hi all. I have been using AAC+ on my mobile with great success. Sound quality is good as mp3 at 128k and file size is half of it. All I use is Winamp’s built-in aacPlus converter. I have it at 64kbps, but having it at 48 can also reduce size without very much compromise on the quality. I suggest you use the aacPlus 1.26, and not the MP4/aacPlus, because the latter will not show any artist/title tag on the 6233. Anyway, the full detail is here: http://arvinoids.uni.cc/2008/02/14/converting-mp3-files-to-aac/