[JK1]

The difference in bitrate for mp3 files doesn't have that much of an effect on battery. I listen to spoken word podcasts at 32 kbps mp3, and music at 256 kbps, and when listening to podcasts I probably get around 8% longer run time. Just an approximation. I didn't time it exactly.

 

[cel4145]

The difference in bitrate for mp3 files doesn't have that much of an effect on battery. I listen to spoken word podcasts at 32 kbps mp3, and music at 256 kbps, and when listening to podcasts I probably get around 8% longer run time. Just an approximation. I didn't time it exactly.

That makes total sense. I'm sure the difference between say 320 and 256 VBR is negligible.

 

[JK1]

That makes total sense. I'm sure the difference between say 320 and 256 VBR is negligible.

I'm not so sure. The podcasts and my music are both constant bitrate. 

 

[cel4145]

I'm not so sure. The podcasts and my music are both constant bitrate. 

I don't see why that matters.

My understanding is that mp3 decoding is (a) uncompressing the file and then (b) converting to PCM. VBR vs CONSTANT has to do with the encoding stage. So file size difference would be the main determinant. 320 and 253 file size difference is very small compared to the difference between 32 and 256.

 

[JK1]

I don't see why that matters.

My understanding is that mp3 decoding is (a) uncompressing the file and then (b) converting to PCM. VBR vs CONSTANT has to do with the encoding stage. So file size difference would be the main determinant. 320 and 253 file size difference is very small compared to the difference between 32 and 256.

Vbr mp3 is much more complicated though than cbr, so the decoding process is probably much more intensive.

 

[cel4145]

Vbr mp3 is much more complicated though than cbr, so the decoding process is probably much more intensive.

Yes. The difficult work is in the encoding process, not the decoding process.