[indie_obsessed]

I was wondering, if cnverting .mp3 to lossless wouldn't increase the quality. then, would converting 128kbps.mp3 to 320kbps.mp3 increase quality??

 

[anetode]

That would be like printing out a picture, xeroxing it, taking a photograph of the copy, and scanning the slide back to your PC. But there's definitely something indie about that. Kinda like the aesthetic behind cassette tape resurgence.

In short, no, if anything it will make the mp3 sound worse.

 

[Prog Rock Man]

A lossless format has all of the data. A lossy format such as 128kbps mp3 has had data removed to compress the size of the file. If you see that Apple Lossless starts at about 400kbps and goes to over 1000kbps, there is quite a difference.

Once you have removed data, increasing the size of the music file back to lossless does not return the data to its original state. It just makes the file bigger.

So going from lossless to lossy reduces quality. Going from lossy to lossless does not increase quality.

 

[LingLing1337]

NO NO NO

 

[wantmyf1]

Converting to MP3 removes data from the original file and that's it, the data is simply gone and there's no way to get it back. the increase in sound quality with higher bitrate MP3's & FLAC comes from being able to include more information but since there is no more information to capture from a low bitrate MP3 there will be no corresponding rise in quality. It may even become worse as you go from one lossy bitrate to another.

 

[krmathis]

Nope!
Transcoding any lossy data file will never restore any of the data lost (thrown away) during first time lossy encoding. That goes for any lossy file (MP3, AAC, ... audio / JPEG, ... picture / ...).
Transcoding will either make the file larger (transcoding to lossless) or lower quality (transcoding to lossy).

Stay clear unless you really need to go there.

 

[rock&rollfrenchfries]

likely it will be both larger AND sound worse... no go.

 

[bcpk]

Why hadn't I thought of this before?!?

/me re-encodes everything at 8kbps

 

[1800yolk]

Nope

But theoretically.. You could create software that takes a low bitrate file, does guesswork on the information, and raises the bitrate that way. But you will not end up with what you would have gotten if you had encoded at a higher bitrate. Just a guess, entirely dependent on the underlying algorithms of the software. So in theory, yes..

 

[indie_obsessed]

Hey thanks! so i guess there isn't any quick and easy way to increase the quality of the music in my ipod, then. or is there?

 

[TheMarchingMule]

Quote:

Originally Posted by indie_obsessed /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hey thanks! so i guess there isn't any quick and easy way to increase the quality of the music in my ipod, then. or is there?

Nope.

 

[RobLikesBrunch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by indie_obsessed /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hey thanks! so i guess there isn't any quick and easy way to increase the quality of the music in my ipod, then. or is there?

Do you not realize how absurd it is to think that you can go from something that is low quality, change its format, and all of a sudden make it sound better?

When you encode something with MP3, you are removing the data that is "less essential" to song, basically. So if that data is GONE, how would you ever get it back by changing the format...is it simply going to materialize?

I mean...you can think of this in terms of physics...or in terms of photography (going from a super low-rez picture to a high-rez one; it's absolutely crazy to think you could...it's like thinking that you can simply create new pixels (i.e. data) from nothing!) and I think that anyone who even postulates that it's possible to do this has a profound misunderstanding of the world.

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by indie_obsessed /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hey thanks! so i guess there isn't any quick and easy way to increase the quality of the music in my ipod, then. or is there?

None besides trashing your current 128kbps files and re-rip your CDs to higher bitrate, or even lossless.

 

[acolyte289]

Seems like this has been asked so many times there should be a sticky. I would think it is common sense.

As people have said it will actually in all likelihood lower the quality as lossy compression utilizes things that I don't really understand such as Psychoacoustics. Basically it is not just compressed but analyzed and put through some kind of psychoacoustical model that alters the sound data to fit in a smaller space while sounding close to the original. And this model is made to only work optimally with lossless data. Running it through the model again brings it farther from the source sound, hence the xerox photocopy analogy.

 

[salannelson]

NO