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Does anyone know of a good freeware program that will convert OGG files to WAV or MP3? That absolutely, positively does not pollute your computer with adware/spyware of any kind?
I've been investigating this and it seems there's plenty out there - most that come with spyware garbage as the catch.
Be aware that converting/recompressing compressed formats is not ideal. You're going to lose a little bit every time, it's all down hill once compressed. Think of this image as your audio with each red oval representing it being recompressed. The last circle is compressed once, the first one 10 times.
I have better examples with video but Peregrine will make fun of me.
Converting them to WAV will not have any affect however
ogg >> wav >> mp3
is the same affect as
ogg >> mp3
..........
original uncompressed source(CD, wav, flac) >> mp3 = ideal method
original uncompressed source(CD, wav, flac) >> ogg = ideal method
original uncompressed source(CD, wav, flac) >> ogg >> = bad method
Be aware that converting/recompressing compressed formats is not ideal. You're going to lose a little bit every time, it's all down hill once compressed. Think of this image as your audio with each red oval representing it being recompressed. The last circle is compressed once, the first one 10 times.
I have better examples with video but Peregrine will make fun of me.
Converting them to WAV will not have any affect however
ogg >> wav >> mp3
is the same affect as
ogg >> mp3
..........
original uncompressed source(CD, wav, flac) >> mp3 = ideal method
original uncompressed source(CD, wav, flac) >> ogg = ideal method
original uncompressed source(CD, wav, flac) >> ogg >> = bad method
Thanks for your reply.
Now that I know that my MP3 player will also play WAV files, OGG to WAV is the only way I need to go. So have you used your suggestions and know first-hand that they are completely free of adware/spyware?
I'm not guaranteeing anything but I've used both for more than a decade, both are solid projects that have been around for a very long time and well known in the audio community.
As far as wav goes you're going to be creating huge files, it's something like 10 MB per minute. Does your player support anything else like flac?
If file size becomes a concern and mp3 is the only other option use a really high bitrate MP3 @320kbps.
I'm not guaranteeing anything but I've used both for more than a decade, both are solid projects that have been around for a very long time and well known in the audio community.
As far as wav goes you're going to be creating huge files, it's something like 10 MB per minute. Does your player support anything else like flac?
If file size becomes a concern and mp3 is the only other option use a really high bitrate MP3 @320kbps.
Thanks again. Audacity was the ticket and did exactly what I needed it to, both as a player and converter.
Yes, the WAV files are big, but I've got lots of room on my MP3 player and I can hear the sound quality difference.
You should look into FLAC and/or lossless WMA, if your player can handle those formats.
Also, as a converter, I recommend dBpoweramp. Not free, but extremely fast and simple to use (right-click, convert), and worth every penny if you have a lot of files to convert or you do it on an ongoing basis.
Finally, take a good listen to some higher bit rate MP3s (256k+). Unless your hearing (and concentration) is absolutely perfect, I think you'd be hard pressed to hear a difference between an MP3 encoded at 320k and an original source file/disc.
Yes, the WAV files are big, but I've got lots of room on my MP3 player and I can hear the sound quality difference.
You're not going to hear any difference converting OGG to WAV. Any loss in quality when using a compressed format is gone for good. You're not going to lose any quality either. They should sound exactly the same.
You're not going to hear any difference converting OGG to WAV. Any loss in quality when using a compressed format is gone for good. You're not going to lose any quality either. They should sound exactly the same.
That's not the comparison I'm making. I'm talking about the difference between the WAV file and most of the rest of the MP3s on my player.
As I said, I've got plenty of room there....with precious little new music appearing these days worth saving space for. So there's no reason to compress the file and lose anything at all.
You should look into FLAC and/or lossless WMA, if your player can handle those formats.
I forgot about lossless WMA, the player probably supports that.
Quote:
Finally, take a good listen to some higher bit rate MP3s (256k+). Unless your hearing (and concentration) is absolutely perfect, I think you'd be hard pressed to hear a difference between an MP3 encoded at 320k and an original source file/disc.
I'd agree for the most part but the more you step on it the worse it gets. I like to use these screenshots to illustrate the point (yep here they come again Peregrine). It appplicable here because lossy formats for audio, video and images all use the same type of compression schemes.
We have a high quality DV source:
Here is is encoded to 8000kbps mpeg, it doesn't look much different than the source. If you look at the edges of the lights they aren't quite as sharp. You'd never notice this when watching these two side by side.
DV >> 8000kbps mpeg
To force macroblocking I use 3000kbps bitrate which is far too low for this resolution when using MPEG2 especially with the lights which is where the macroblocking occurs since they are moving really fast.
DV >> 3000kbps mpeg
That's bad but if we introduce one intermediate conversion it gets really bad. Converting from the 8000 kbps mpeg which really doesn't look that bad on face value gives you this mess.
That's not the comparison I'm making. I'm talking about the difference between the WAV file and most of the rest of the MP3s on my player.
See if your player supports lossless WMA, that wold really be the way to go because it's as good as WAV but half the file size. Lossless formats like WMA and Flac use compression but it's a lossless compression.
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