[linux-audio-user] How do you make an ogg?

[Laura Conrad]

>>>>> "Mark" == Mark Knecht <markknecht at attbi.com> writes:

    Mark>    You might also ask how to get the mp3 file UP to the size of the ogg
    Mark> file? ;-)

I could, but for this particular purpose small size is more important
figure of merit than high quality.  The major use of these files is to
put up rehearsal recordings the day after rehearsal, so that members
of the group can listen and hear what they need to practice.  Probably
everybody is using their computer speakers to listen to them.  My
computer speakers are better than average, and I can *just* hear the
difference between the MP3 quality and the .wav quality if I listen
very hard.  And it isn't an important difference in terms of hearing
what I need to practice.


    Mark>    I have no experience with ogg encoders, but my guess would be that you
    Mark> want to reduce bit rate first, if that's an option, and maybe try variable
    Mark> bit rate encoding if it is supported. You will, however, certainly hear the
    Mark> difference.

OK, setting various bitrates, I get:
[lconrad at tuba renfaire]$ ls -l hercules*
-rw-rw-r--    1 lconrad  lconrad   4411392 Aug 17 09:51 hercules1.mp3
-rw-rw-r--    1 lconrad  lconrad  48685100 Aug 17 09:01 hercules1.wav
-rw-rw-r--    1 lconrad  lconrad  12222427 Oct 12 10:30 hercules2-b128.ogg
-rw-rw-r--    1 lconrad  lconrad   7612630 Oct 12 10:27 hercules2-b64.ogg
-rw-rw-r--    1 lconrad  lconrad  49956480 Aug 18 16:36 hercules2.cdr
-rw-rw-r--    1 lconrad  lconrad  12222427 Oct 12 10:17 hercules2-M128.ogg
-rw-rw-r--    1 lconrad  lconrad  12222427 Oct 12 10:24 hercules2-M64.ogg
-rw-rw-r--    1 lconrad  lconrad   4526080 Aug 18 14:14 hercules2.mp3
-rw-rw-r--    1 lconrad  lconrad  12220015 Sep  3 12:30 hercules2.ogg
-rw-rw-r--    1 lconrad  lconrad  49956104 Aug 18 14:09 hercules2.wav

(There's an example of using -M as the maximum bitrate, but the -M
option isn't listed, and doesn't seem to have any effect.)

hercules2-b64.ogg is usable, although I don't think it's as high
quality as the mp3, which is encoded with "lame -b 128".  And it's
still twice as big.  Is this something that will change with newer
versions of oggenc?



-- 
Laura (mailto:lconrad at laymusic.org , http://www.laymusic.org/ )
(617) 661-8097	fax: (801) 365-6574 
233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139