The difference between 320 kbps and 128 kbps is quite obvious. If you are a music lover, then it would be very important for you to know the differences between these two formats of audio files. In this article we will discuss about what makes one format better than other in terms of quality.
What Is A Bitrate?
Bit rate or bit per second (bps) is the amount of information that can be transferred over a given time period. It is measured in bits per second. For example, if your internet speed is 10 Mbps, then you can transfer data at a rate of 1 MB per second. This means that you can download an MP3 file with a size of 100MB in just 5 minutes.
When it comes to audio files, bit rates are used to measure the quality of sound. Higher bitrates mean higher quality sound. However, there is no standard definition of how high a bit rate should be. There are several factors which determine the bit rate of any particular audio file. These include:
• File type – Most audio files are compressed using lossy compression techniques like MP3. Lossy compression reduces the overall quality of the audio file but allows more data to be stored on the same space.
• Recording source – When recording an audio file, the quality of the recording depends upon the equipment available to the person who recorded the song. The quality of the recording also depends upon the environment where the recording was made.
• Recording technique – The recording technique used by the artist determines the quality of the final output. For instance, if you record a song using a microphone, the resulting audio file will have lower quality compared to a studio-recorded track.
• Audio processing – Some audio effects such as reverb and echo add to the quality of the audio file.
• Compression – When you compress an audio file, you reduce the size of the file without affecting its quality. You can use different types of compression algorithms depending upon the purpose of the audio file. For instance, you may want to compress an audio file so that it can be played on mobile devices. In this case, you need to choose a compression algorithm which does not affect the quality of the audio file too much.
• Quality of the audio file – The quality of the audio file directly affects the bit rate. For instance, if you convert an MP3 file into WAV format, the resulting audio file has a higher bit rate because WAV files contain more information than MP3 files.
• Storage medium – The storage medium plays a major role in determining the bit rate of an audio file. For instance, if you store an audio file on a hard disk drive, the resulting audio file will have a low bit rate since the hard disk drive uses a fixed number of bytes per second. On the other hand, if you store the same audio file on a CD, the resulting audio file will have a higher bit rate due to the fact that CDs use variable byte rates.
• Streaming – If you stream an audio file online, the bit rate of the audio file will depend upon the bandwidth available to you. For instance, if you listen to an audio file through a streaming service like Spotify, the bit rate of the audio file will be determined by the network connection available to you.
How Does Bit Rate Affect Audio Quality?
If you compare a 128 Kbps MP3 file with a 320 Kbps MP3 file, you will notice that the former sounds slightly muffled while the latter sounds crisp and clear. This is mainly because the former contains less information than the later.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we would like to say that the difference between 320 kbps and 128 kbps is quite obvious. If you are a music lover, then it would be very important for you to know the differences between these two formats of audio files.