MP4 - new standard in quality & size - tutorial & fi

Hello, NIN9 and me recently discussed about audio-codecs. . . he had some. ogg's - I do only have. mp3's and huh whats about. mp4's Informations / Impressions OK: one note for those who think MP4 great that must be.

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Hello,

NIN9 and me recently discussed about audio-codecs ...
he had some .ogg's - I do only have .mp3's and huh whats about .mp4's

Informations / Impressions
OK: one note for those who think MP4 great that must be ... NO!
1. mp3 is NOT MPEG 3 its MPEG 1 Layer 3 but thats very well known huh ?
2. so whats MP4 now ??? MPEG 1 layer 4 ? NO MP4 is just a "container" for the AAC Audio codec so the thing we are talking about is AAC OGG and MP3

I was reading some forum telling that AAC deserves the same quality at 96kb as mp3 at 128 sounds interesting huh ? OK that needs some testing

1. the base is an normal Audio CD
2. the original is a 16bit 44.100Hz PCM .wave file (accurate ripped) 26.4MB
3. now lets code ... sorted by size
- mp4@64kb 1.18MB --> clear difference to the original but not as bad as the 96kb mp3
- mp4@96kB 1.78 MB --> just as the original no hearable differenceto provide ultimate quality/size ratio
- mp3@96kB 1.79MB --> clear difference to the original not worth to keep
- ogg@128kb 2,33MB --> no difference to the original
- mp4@128kb 2,37MB --> no difference to original or 96kb MP4 or OGG@128, but to provide ultimate quality/size ratio
- mp3@128kb 2,39MB --> very close to original but less highs very little but noticable difference

That gives me the followin conclusions:
- .mp3 is out of date
- .ogg is a very nice and free MP3 replacement
- .aac/mp4 sets the new standard in quality and size for compressed music
- mp4@128kB deserves ultimate quality @ reasonable file size

and best of all MP4 can seamlessly replace MP3 since there is already full support by plugins for it ....
OK .... after lots of more testing and so on heres the result:

MP4 encoding Tutorial and Tools
1. get http://www.dbpoweramp.com to encode nearly ANY format to MP4
2. get our little package H E R E it's based on NERO's AAC engine with ENcoder CLI
Beta Phase ended should work like charm now!
2.1 install to get an easy to use GUI for batch encoding and maximum stability/quality
2.2 I recommend CBR @96kb (LC AAC)
- NIN9 would CRB @ 128kB (LC AAC)
- I do NOT recommend using VBR since the NERO encoder is not the best in choosing the right bitrate at time
3. now convert all the music you want to
4. get this great and free tool http://www.mp3tag.de to Tag your MP4 files for maximum pleasure
5. goto here and get the MP4 plugin for www.winamp.com
6. start winamp
7. goto preference choose MP4 plugin and set titel format to "%1 - %2" if you have set Tags
- in filetypes you can select MP4 or more types to associate with Winamp without doing that manually in windows

Additional Tools
x. for those with fullCDinOneMPx file ... mp3cue still works!!!
x. if you search for a supreme renaming tool go http://www.1-4a.com/rename/
EDIT: 02.01.2003
x. there is a way to split AAC files by time with WBIAS feat. BeSplit
or by a cue with CUE_Splitter feat. BeSplit
but remember BeSplit actually only supports AAC you have to transform your MP4 to AAC (without any quality loss). There is a dMC plugin to do this but just as the MP4 Plugin it does not work correctly ... I will investigate this and report back

report additions and any comment here !

happy coding ...
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Hi,


thx, very nice guide :hail:

x. for those with fullCDinOneMPx file ... mp3cue still works!!!


Nice, but there is still a problem:
I like to cut my cdimage.m4a and cdimage.cue with a tool like musicutter close to AAC Frame.
Thats a way to have no audible gaps between the tracks.


Is there any solution???

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hummm just tried ..... the "Wbias" GUI just needs .CUE support then it would work fine ... maybe you should contact the tool creator

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Hi,

first i have compared CUE_File_Splitter_v0.2 with musicutter:
testfile: a 192kbit/sec CBR mp3 File with Cue
both tools have altogehter the same output size, very good.
Individually filez have not the same size, but this is not really a problem cause it is only 3 frames.

CUE_File_Splitter_v0.2 AAC test:
i encoded with foorbar2k + nero.dll+ nero 6.3.x.x aac
in the nero aac settings, i check Export ISO 13818-7 AAC Track, so i get both kind of files (mp4 & aac). I encoded the file with AAC HE preset.
With MP4ui i extract an AAC File from the mp4 file, it works and it has exactly the same size as the AAC file wich cames directly from nero
Cutting with CUE File Splitter v0.2, problem-free :wink:

Last test: get back a cdimage.aac
this is usefull because CUE File Splitter cannot cut 100% exactly, but in the cue file are the exact cutting times.
Here a little DOS Batch File to merge AAC Files together (save the code in join.bat):




@Echo off



cls



:: ==============================================================



:: = AAC Joiner =



:: = by ashyak =



:: ==============================================================







Echo ============================================================



Echo = ---AAC Joiner by ashyak--- =



Echo = =



Echo = =



Echo = all AAC files in the actual directory will binary =



Echo = merged together, to CDimage.aac =



Echo = other files (*.m3u, *.jpg usw) will be ignored! =



Echo ============================================================



Echo .



Echo ENTER = Start



Echo STRG + C = Abruch



Pause >nul



IF NOT EXIST *.aac goto error



copy /b *.aac BIGFILE



ren BIGFILE CDImage.aac



Echo .



Echo CDImage.aac succesfully created!!



Echo please check the correct file order!!



Echo .



Echo press enter......



Pause >nul



goto end







:error



Echo sorry, no aac files in the actual folder!! ENTER



Pause >nul



:end

For me this is the ideal aac archive

But i still miss one tool:
mp4 --> aac converting tool, with batchprocessing!


....cya

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Im getting an error when trying to convert mp3 to mp4!
Help!
Codec Error '
C:Program FilesIllustratedBpowerAMPCompressionMp4 (CLI)>start /min /low /wait nencode.exe D:~dmcin.wav D:~dmcout.mp4
'

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@ashyak
yeah there is for dMC ... but as said it does not work correctly
maybe I will fix this in some days ...

@Crossfire which OS do you use and do you have NERO installed ?

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I probably don't have much of a "musical ear", because all my music is 128kbps, and I don't actually see much of a difference in a new format. I must admit that Ogg music rocks though, I really liked it when I used it :D

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I have win XP pro and have nero installed

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@Crossfire

i don´t use dBpowerAMP.
Maybe you should try foorbar2k + nero encoder/decoder dll:
Preliminary how-to (for 5.1 output):

In the first place you need foobar2000 from Case's site. It is labeled 'special installer'. During installation make sure that AC3 is selected in the optional components/Input section and also the disk writer component. Also you need the Nero encoder/decoder from the same site. Copy the included foo_nero.dll to your foobar2000/components folder. Finally you need a full version of Nero 6 installed.

Now here begins the fun: Add an AC3 file to the fb2k playlist. Now in the preferences look for components/diskwriter. Select 'Nero encoder' as output format. Check that DSP and replaygain isn't used. Now check for 'Nero encoder' component and select "MPEG4 Advanced Audio Coding" as output format. Configure the Nero plugin to your likings. Don't forget to enable 'dynamic range reduction' in the AC3 component settings. Now close preferences again and right click your AC3 in the fb2k playlist window. Choose convert. That's it in principle. You may change the output naming and the output directory.

original posting

for mp3 to mp4 (or m4a) it is almost the same way. Check this out, foobar2k is very small and functional:
- there is no temporary wav File
- replaygain is a very good normalize function, cause it works over one song or over a bunch of musictitles (this is usefull for selfmade samplers)


...cu

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I have win XP pro and have nero installed


or goto C:Program FilesIllustratedBpowerAMPCompressionMp4 (CLI) and tell us how much files are there and how much size do they all have together

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There are seven files 1,37 MB (1 445 888 bytes).
Is mp4 better sounding than ogg vorbis?

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erm you should have

Directory of C:Program FilesIllustratedBpowerAMPCompressionMp4 (CLI)

06.01.2004 19:42
06.01.2004 19:42
16.12.2003 19:18 917.504 Aac.dll
16.12.2003 12:06 929.792 aacenc32.dll
23.12.2003 08:54 41 encode.bat
06.01.2004 19:42 0 files.txt
25.12.2003 08:17 1.060.864 MFC71.dll
25.12.2003 08:25 348.160 msvcr71.dll
08.09.2003 21:21 11.711 nencode.cpp
08.09.2003 21:21 9.728 nencode.exe
25.12.2003 09:43 363 Options.txt
20.12.2003 21:33 667 Original Options.txt
16.12.2003 19:18 212.992 wav.dll
11 File(s) 3.491.822 bytes
2 Dir(s) 2.287.890.432 bytes free

those files installed .... did you cange ur NERO installation dir or is it not NERO 6.3.0.x ???

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There are seven files 1,37 MB (1 445 888 bytes).
Is mp4 better sounding than ogg vorbis?


at very low bitrates yes, about 64kbts or lower

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very hard to say ... since both give very good quality from 128kb and more ... but what I would use .... see 1st post

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Hi,

good news: i have found a MP4 --> AAC Converter with Batch processing :angel:

Check this out:
http://home.wanadoo.nl/~w.speek/ivan&menno.htm
this is a nice gui for:
Patched MP4creator For handling AAC audio MPEG version when wrapping in in MP4 - MPEG4ip v 0.9.8.4 - by Enrico Palmeri - updated version
http://rarewares.hydrogenaudio.org/mp4.html
Extract it in the same directory as "ivan & menno.exe"

How to use:
go to the register "MP4Creator" --> Select "Convert MP4/M4A to AAC mpeg version as original" --> Add some Files and set the Output dirctory --> press go --> aacbatch.bat will be generated, start it and voila there are AAC Files :beer:



...cya

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never had any gap ... and for now I have no time to play around with this thing .... hehe my new RAID system is working ....