Size differences between WAV, OGG, MP3
Ever since getting the Sandisk Sansa e280 (yes, so much better than the iPod Nano, if you must know), I’ve been interested in the Voice recording feature. I fiddled with it today, to give it a bit of a test, as I plan on conducting audio interviews.
Once recorded, it outputs WAV files. This is easily accessible in Linux, in the RECORD folder. So I played around with converting the original WAV file into an OGG and MP3. Quick findings:
- WAV: RIFF (little-endian) data, WAVE audio, Microsoft PCM, 16 bit, mono 16000 Hz size at 1020K
- OGG: Ogg data, Vorbis audio, mono, 16000 Hz, ~48000 bps, created by: Xiph.Org libVorbis I, sized at 148K, converted via oggenc 071203_01.wav -o 071203_01.ogg
- MP3: MPEG ADTS, layer III, v2, 24 kBits, 16 kHz, Monaural, sized at 104K, converted via lame 071203_01.wav
This was on a clip that was 32 seconds in length. The MP3 is smaller than the OGG, and there’s no noticeable sound difference between all the 3 formats. Is there something to make the OGGs generated by oggenc smaller? I’m happy if they just match the MP3 file sizes, to be honest.
Time to start podcasting? :)
Technorati Tags: ogg, wav, mp3, size, sansa e280, sandisk, oggenc, lame
Regarding oggenc: lower the bitrate with -b parameter or quality with -q parameter. Also you might consider speex codec, which is a patent-free codec tuned for speech.
Ditto to the speex suggestion. If these are really voice recordings, Speex should shine here.
(And definitely try -q 0 with oggenc. It works amazingly well, considering the small output, for music.)