Reference

Reference

Plain-English reference pages for the terms people run into when choosing, playing, converting, streaming, or archiving media.

Audio quality What actually matters?

Audio Quality Explained

What is Hi-Res Audio?

Hi-Res Audio Explained

Bluetooth audio codecs explained

What are Bluetooth Audio Codecs?

What is a Codec?

What is a Codec?

What is a Format?

What is a Container Format?

NOS DACs What is a non-oversampling DAC?

What is a NOS DAC?

NOS R2R DACs What is a ladder DAC?

What is a NOS R2R DAC?

What is AAC?

What is AAC?

What is Bitrate?

What is Bitrate?

Average bitrate (ABR)

How ABR differs from CBR and VBR, and why entropy coding affects bitrate demand.

LAME MP3 Encoder

Command-line MP3 encoding, VBR, ABR, and branch context.

Constrained VBR (cVBR)

VBR with a stricter minimum bitrate floor.

cVBRb bitrate boost

Optional boost behaviour for more conservative MP3 frame allocation.

What is DSD? (Direct Stream Digital Explained)

What is DSD?

What is DXD? (Digital eXtreme Definition Explained)

What is DXD?

What is LAME MP3?

What is LAME MP3?

What is Lossless Audio?

What Is Lossless Audio?

What is MP3?

What is MP3?

What is SACD? (Super Audio CD Explained)

What is SACD?

What is Explained

What is THX?

Upsampling Does it improve audio?

What is Upsampling?

What is WAV?

What is WAV?

Why LAME MP3 still matters

Why LAME MP3 Still Matters