To rip your music CDs to an audio format like MP3, WMA, or AAC, or convert between formats, it’s a good idea to know what CBR and VBR mean before you start. We’ve compared these two encoding methods so you can make the best choice for your music collection.
CBR vs VBR and Which Bitrate is Best for You!
There are many factors that affect the quality of your digital music library. Bitrate is one of them. Whether you’re looking for the best quality rips or you want to maximize the space on your mobile device, it’s important to weigh your options when choosing bitrate.
CBR stands for Constant Bit Rate and is an encoding method that keeps the bit rate the same. VBR, on the other hand, is a variable bit rate. When audio data is encoded by a codec, a fixed value is used, such as 128, 256, or 320 Kbps.
The advantage of using the CBR method is that audio data is typically processed faster than the alternatives. However, the files that are created are not as well optimized for quality versus storage as they are with VBR.
