bit rate: 128kbps or 97kpbs (VBR)?

Question

what is the difference???

what does the VBR at the end mean? does it compensate enough to have better sound quality than the 128kbps?

Answer 1

CBR = constant bit rate. It means that the encoder tries to always achieve that bit rate (in this case 128 kbps), regardless of the audio quality.

VBR stands for variable bit rate. That is, sometimes it can be above 97 kbps (say, 150) and sometimes well below (say 90) , depending on how hard it is to compress an audio segment, but on the average, it will be about 97. In general, VBR offers better quality.

Answer 2

The Smaller the bit rate, the smaller the file of the song. 128 is the most common, as it is the "middle" of bitrates, it goes as low as 64kbs and as high as 320kbs.. i believe, forgive me if im wrong:D

The higher the bitrate the higher the quality of the playback, vise versa for the lower. I would stick with 128, as it is the standard for MP3 players. That is how the got the "240 songs per gig) and 500 per 2 gig. they simply took 240 4 minute 128kbs songs and see how much space. 4 minutes is the standard length of a song, as is 128 the standard bit rate.

i may be wrong on this one to, buy i always thought VBR ment Variable Bit Rate, meaning it is adjustable. but i could be wrong as i am no expert.