next »

[Cris]

There are a lot of test results and compares on the web stating which audio format/encoder is the best at quality/size. I don't really care about these tests, because I don't hear that much difference when listening to music (and besides the quality depends on too many things: speakers, player, how many times has a song been encoded/decoded before, and so on...)

But what about CPU consumption? That's what I care more. Which is the format/encoder which consumes the least CPU resources when a song is being played?
Everyone is welcome to post an opinion.

[Dotpitch]

My guess is MP3. MPEG I was introduced years ago (around 1992?), and it was designed to run on all kinds of processors, even the slow ones (like in the cheap mp3-players nowadays). WMA is a lot newer, and using less bandwidth to achieve the same quality usually means more consumption of processor power. And Vorbis... dunno, I don't think it's really optimized to the bone . I think it's about as heavy as WMA.

On the other hand, it's not like I notice the difference in playing different formats. Modern processors don't care about 3% or 4% processor load, and my mp3-player can play them all at maximum bitrate.

[Cris]

Modern processors don't care about 3% or 4% processor load

You're right. In normal conditions you shouldn't notice any difference between CPU usage of different formats. But the difference appears when the CPU is already busy doing something else (like when gaming). So that's the purpose of this poll: to see which format performs best when there's a high CPU load.

[Jace]

Some tests (mp3 vs Ogg) have been made on certain portable audio players and the results would hint that mp3 would indeed use less cpu-time. At least when battery is loaded fully, only mp3-files on the playlist, the battery lasts a little while longer than when listening to similar-quality Ogg files. More cpu load -> more power use -> shorter battery life.
But the differences aren't really that noteworthy; if my memory serves me right, the difference was measured in minutes (total battery life hanging around 14 hours).
Not certain if it's all that much about optimisation either, rather how complex decoding algorithms need to be used. Don't quote me on that though.

[Torkell]

MP3 is lighter on the CPU than WMA, but I'm not sure where OGG places.

[Krazy Hawaiian]

Maybe MP3 Pro. I have a encoder in Jet Audio that makes extremely small files at 64 bits that sound identical to a 198 bit MP3  they will play with normal decoders only the encoder is different. Pretty amazing stuff.

[Zarggg]

Ogg Vorbis is slightly more CPU-intensive than MP3. There's a chart somewhere on HydrogenAudio that compares different formats on different portable players, but I forget which thread.

[Dreamy]

Most of MP3s are playable on 486DX2 66Mhz 8MB RAM...