For those who interested. This is a first update since February 2012, which was 3.99.5, now it is 3.100 publically released.
Does it mean that they are back with further mp3 improving?

Changelog
https://svn.code.sf.net/p/lame/svn/trunk/lame/doc/html/history.html

 

You can't improve MP3 any further sound-wise. These are only small bug fixes, which is very nice of them. I haven't noticed any bugs in 3.99.5, though and I've been using it since its release.

It comes really handy when you need to send a mix/master preview fast to the client, but when it comes to music archiving FLAC which supports up to 24-bit audio is superior and when it comes to mix/master archiving WavPack which supports up to 32-bit FP audio is the only solution to compress those files without any loss, aside from RAR. These days we have more than enough HD space to handle these.

 

The problem is that not every one has a lot of gigabytes and terabytes on their pocket players, mobile phones etc. But lossy codecs like AAC a bit better (quality), opus etc.
Lame is a history already, but maybe they still want to fix improve....

 

Excellent point. I still have an old Sony Discman MP3 player, so I encode to MP3 to be able to play a bunch of songs from one CD.

Yeah, that shit still works after 16 years.

 

How do you install this lame update on a mac?

 

Should I convert all of my tracks to OPUS then? For smaller file size than mp3? But OPUS is 48k only.. Is it a good idea?

 

I've started using m4a format.

Advantages and Disadvantages of M4A Format

Advantages:
- M4A file is compressed while with lossless quality, which means you get smaller file with original quality.
- M4A audio can be set as iPhone Ringtone directly just by renaming the file extension from M4A to M4R.
- As the M4A audio file is not protected, so it can be easily streamed or distributed with no licenses or payments.


Disadvantages:
- Poor compatibility: developed by Apple Inc., M4A is mainly applied to iTunes, iPod and other Apple devices and can’t be widely played on many other popular devices.


What Players and Devices Can Open and Play A M4A File?

iPod, iPhone, iPad and other Apple devices; media players like Apple's own products iTunes, Quicktime; and some other limited M4A players also can play M4A files including Windows Media Player, 5KPlayer, VLC, Roxio Creator, KSP Sound Player, etc. >> Best Free M4A Player to Play All M4A Music Free


M4A vs MP3: Which One Is Better?

M4A vs MP3: M4A is generally regarded as the successor to MP3 but compared with MP3, M4A can compress audio with the same bit rate in smaller file size. M4A format files typically have stereo bit rate of 128kbps, 192 kbps or 256kbps. By the way, Bit rate is the amount of data that is conveyed per unit of time.


In the aspect of quality, an M4A file with ALAC codec has the best original sound quality. Even M4A (AAC) delivers better quality than MP3 audio at the same bit rate. As for the file size, it is also related to the bit rate, the larger bit rate, the larger file size, the better sound quality. To put it another way, if you try to get the same sound quality, you need 256kbps bit rate when encoding with MP3 while only need 192kbps with M4A, as a result, you'll get a much smaller audio file size with M4A. However, MP3 is still the most popular audio format thanks to its much better compatibility.


It's arbitrary to say that M4A is better than MP3, choosing which audio format still depends on your own needs.

 

Dont go into that hole, go with SineWave, flac or nothing if you wanna store your stuff, if you're just mobile listening whatever fits you, i once recorded like 40 cds full of 128kbps mp3, we're talking at least 15 years ago, i still have those, pirate discography of almost entire Warp rooster, Aphex, Squarepusher, Luke Vibert, Chris Clark anyway, i regret a lot about it, i remember transcoding and deleting a lot of 320 wich is now a minimum standard at least for me.

 

Almost everything can read MP3...That's the key.
And if i REALLY feel the need for lossless...i just get the original CD :D

VBR 192 or CBR 320

 

This is an invalid statement as M4A is NOT A FORMAT. It means the MPEG-4 container. MPEG-4 container can store many codecs, includeing ALAC & AAC (as you mention below), and even video, since m4a is simply a convention - it could be mp4, m4v, etc.

M4a file can also store lossless ALS audio

You're forgetting androiud smartphones, pretty much all of them can play AAC, recent nokia phones (2007+), so 'poor compatibility' is a total non-issue.

Quality is subjective. Perhaps V0 can be better & smaller in some cases, see here.

 

Thanks for the clarifications on M4a, I just copied that from a site that had the description. I knew it wan't lossless so I don't know why I copied it.

 

you can check encoding details of your audio files with apps like Mediainfo
https://www.videohelp.com/software/MediaInfo

 

FLAC for archiving and main playback from HDD, Opus as portable and transport codec (140kbps VBR is perfectly transparent).
For all other uses AAC

 

I remember using musicmatch converter back in those days.. 2000.

 

try now https://docs.google.com/document/d/...GXm52ykMy_F0RD6-z-sn2dxctb-Wd0gDNQ2u7hbU8/pub

 

You can build from source yourself, or wait till your GUI includes the updated LAME. Btw, 3100 is only VERY SMALL CHANGES that don't affect the quality. It's more of a maintenance upd8.

Imo, not worth the hassle for a ~small quality gain at increased incompatility.