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Add to SafariWhen comparing Advanced Audio Coding (m4a) vs MP3, the Slant community recommends Advanced Audio Coding (m4a) for most people. In the question“What is the best audio codec for music” Advanced Audio Coding (m4a) is ranked 1st while MP3 is ranked 6th. The most important reason people chose Advanced Audio Coding (m4a) is:
Its MDCT-only compression algorithm makes it very efficient, retaining more data than MP3 at the same bitrate.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Efficient compression
Its MDCT-only compression algorithm makes it very efficient, retaining more data than MP3 at the same bitrate.
Pro Universal
Being a mature format, its compatibility is universal and its use is widespread.
Cons
Con Lossy
Loses audio data through compression.
Con Not free
An open standard, but licensing fees apply.
Con Bitrate cap
According to its ISO standards, MP3 is not to be encoded at over 320kbps bitrate.
Con Lossy
Loses (a lot of) audio data to compression.
Con Inefficient compression
Its compression algorithms lacks behind AAC in terms of efficiency and loses more audio data at the same bitrate.
