[an error occurred while processing this directive] Dare to compare!

A funny thing about demo pages; about a year ago when Microsoft put up a demo page trumpeting how the newly released WMA 8 beat Real 8 in 64kbps quality, they included a number of samples purportedly demonstrating that WMA was now clearly superior. I read the page at that time, shook my head and thought to myself, "Poor Real. Microsoft finally caught them." I didn't even listen to the samples, but I left the page with a clear idea in my head that WMA 8 really was better than Real.
Odd thing, though; a few months later I finally listened to those demo samples side by side... and was actually surprised to find that Real was clearly superior in every featured demo comparison. It wasn't even really close, and these were samples hand picked by Microsoft to show off WMA.
The slick page had suckered me-- ME-- of all people, and I obviously like to think I'm smarter than that.
So, I beg you, gentle visitor, to listen to the below comparisons and not just take my word that Ogg Vorbis 1.0 wins the comparison. Put on some good headphones, let the cat out and have some fun with it. We here at Xiph.Org worked carefully and diligently over the past several months improving every aspect of Vorbis, resulting in solid improvements in high bitrate reliability and a breathtaking improvement at low bitrate performance. I'd be annoyed to find out we could have spent half the time on a slick web page that fooled everyone into not actually listening. It would have saved alot of very hard work.
--Monty, lead developer of the Ogg Project 20020719

Low bitrate codec roundup

Ogg Vorbis's full CD-format low bitrate performance is our proudest point in this release. In this test we round up seven of the most popular encoders in use today, including Vorbis, in a 64kbps free-for-all. Vorbis's sharp attacks, full dynamics, crisp, stable treble and above all reliable quality across the length of sample are things to listen for.

There are two Ogg samples in this test; Ogg always performs best in its native VBR mode. CBR and ABR are lower quality techniques, but useful for streaming. Therefore, a 'streaming grade' version of the Ogg sample is also included, which sacrifices some quality for strict bitrate control (it is also the lowest bitrate sample in the test).

Track: #41 - Dave Matthews Band Sample; download original here
Length: 30s

pre-decompressed WAV files provided for folks who want to compare without installing a hundred decoders.

Format Ogg Vorbis MP3Pro Windows Media Audio 8 Real Audio 8 AAC (Quicktime) MP3Enc31 (MP3) Yamaha VQF

Mode -q 0 (VBR for highest quality) -b 64 --managed (ABR for streaming) 64kbps slowest high quality, allow mid/side, allow intensity stereo 64kbps 64kbps 64 kbps, no intensity stereo selectable, 32khz sampling by default 64kbps -qual 9, 22khz sampling by default 64 kbps high quality setting, 22khz sampling

Actual bitrate (kbps) 69 62 64 65 69 69 64 64

Download compressed sample .ogg .ogg .mp3 .wma .rm .mp4 .mp3

Download uncompressed WAV .wav .wav .wav .wav .wav .wav .wav .wav

Music collection: test of the Heavy Hitters

This test consists of two compilation samples that include a varied selection of music and percussion. About half of the clips included are from Microsoft's own WMA demos, a few come from high-fidelity digital demonstration sources and some are from Xiph.Org's codec tuning selection. The demo below is at mid (~128kbps) and low (~64kbps) bitrates.

We chose this longer test from a smaller set of the most popular 'cutting edge' formats today, Ogg, MP3, WMA and MP3Pro.

Track: Compilation.wav; download original here
Length: approximately one minute

pre-decompressed WAV files provided for folks who want to compare without installing a hundred decoders.

Compilation #1 Ogg Vorbis WMA8 MP3
(LAME 3.91) MP3Pro

mid-bitrate (128-ish kbps) .ogg
.wav .wma
.wav .mp3
.wav

low-bitrate (64-ish kbps) .ogg
.wav .wma
.wav .mp3
.wav .mp3
.wav

Track: Compilation2.wav; download original here
Length: approximately one minute

pre-decompressed WAV files provided for folks who want to compare without installing a hundred decoders.

Compilation #2 Ogg Vorbis WMA8 MP3
(LAME 3.91) MP3Pro

mid-bitrate (128-ish kbps) .ogg
.wav .wma
.wav .mp3
.wav

low-bitrate (64-ish kbps) .ogg
.wav .wma
.wav .mp3
.wav .mp3
.wav

The original Dare To Compare: Low and Lower Bitrate

Getting back to that original, vaguely odd WMA8 vs. Real demonstration. Completely aside from the fact that it contradicted all the carefully polished ad-speak surrounding it, one thing was obviously seriously wrong with it... Ogg wasn't included! It's vaguely like holding a political debate without inviting the ruling party.

In the spirit of correcting this grave omission, we offer the original WMA and RM audio samples from that test, along with Ogg at matching bitrates. To be perfectly honest, these samples are relatively very easy to compress, probably explaining why Microsoft chose them. The samples from the above demos are more realistic tests of a general pupose codec. Regardless, we now present, "The Original Dare To Compare, now with 100% More Ogg Goodness"

pre-decompressed WAV files provided for folks who want to compare without installing a hundred decoders.

Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major - J.S. Bach Livin' on Borrowed Time - Travis Tritt In the Dark - Mark Nelson Tonight - Mark Nelson

Ogg Vorbis -b 64 .ogg .wav .ogg .wav .ogg .wav .ogg .wav

WMA 64 kbps .wma .wav .wma .wav .wma .wav .wma .wav

Real 64 kbps .rm .wav .rm .wav .rm .wav .rm .wav

Ogg Vorbis -b 45 .ogg .wav .ogg .wav .ogg .wav .ogg .wav

WMA 48 kbps .wma .wav .wma .wav .wma .wav .wma .wav

Real 44 kbps .rm .wav .rm .wav .rm .wav .rm .wav

There's so much more to rave on and on about! For example, the only low bitrate comparisons we've done so far have been at CD rate 44.1kHz (except where the competition couldn't keep up and had to downsample). As of this release, Ogg also supports a number of modem-rate audio modes... all the way down to 8kbps mono and 12kbps stereo. However, this test page is getting long; we'll leave lower sample rate testing and comparison as an exercise for the reader. The motivated listener may also wish to sample FNR (#fnr on irc.freenode.net) which streams at mid and modem bitrates exclusively in Vorbis.

Thanks for reading and listening!

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