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I was about to go convert some sound effects I made through databending images into another audio format but I thought about a discussion. And... I'm also a bit lost as to what audio file format I should convert to.
Alright guys, which audio file format do you think is best in terms of memory, compression, abilities, etc.: MP3s, WAVs, OGGs or WMAs? :o
I know WAV files are freakin' huge in memory use! Err, at least that's what I know from my experiences. D:
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Well, I'd say either MP3 or OGG. And it's entirely dependent on if you're worried about filesize. If you're not, go mp3. It's got a great, adjustable quality, and is relatively small. OGG is lower quality, but is a bit smaller. Don't use WAV, it's not worth it. Not everyone has a 1TB/Second connection :P
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It's not in your list and it's generally not supported by makers, but for other uses, Monkey's audio (.ape) is great. Lossless compression -> quality and reduced size.
For a game I'd always go with mp3.
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Here's a few things to consider:
MP3 is actually an owned/trademarked format. So if anyone plans to make money on their games, they will be required to pay the owner (The Fraunhofer Institute) for licensing:
http://www.mp3licensing.com
Now the benefits of MP3 are reduced filesize from the standard .wav format. And since RPGMaker XP plays streaming MP3 files, you can loop the music with no noticable pause or break when the music re-starts.
Ogg or "Ogg Vorbis is a completely open, patent-free, professional audio encoding and streaming technology with all the benefits of Open Source." - Vorbis.com. Yep, I got that from the official website, and what that means is FREE USE dude. No royalties to pay unless you wanna use someone else's music or sound effects.
The benefits of .Ogg are similar filesizes to MP3 (maybe marginally larger or smaller), and decent quality. RPGMaker XP doesn't have streaming Ogg support, so it isn't suited for long 'looping' music pieces. It will have to fully load the file before playing the piece. However, RMVX does have streaming support for Ogg files with a running length of 3 seconds or more.
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Relatively, .ogg has smaller sizes than .mp3 with the same lengths. I prefer them in use of BGM and BGSs.
If filesizes are to a great concern, .mid is a great choice :D You'd have to bear with the synthetic MIDI library though. And if you don't have a MIDI library (Microsoft GS Wavelength Synth/Kontakt Audio/GStreamer/Fluidsynth/DLS Music Device)
Sound effects, I use .wav mainly because they're short so it doesn't matter much, and I am too lazy to convert ripped sound effects :D
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MP3 is the winner in my opinion. :D
Ogg is great of course.
Midi is good too.
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For me OGG for sound effects but MP3 is useful if you need songs that need to be looped. Though it's a lot better to use OGG in the long run to reduce file size on a project.
Which audio file format is best?
