[Nix]

For the new Freespace music I've posted, I'd like to know what format you would like the music to be in.  Feel free to post other suggestions, but I have a feeling I'm either going to do this in FLAC or OGG.  The files inside the new VP are going to be OGG, but if people want a higher quality version of OGG, or FLAC instead, you all need to let me know.  So vote away and suggest away! 

[Flipside]

Well, depends what format they arrived in really, FLAC is a better format quality-wise but bigger file-wise. If they arrived as .oggs though, you won't get any benefit from converting them to FLAC.

[bonusbartus]

Think I read that he had them in wav:P so flac would be great...

But I think it depends on the engine, does the scp engine support flac? what is easier for the pc to play, what uses the least ammount of RAM? I think OGG would be enough for a game, as you can hear too many sounds mixed together to hear any quality dofference between a good ogg and a flac file...
and... with all the recent mods and mediavps the game already uses a big part of my hdd, so the smaller the better..
but that is my opinion
I use ogg to encode my cd's on a quality setting of 8 and I'm quite happy with it:)

[Nix]

The source files are mostly in 44K WAV format, uncompressed. 

[Flipside]

Yup, FLAC would give a better result in that case

However, I'm going to throw my lot in with high-res .ogg because I always have a devil of a time with FLAC codecs

[karajorma]

Since the VPs are going to have .ogg anyway I say we give Nix more work to do and ask for FLAC as well

[WMCoolmon]

I've found Musepack to be an excellent codec for compressing uncompressed CD-quality audio.

[Colonol Dekker]

Lame MP£ 

[Nix]

LAME= "Lame Aint (an) Mp3 Encoder".     Open source'd MP3 format.  I COULD use MainConcept but I tend to steer clear of commercialized versions of MP3 encoders. 

[Flipside]

Thing is, MP3, whilst being the smallest format, is the most most lossy compression, you'd probably fid that a high quality MP3 won't be that much better than the .oggs in the vp file. FLAC is one of the better lossless compression styles, though some people claim that .ogg is lossless, but in my experience, that's not true.

[taylor]

I think that OGG would be pretty good for most everyone (when made with a quality/compression level of about 7, ~250kbps) and would sound very close to a lossless FLAC or WAV version.  File size would be high, but I don't think it would be too bad (depends on the sound itself).  I wouldn't use a quality level of less than 6 though.  Anything more than 5 could be considered rather high for a game to use.  But with a game like this one I think that going with a bit better quality while sacrificing some CPU time and disk space would be worth it, since unlike most games, there will be far more opportunities to actually sit there and listen to the music while you play.  That's my opinion anyway.

For storage purposes I would say to leave it as WAV and/or convert to FLAC.  You obviously want it lossless so that it could be easily edited or converted into a different lossy format without dealing with even more quality loss.  I know that I would like one of these formats for myself (don't really care which), that could later be converted to OGG for use in the game as well.

FLAC is one of the better lossless compression styles, though some people claim that .ogg is lossless, but in my experience, that's not true.

OGG is most certainly lossy, it was designed that way.  Those people who claim otherwise just don't know anything about the format.

Though, this entire thread has been done by people who don't know the format all that well either it would seem.  OGG is a container, it has nothing to do with audio.  Vorbis is the audio format used in OGG files, hence why they call it "OGG Vorbis".  I think that's being a bit nitpicky to really complain about though.

[Flipside]

That's why I always put the full stop before .ogg, to denote it's an extension, not a brand

[castor]

I'd go for OGG or MP3, whichever is less CPU intensive to decode.
FLAC seems a bit overkill.. the quality of originals is going to be the limiting factor anyways.

[Flipside]

Well, they came as CD-Quality waves, I'm really not a big fan of MP3 unless size is an issue, they make a good 'notepad' format for moving music around, but if it's tonal quality and good reproduction you need, then it is pretty poor compared to other types.

[Nix]

Looks like when they get posted individually, they'll be FLAC files.  I agree with the benefits Lossless can give, in case they do need to be converted to WAV.  For me though they'll stay on the DVD in WAV format.. hehe.  Ogg Vorbis would be good, but you lose quality just like MP3.  I agree too that Vorbis audio is much better than MP3, I can hear a significant difference in cymbal crashes for example.

[Gregster2k]

Different OGG encoders can also produce significantly different quality, that's why I voted for FLAC. Some encoders are good or bad for different instrument noises. Also, even with OGG, the difference in quality is heard most significantly when you use a high quality speaker system and turn it up --- pure uncompressed sound tends to stay crisp. I don't have a high quality speaker system NOW, but I plan to get one, and when I do, I want to be able to blast my FS2 Cinema music, shake the windows, and have hardly any distortion e.g.FLAC.

Besides, if you REALLY want to play an action space sim, it must be LOUD. 

Highest quality OGGs are fine by me too, though.

[Turey]

I vote high quality .ogg for mv_music.vp, lossless FLAC for mv_advmusic.vp

[Nix]

Ok, hang on guys.  I need to get something straight here.  Does the engine support FLAC or not?  To my knowledge, it only supports OGG...??

[Flipside]

I certainly wasn't aware of it supporting FLAC in game.

[Turey]

AFAIK, the FLAC decoder is LGPL, so that shouldn't cause any problems.