What Type of Compression to Use to Rip Your Audio Music
  

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Contents

Introduction

Whether you are ripping your Audio CDs for personal usage or converting the music files stored on your PC, there's always a question of which format / compression to use for the output audio. There is no definite answer to this, as the choice will depend on your personal preferences as well as how you intend to use the output files. SoundTaxi includes the most popular conversion profiles as well as additional settings which will help you get the job done for any use case.

SoundTaxi is a really powerful conversion tool which will handle any input audio format that you can play on your PC - .AAC / M4A, .MP3, .WMA, .WAV, .OGG, .FLAC and will convert it to MP3, WAV, WMA or AAC / M4A of various compression quality.

Get the latest version of SoundTaxi

Upgrade your installation of SoundTaxi to the latest on on our official web-site. Download it from here. Running the current version helps you make sure you have up to date conversion profiles and optimal performence.

Pick the right output format for your needs

SoundTaxi supports all the most popular audio formats for your output files - MP3, WAV, WMA or AAC / M4A.

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WAV - is the lossless format of the bunch. Use it if you want to make sure the music ripped from your CDs or other high quality source is encoded without quality loss. Keep in mind though, that WMA- is a lossy native Windows audio format which is an optimal choice if you are only planning to use the output files on your Windows machine with Windows Media Player. Some portable players support this format as well. AAC / M4A - is a lossy audio format most commonly associated with Apple hardware / devices. If you are plan on additing the resulting files to iTunes library or transferring them to an Apple device, this is an optimal choice. MP3 - is by far the most common lossy audio format out there. Use it if you want best compatibility across various devices and platforms (except for Apple devices), which ensure your files can be played just about anywhere.

Go to SoundTaxi settings and select the output format in the "Encoder for video files" sub-section which suits your needs best based on the information above.

You can also adjust "Compression Quality" with output formats like WMA, AAC / M4A, MP3. Higher compression quality results in better (close to original output quality), but also in larger output file size. Keep in mind that for some audio content (podcasts, audiobooks), it's reasonable to use lower compression quality, since it won't affect the resulting audio by much.

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Locate and use the output audio files

Once you are done converting your audio files with the customized profile you chosen, the output files can be located in Windows Explorer by right clicking the conversion task and selecting "Locate output file". You can there proceed to enjoying your audio files on the devices you optimized them for.

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