.wma vs mp3

[kschwi]

For voice recordings (old sports recordings)which is the better format, .wma or mp3?

[Mephesto]

WMA is always superior to MP3, but nobody really uses WMA. Use MP4 instead, it's superior to WMA.

[jman98]

Define what you mean by "better". That's too vague.

MP3 is supported by almost everything, so playback is no problem.

WMA is arguably better technology, but not as well supported as MP3.

If you use mono and 96 Kbps, it should be OK for voice recordings in MP3 format and strike a good balance between quality and file size. I do not personally recommend using VBR and feel that CBR is better as VBR can in some small number of cases cause playback problems. CBR is just safer to use. But if this is just for stuff you are going to play and nobody else is you can play with VBR vs. CBR and maybe try larger or smaller bit rates and see what you like.

I find the recommendation to use MP4 (you will know this as AAC) to be even more dubious than WMA. You can really shoot yourself in the foot with MP4 as the format allows you to use options that may be very poorly supported outside of playing the files on a PC. AAC is fine quality, but the reality is that MP3 is the best supported format. Honestly, at a high enough bit rate you're not really going to be able to tell any difference between any of these.

[MOVIEGEEK]

At 160Kbps or higher you can't hear any difference with voice, no matter which codec you use. As was mentioned MP3 has the best support.