LAME

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LAME (LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder) is the recommended encoder. It has been developed by the open-source community since 1998, and has become the highest quality encoder for most purposes.

Some benefits for using LAME

Note: These settings require Lame 3.90 or later. Lame 3.97b found on this website is the recommended version (Check here to download)

Note: At a given bitrate range, the quality scale usually works to where VBR is higher quality than ABR which is higher quality than CBR (CBR < ABR < VBR in terms of quality). The exception to this is when you choose the highest possible CBR bitrate which is 320kbps. In the case of the named VBR profiles "standard" and "extreme" they are usually "effectively" equal in quality to high bitrate cbr, in the range of around 256 kbps due to their ability to scale down the bitrate when necessary but increase the bitrate beyond 256 kbps on a frame by frame basis also, when that is necessary.


Encoder Presets

Recommended Preset

  • --preset standard (~190 kbit/s, typical 180 ... 220. Best quality / size ratio)

Other Presets

  • --preset fast standard (~190 kbit/s, faster but potentially lower quality)
  • --preset extreme (~250 kbit/s, typical 220 ... 270. Quality can be a little better than standard)
  • --preset fast extreme (~250 kbit/s, faster but potentially lower quality)
  • --preset insane (320 kbit/s CBR, highest possible quality, that can be a little higher than extreme)


VBR (Variable bitrate) settings

  • VBR can be useful to get good quality from a specific quality level. Size is less predictable than with ABR, but the quality is usually better.

-V(number) where number is 0-9, 0 being highest quality, 9 being the lowest.

Lame 3.96.1 -V n, Presets, bitrates and lowpass of V values
Switch Preset Target Kbps Y Switch -b Lowpass Resample
-V 0 --preset extreme ~240 128 19383 Hz - 19916 Hz
-V 0 --vbr-new --preset fast extreme ~240 128 19383 Hz - 19916 Hz
-V 1 ~210 128 18671 Hz - 19205 Hz
-V 1 --vbr-new ~210 128 18671 Hz - 19205 Hz
-V 2 --preset standard ~190 128 18671 Hz - 19205 Hz
-V 2 --vbr-new --preset fast standard ~190 128 18671 Hz - 19205 Hz
-V 3 ~175 Y 17960 Hz - 18494 Hz
-V 3 --vbr-new ~175 Y 17960 Hz - 18494 Hz
-V 4 --preset medium ~165 Y 17960 Hz - 18494 Hz
-V 4 --vbr-new --preset fast medium ~165 Y 17960 Hz - 18494 Hz
-V 5 ~130 Y 16538 Hz - 17071 Hz
-V 5 --vbr-new ~130 Y 16538 Hz - 17071 Hz
-V 6 ~115 Y 15826 Hz - 16360 Hz
-V 6 --vbr-new ~115 Y 15826 Hz - 16360 Hz
-V 7 ~100 Y 14581 Hz - 14968 Hz 32000 Hz
-V 7 --vbr-new ~100 Y 14581 Hz - 14968 Hz 32000 Hz
-V 8 ~85 Y 12516 Hz - 12903 Hz 32000 Hz
-V 8 --vbr-new ~85 Y 12516 Hz - 12903 Hz 32000 Hz
-V 9 ~65 Y 9774 Hz - 10065 Hz 24000 Hz
-V 9 --vbr-new ~65 Y 9774 Hz - 10065 Hz 24000 Hz

ABR (average bitrate) settings

(128 kbit/s ABR: roughly the same filesize as 128 kbit/s CBR)

  • ABR Setting tuned from 320 kbit/s down to 80 kbit/s
    • --preset <bitrate> or --abr <bitrate>
Example: --preset 200
  • 128 kbit/s ABR
    • -V5 --athaa-sensitivity 1 (when using >= LAME 3.96.1, for best results at 128kbps)
    • --preset 128
or (ff123's and Hans' suggestion: http://www.ff123.net/cbr128.html ):
--abr 128 -h --nspsytune --athtype 2 --lowpass 16 --ns-bass -8 --scale 0.93
but this is only for older Lame versions like 3.90.3, NOT for Lame 3.97b1 and later !

CBR (constant bitrate) settings

  • CBR Setting tuned from 320 kbit/s down to 80 kbit/s
    • --alt-preset cbr <bitrate>
Example: --alt-preset cbr 96
  • 128 kbit/s CBR
    • -b 128 or --preset cbr 128
or: (only for older Lame versions like 3.90.3, NOT recommended for Lame > 3.97b1)(ff123's and Hans' suggestion: http://www.ff123.net/cbr128.html ):
-h --nspsytune --athtype 2 --lowpass 16 --ns-bass -8 --scale 0.93
note: --preset cbr 320 is the exact same thing as --preset insane

Additional reading