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[Rule]The bitrate of a song must be no higher than 192kbps

posted
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13
LKs
3,119 posts
Joined August 2009
Topic Starter
LKs
The song's audio file must be of reasonable quality. Try and source mp3 files yourself; ripping them from a streaming video site often results in low quality audio with high file sizes. The bitrate of a beatmap's audio file must be no lower than 128kbps and no higher than 192kbps. If you are having trouble acquiring an appropriate audio file, contact one of the more audio-savvy BAT; they will be more than happy to help find an mp3 for you.
Why I oppose:

  1. this rule is actually self-contradictory. I don't think resonable is equal to a bitrate around 128~192kbps (at least not in all situations).
  2. In fact, force a tv size song(or a song shorter than 2.5 mins) to reduce its bitrate is unreasonable. The most important reason we have this rule is to save space of a map. but if it is small, why we still have to save the tiny compressible space/size?
  3. low bitrate influences the auditory impression of songs. Those who has professional sound equipment/headphone like me will be limited from getting better feeling when listening.
I tried to convert a 320kbps song(5.X MB) to a 192kbps song(3.X MB) and find that the convert only save less than 2MB of space. Comparing to the huge losses of auditory impression, is it really sensible to save 2MB space?

Solution:

To make this rule more changeable and reasonable, I'd suggest rewriting it like below:

The song's audio file must be of reasonable quality.If the audio file is shorter than 2.5 mins, the bitrate of the it must be no lower than 192kbps and no higher than 320kbps. If the audio file's lenghth ecxeeds 2.5 mins, bitrate of is must be no lower than 128kbps and no higher than 192kbps.
The concrete number of bitrate limitation can be decided after discussion in my opinion. But I'd like to see my suggestion is necessary and can be taken seriously.
LKs
3,119 posts
Joined August 2009
Topic Starter
LKs
Someone told me this is because of copyright. sigh
Sync
osu! Alumni
1,575 posts
Joined April 2011
Sync
the difference between 320 and 192 is minuscule (to human ears) if encoded properly

(don't encode from a lossy -> lossy, always encode lossless (.wav, .flac, .aac) --> 192-128kb/s .mp3 for the sake of osu)
LKs
3,119 posts
Joined August 2009
Topic Starter
LKs

Sync wrote:

the difference between 320 and 192 is minuscule (to human ears) if encoded properly

(don't encode from a lossy -> lossy, always encode lossless (.wav, .flac, .aac) --> 192-128kb/s .mp3 for the sake of osu)
1. You can not get pure lossless tracks even if you buy CDs on the market.
2. Quite a number of players have headphones like Sennheiser PX/CX/HD series, ATH-xx series, AKG K4X0 and something alike. They have a higher requirement on listening. At any rate, 192 is too coarse for human ears. Nobody prefers to download a 192kbps album on MF or other websites isn't it?
3. osu! is a music game with no doubt, a MUG, which is mature and highly-developed. It is much to be regretted that the most important aspect(music) isn't as well as the other aspects(blablablah).
Shiro
Global Moderator
4,984 posts
Joined May 2009
Shiro
This rule exists because peppy doesn't want to distribute high-quality audio files. This is not changing.
Wylo
346 posts
Joined October 2010
Wylo
If it does have something to do with copyright, which I'm pretty sure it does. I think it's alright for TV-sized songs to have a high bitrate (>192 kbps) and only impose that limit to a full length or radio edit songs.

Edit: Meh, I typed too slow.
LKs
3,119 posts
Joined August 2009
Topic Starter
LKs

Odaril wrote:

This rule exists because peppy doesn't want to distribute high-quality audio files. This is not changing.
If what you said is the real reason, this rule definitely can not prevent anything

Mappers can easily attach a high-quality or lossless link of the audio on creator's words if they intend to.


And you didn't take this in to account, so this rule still need to be rewrited.
Sync
osu! Alumni
1,575 posts
Joined April 2011
Sync
I figured it would be to save bandwidth

also there are plenty of sources where you can find lossless albums
LKs
3,119 posts
Joined August 2009
Topic Starter
LKs

Sync wrote:

I figured it would be to save bandwidth

also there are plenty of sources where you can find lossless albums
It's obvious saving bandwidth is not the principal reason since Odaril said ppy doesn't want to spread xxxxx

And saving bandwidth by reducing bitrate is useless. A map can be large even if its quality is low, as long as it's long. Meanwhile, low-quality won't save a lot.
bwross
265 posts
Joined December 2009
bwross

LKs wrote:

Sync wrote:

the difference between 320 and 192 is minuscule (to human ears) if encoded properly

(don't encode from a lossy -> lossy, always encode lossless (.wav, .flac, .aac) --> 192-128kb/s .mp3 for the sake of osu)
1. You can not get pure lossless tracks even if you buy CDs on the market.
Only in the sense that all sound is analog, and an analog to digital conversion will never completely preserve the original.

CDDA isn't lossy compressed, it isn't even compressed. The 16-bit PCM encoding provides far more dynamic range than is used in almost every song (really, they intentionally under utilize it during mixing, in favour of making things as loud as possible without clipping). And the 44100Hz rate is capable of handling Two-Mix's 9th octave backgound melody in White Reflection over top of a busy low end without any problem... very few songs require anything near that level (most music avoids notes up in the 9th octave... many people can't hear it anyways, and many of those that can will find it painful). Yes, you could go to higher fidelity levels in your digital recording... however, since it's going to be converted to mp3, that would be pointless. CDDA is lossless for that purpose.

2. Quite a number of players have headphones like Sennheiser PX/CX/HD series, ATH-xx series, AKG K4X0 and something alike. They have a higher requirement on listening. At any rate, 192 is too coarse for human ears. Nobody prefers to download a 192kbps album on MF or other websites isn't it?
I have multiple Senns. I often download 192kbps on purpose... it keeps my bandwidth down, gives me a nice sized version for putting on an mp3 player, and if I want a good quality version I'll buy a lossless one. Typically, 192k is good enough for game music... as I'm not really listening intently to the music, because my focus is split (and if I'm really listening, with my Senns on, then the artifacts at 320k are going to stand out... only lossless will do). What does bother me is artifacts from bad encodings or transcoding from lossy. Things like Sweater - No.7, which clips horribly and is extremely painful to listen to.
LKs
3,119 posts
Joined August 2009
Topic Starter
LKs

bwross wrote:

I have multiple Senns.me 2:p I often download 192kbps on purpose... it keeps my bandwidth down, gives me a nice sized version for putting on an mp3 player, and if I want a good quality version I'll buy a lossless one. It's too hard to buy those CDs in Mainland China. I'm serious. Typically, 192k is good enough for game music... as I'm not really listening intently to the music, because my focus is split (and if I'm really listening, with my Senns on, then the artifacts at 320k are going to stand out... only lossless will do). meh, I'm a mapper who really know audio is vatal to a map. Everytimes I begin to map sth, I'm sooo annoyed by the painful audio quality. Also, the decoder of osu! itself is imperfect(although idk if it is based on other decoders). What does bother me is artifacts from bad encodings or transcoding from lossy. Things like Sweater - No.7, which clips horribly and is extremely painful to listen to.
Shiro
Global Moderator
4,984 posts
Joined May 2009
Shiro
Already said the rule wasn't changing, so no point in discussing this.
Ephemeral
Inland Empire
3,945 posts
Joined April 2009
Ephemeral

LKs wrote:

Odaril wrote:

This rule exists because peppy doesn't want to distribute high-quality audio files. This is not changing.
If what you said is the real reason, this rule definitely can not prevent anything

Mappers can easily attach a high-quality or lossless link of the audio on creator's words if they intend to.


And you didn't take this in to account, so this rule still need to be rewrited.
Then they are free to do that through their own devices - osu! will not be a willing party to distributing high-quality audio. We are shifty enough with copyright as it is.

As Odaril mentioned, this rule is non-negotiable under any circumstances. 192kbps audio is of sufficient quality for play, and I say this as an audiophile myself.
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