Question:
What's the difference between the various stereo modes in MP3?
Answer:
'Joint Stereo' modes take advantage of the similarities between the L+R channels.
This allows more bits to be used in other areas and in many cases this can give
an overall gain in encoding quality. Almost all encoders use joint stereo when
encoding at 128 kbits.
Joint stereo has 2 submodes called IS and MS. 'Joint Stereo IS' destroys phase
information and shouldnt be used for high-quality encoding. 'Joint Stereo MS'
means Middle/Side and is OK for use in most encoding.
However, for some audio, Joint Stereo MS may create a 'flanging' or 'swishing'
effect. In these cases it's better to use 'Stereo mode'. This mode creates 2
independent channels for both left and right. When stereo mode is used, you
should also use a higher bitrate (160 or 192 kbits) - Stereo mode will allocate
about half of this bitrate for each channel.
In summary, for most audio, Joint Stereo MS at 128 or 160 kbits should be fine.
If your audio is especially 'wide' and creates flange you should use 'Stereo'
mode. You can change these modes in the Radium codec control panel.
For LAME MP3 codec you would need to use Advanced Settings option:
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