MP3 vs M4A (AAC): what is the audio codec for portable devices which gives maximum independence?

Posted by akira on Super User See other posts from Super User or by akira
Published on 2009-10-08T07:39:01Z Indexed on 2012/04/03 17:34 UTC
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Filed under:

audio

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mp3

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codec

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m4a

A couple of years back MP3 was the most supported format for portable devices. Then Apple came along and wiped the floor of all the portable devices with the iPod as well as the iPhone. They clearly favour M4A (AAC).

When to choose, right now, the 'best' audio codec to encode music to, which would you choose to achieve maximal independence of portable device vendors: MP3 or M4A?

(I am well aware of Ogg (vorbis): no market (maybe this changes with HTML5 and more WebKit on portable devices), I am also aware of FLAC: I dont want to discuss long term storage.)

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