# State of the art in sound fidelity in video site (Youtube etc.)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 8, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-of-the-art-in-sound-fidelity-in-video-site-youtube-etc/605523 "2011-12-08T16:53:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-of-the-art-in-sound-fidelity-in-video-site-youtube-etc/605523/1 "2011-12-08T16:53:41Z")
I ditched my el cheapo computer sound system and reinstalled the spiffy Logitech one I had in a box (the sub is huge and I didn’t want to annoy my apartment neighbors too much, but eventually I couldn’t stand the tinny sound from the crap system). Anyway I’ve been listening to some Youtube videos lately, and the sound fidelity, range, etc. appears much improved from when I originally had the Logitech set up years ago. How close now is Youtube (etc.) to .mp3 quality? CD quality? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-of-the-art-in-sound-fidelity-in-video-site-youtube-etc/605523/2 "2011-12-08T17:10:51Z")
A couple of years ago they changed their video player. They now support a much wider range of higher quality video codecs. The quality is basically comparable to an mp3, and just like an mp3, the quality varies with the amount of compression used. The higher quality HD formats will have better sound, equivalent to higher bitrate mp3 quality. The compression algorithms are lossy, so they aren’t quite as good as a CD. ---
**Author:** ![DaveBfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DaveBfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveBfd)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-of-the-art-in-sound-fidelity-in-video-site-youtube-etc/605523/3 "2011-12-08T17:17:39Z")
As far as I know they max out at 256 kbps, based on the rate I get when using sites like [video2mp3.com](http://video2mp3.com). It could be higher though because the site could be limiting what they give me. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-of-the-art-in-sound-fidelity-in-video-site-youtube-etc/605523/4 "2011-12-08T23:55:00Z")
[One of my favorites – not me, not a shameless plug](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT8dAeHe7Ow&feature=player_embedded#!) but I still marvel at how Jim gets such good sound off club dates. Watch if you want to hear some kicking Hammond – I learned a bunch by listening to him, and he’s only a few years older than me. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-of-the-art-in-sound-fidelity-in-video-site-youtube-etc/605523/5 "2011-12-09T01:12:24Z")
I don’t know the specs, but I play all my computer sounds thru a decent HiHi system with a 20-20K Hz response (none of those itty-bitty-shitty computer speakers for me) and the most recent YouTube postings sound like high fidelity as I know it. My ears are pretty good, and musically trained, but not the same as a 20yo, so take that as a caveat. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-of-the-art-in-sound-fidelity-in-video-site-youtube-etc/605523/6 "2011-12-09T09:13:05Z")
[Everything you want to know about YouTube’s audio format and quality is summarized on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube#Quality_and_codecs). In brief, YouTube has always used MP3 for its audio, though nowadays other codecs are also used, such as AAC and Vorbis. Since these are all lossy compression schemes the quality will vary based on the compression ratio. Vorbis at 192kbps is going to be pretty much indistinguishable from CD quality. ---
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/state-of-the-art-in-sound-fidelity-in-video-site-youtube-etc/605523/7 "2011-12-10T05:17:33Z")
I canceled my Pandora premium subscription because the bitrate was only 128kbps. That’s the highest rate that I’ve noticed, but apparently a few go to 192 or 256 - [Battle of the Streaming Music Services](http://lifehacker.com/5608715/battle-of-the-streaming-music-services) I mostly listen to last.fm and that seems to be 128kbps. I can definitely hear the difference between that and a flac of the same song. I have a good mid-range amp and NHT’s in 7.1 so that probably helps but I would imagine any decent system would reveal the difference. I don’t really mind at low volume since the difference isn’t nearly as noticeable to me, but it definitely is at higher volumes.