Updated: Jun 26/25

MusePack (.mpc) is a lossy compressed format considered to be the best of all codecs at moderate to high bitrates. At lower bandwidths of 128 Kbps, any benefits over OGG are less clear. MPC uses subband-based selectable channel coupling, Huffman coding, differential Huffman coding. Typical data rates are between 160 and 200 kbps. Mmuspack encoder uses a frequency range that can reach up to 22KHz. This is because many people can hear sounds above 16KHz even when it is sometimes hard to hear anything but it makes a lot of difference in sound dynamics.

Musepack codec

  • Musepack Trac compile tutorial
  • Wiki on format
  • Features

    Opus codec

  • Opus-codec Latest efficient replacement to Vorbis

    Organizations

  • Rarewares ogg, mp3 tools
  • Xiph Foundation developer of Vorbis, Flac and other multimedia formats. Download of tools/players
  • Ogg Vorbis News and info on format
  • Icecast broadcasting system that streams music in Ogg Vorbis.
  • Free Software Foundation play ogg
  • Hydrogen Wiki
  • Recommended Vorbis encoders

    Comparison of encoding

  • Comparison of decoding times
  • Lossless comparison encoders

    Sound files

  • Freepats system sounds
  • Piano-midi classical
  • Wikimedia midi ebook speech music
  • Wikipedia

    Music streaming

  • Ogg friendly sites
  • Xiph radio list
  • Musicgoal

    Encoding desired parameter

  • 185bps: mpcenc --quality 5.35 add -silent for batch mode, no statistics while encoding
  • 192bps: oggenc -q6, for music
  • 23bps: oggenc -q1.2 --resample 12000 --downmix, voice only mono for audiobooks or speaking
  • Vorbis encoding is dynamic, above bitrates are a midpoint. File may be higher or lower based on composition. Musepack always variable bitrate.