You might be wondering which audio coding format between the Opus and AAC is better to get the best listening experience from the versatile bit music. The debate of Opus vs AAC started in 2012 when Opus initially came to the market.
On the other hand, the advanced audio coding system or AAC has been there since 1997. So, let’s find out which one of these two coding systems is better for your music craving!
What Is AAC Audio Format?
AAC a coding standard for audio. The full form of AAC is Advanced Audio Coding, and it is used for lossy digital audio compression. AAC encoders typically provide better sound quality because it was designed to replace the MP3 format.
As a component of the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 specifications, AAC has been updated by ISO and IEC. The MPEG-4 Audio component HE-AAC (“AAC+”), which is a component of AAC, has been inserted into mobile television standards DVB-H and ATSC-M/H.
This system is also used two digital radio standards. The AAC format can support 48 bandwidth. Eight blocks of 128 points or a single MDCT block of 1024 points can be switched between dynamically by AAC encoders.
AAC has a modular encoding strategy. Implementers may establish profiles to specify which of a particular set of tools they wish to employ for a given application. They can do it depending on the complexity of the bit stream. For the preferred performance, and the satisfactory output it can be encoded in the specific bit stream.
Benefits of AAC Audio Format
This coding system was introduced to overcome music lovers’ drawbacks with the mp3 system. Here is the list of some revolutionary benefits and updates of the AAC system:
- Compared to MP3, it has better sound quality.
- It covers various devices, including Apple, Nokia, and Blackberry models. All of them are compatible with it.
- This system provides smaller coded files than mp3.
- This one exhibits a superior reaction to high frequency compared to other coding audio formats.
- It has the capacity to reduce data rates in streaming audio applications automatically.
Disadvantages of AAC Audio Format
This coding system is classic and old but has some drawbacks too. Let’s take a look at the drawbacks of this system:
- You can not use unlimited hardware with this system.
- The latest devices do not support this system.
- Though the file size is smaller in the AAC system, it is very difficult to organize the files.
What Are The Three Categories Of AAC?
The advanced audio coding categories have been defined in three formats. Namely:
1. Low-Complexity Profile
As the predictors provide an estimate of the sample value or data piece presently being decoded and the gain control tool, low complexity profiles prevent the use of prediction. It also fixes the noise shaping of temporal.
2. Main Profile
This profile holds the best quality coding mechanism. It amalgamates all the functions and orders them properly, and it is the head profile of this coding system.
3. Scalable Sampling Rate profile
It can decode the most valuable subsets of the coded bit stream, which are often arranged hierarchically.
What is Opus Audio Format?
Opus is built to deal with a variety of interactive audio applications. The codec is used for Voice over IP, video-conferencing, in-game chat, and even live and distributed music concerts.
It ranges from 6 Kbit per second for low-bitrate narrowband voice to 510 Kbit for high-quality stereo audio. Besides, the algorithmic delays can be from 5 ms to 65.2 ms. To accomplish good compression of both voice and music, Opus employs both Linear Prediction and the Modified Discrete Cosine Transform.
Also, the opus codec contains a variety of monitoring parameters. These parameters can be adjusted dynamically while the codec runs without interfering with the audio track from its encoder to the decoder.
Which Is Better AAC or Opus? Comparison
| Grounds Of Comparison | AAC | OPUS |
| Coding | Lossy | Lossy |
| Bit rate | Up to 144 | Up to 112 |
| Music Genre | Better for classic music | Better for lower-rate music |
| Starvation | Suffers bitrate starvation | Smoother bitrate |
| Compatibility | Compatible with most the modern devices | Not compatible with popular modern devices and apps |
| Extension | .aac/.m3a | .opus |
| Coding flaw | Lossy flaws | Perfect lossy coding |
| Distortion | Distortion happens at 80kbps | No distortion occurs at a lower rate. |
So, it is clear from the above table that if you want to listen to the lower bitrate music, then Opus is better. On the other hand, AAC provides better sound quality for classical music.
Does Apple Support OPUS?
As we have mentioned, most popular devices and apps do not support the opus audio coding system. Apple is one of them. It does not support opus audio directly. In order to play opus audio on an Apple device, you have to convert the opus audio to mp3 or any Apple-supported version of the audio.
You can do the conversion from any converter app, or you can do it from your Apple device. Follow these three steps to convert an opus audio file to Apple supported audio file. The steps are:
- Firstly, You have to choose the file from the files,
- Secondly, you have to press the conversion button,
- Lastly, you have to download it.
How Do You Convert AAC to OPUS?
If you prefer Opus over AAC and your music is in the format of AAC, you can always convert it into Opus. In order to convert an AAC audio to Opus, you have to follow five steps. Let’s go through the steps:
Step 01:
Go to the Google play store and download any audio converter app which is highly rated or strongly recommended by previous users. You can search on Google too. Just search “aac to opus converter app” and download it from the Google play store.
Step 02:
Open the app, and you will find a button named “import audio file.” Press the button, and it will take you to your files. Then choose the AAC file that you want to convert into Opus.
Step 03:
Choose the output format, which is Opus in your case. So, click the opus option.
Step 04:
Now, press the convert button and wait while converting. Please do not close the app while it is converting your audio.
Step 05:
After the conversion, some apps automatically download the new audio, but some apps will show the download button. Then you have to download the new audio and enjoy.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. Is Opus code good enough for modern music?
Opus performs superbly in every context, which is one of the key factors contributing to its popularity. As you can see, Opus offers higher quality at lower bitrates than other well-known internet audio codecs. So, if your modern music is of a low bit rate, then Opus is highly recommended.
2. Why did Spotify switch to Opus?
To enhance sound quality and bandwidth usage, Spotify switched to the OPUS codec. Spotify has been utilizing Vorbis and AAC for some time. These are both excellent audio formats, but OPUS is technically superior to both of them.
3. Does YouTube use Opus audio?
In general, YouTube does not use opus audio as it is not supported in many modern-day devices and apps. However, YouTube has a separate container stored to amalgamate the opus audio. So, you can actually listen to the opus codec music from YouTube.
Final Words
After all these discussions, we hope that your confusion regarding the debate of AAC vs Opus has been resolved. However, it will completely depend on your taste in music and the genre of the music you are listening to.
If you are listening to low-bit-rate music, then Opus is perfect for you. On the other hand, AAC is perfect for classical types of music. Last but not least, if you want only one codec between these two for your music, then AAC is recommended.
