OGG Vorbis VS MP3: Which Audio Format Should You Choose

OGG Vorbis is a lossy audio format that’s totally free, open-source and has no patent limitation. As Vorbis is most commonly encapsulated in the OGG container format, it’s always collectively known as OGG Vorbis. MP3 refers to MPEG Audio Layer-3. It’s also a lossy audio format that takes less storage space. So which one is better, MP3 or OGG? What’s the difference between the two formats? And how to convert OGG Vorbis to MP3 or vice versa? Answers are ready in the next part. Just keep reading.

Although both OGG Vorbis and MP3 are lossy audio formats, there are some obvious differences between them, which can be summed up as follows:

1. Licensing:

OGG Vorbis is fully open, non-proprietary and royalty-free to all with no strings attached, while MP3 is originally patented. However, MP3's patent has expired and thus is as free as OGG Vorbis.

2. Quality and File Size

With the same bitrate, OGG Vorbis will perform a better quality with smaller size than MP3.

3. Bitrate

MP3 compresses digital data at a constant bit rate, while OGG Vorbis is inherently variable-bitrate (VBR).

4. Popularity and Compatibility

There is no doubt that MP3 is very widely supported in general use and familiar with everyone. Although OGG Vorbis owns outstanding performances, it does not be widely accepted as a standard, and some applications don’t support files with the .ogg extension. Therefore, in many cases we need to convert OGG to MP3.