'correct' audio format for mp4

Tomsk · 23 May 2012 at 18:08

I'm encoding videos using mpeg4 (ffmpeg) - what's the 'correct' audio format to match the video?
I'm currently using ac3, but I have tried aac and mp3.

mrk · 23 May 2012 at 18:18

Where are the videos going? AAC audio is usually the norm for this format. All my camcorders (phone included) record videos to mp4 and the audio is AAC.

Tomsk · 23 May 2012 at 18:29

I'm (re-)ripping some of my DVDs.
They'll be watched on my tablet (Samsung) or main TV.
Looking around the Android market it seems that ac3 isnt that well supported by media players at the moment. So far I've only found BSplayer will play ac3.
I was thinking of using mp3 as it's more widely supported right now. My previous tablets (Archos) both played ac3 without problem so most fo my vidoes have been using ac3.

mrk · 23 May 2012 at 18:37

Tab? The stock Samsung player certainly plays AC3 dude, I have both BSPlayer and stock player on my S2 and they play audio just fine

I don't see any problem using MP3 over AAC though, providing the bitrate is left high enough you shouldn't have any quality problems.

Tomsk · 23 May 2012 at 18:49

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 Plus GT-P6210
Android 3.2
default video player is version 1.00

Skyboat · 23 May 2012 at 19:20

I would stick with AAC.

Rozzy85 · 23 May 2012 at 19:30

The MPEG4 container supports a variety of audio streams. By 'correct' I assume you mean the ones the format is meant to support? AAC is the typical choice and supports a variety of audio inputs. AC3 is possible but isn't officially supported so some devices may have trouble playing it.

A list of official codecs can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-4_Part_14#Data_streams