HTML5 and CSS3, Second Edition

APPENDIX 3

Encoding Audio and Video for the Web

Encoding audio and video for use with HTML5’s <audio> and <video> tags is a

complex subject that’s out of scope for this book, but this short appendix will

get you going in the right direction if you ever need to prepare your own

content.

A3.1 Encoding Audio

You’ll need to encode your audio files in both MP3 and Vorbis formats to

reach the widest possible audience, and to do that, you’ll use a couple of

tools.

For encoding MP3 files, LAME will give you the best quality.^1 You’ll want to

use a variable bit rate when you encode. You can get a high-quality encoding

using something like this:

$ lamein.wavout.mp3-V2 --vbr-new-q0 --lowpass19.7

For Vorbis audio, you can use Oggenc.^2 To encode a good-sounding Vorbis

file using a variable bit rate, you’d use something like this:

$ oggenc-q 3 inputfile.wav

You can learn more about MP3 and Vorbis encoding at Hydrogen Audio.^3 The

information there is excellent, but you’ll need to experiment with settings that

will work for you and your listeners.

1. http://lame.sourceforge.net/


2. http://wiki.xiph.org/Vorbis-tools


3. MP3 encoding with LAME is covered at http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/
   index.php?title=Lame#Quickstart.28short_answer.29, and Vorbis encoding is at http://wiki.hydroge-
   naudio.org/index.php?title=Recommended_Ogg_Vorbis.

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