Which Codecs Should I Choose For Devices - Kolmisoft Wiki

It depends.

Contents

• 1 What codecs are supported?
• 2 Audio codecs
  • 2.1 G711
  • 2.2 G729
  • 2.3 G722
  • 2.4 GSM
• 3 Video
• 4 Fax
• 5 Notes
• 6 See also

What codecs are supported?

Audio:

• G.711 A-law
• G.711 u-law
• G.723.1
• G.726
• G.729
• GSM
• iLBC
• LPC10
• Speex
• ADPCM
• 16 bit Signed Linear PCM

Video:

• H.261
• H.263
• H.263+
• H.264

Audio codecs

Most commonly used are:

• G711
• G729

G711

PSTN quality codec which is supported in 99% of all devices/providers (but often disabled to save traffic).

It has best quality but highest bandwidth (64kbps + ~20 kbps overhead ~= 84kbps to one direction).

It comes in 2 flavours - G711u (ulaw) - used in USA, and G711a (alaw) - used mostly in Europe and other countries.

Do not use this codec if you have Voice quality issues!

G729

Little worse quality but is often used because it saves traffic (~8kbps + ~20kbps overhead ~= 28kbps to one direction).

It takes a lot of CPU power to transcode so total call count on the server is greatly reduced using this codec.

It needs to be installed separately and it is not free.

G722

• G.722 is a ITU-T standard 7 kHz wideband speech codec operating at 48, 56 and 64 kbit/s. 64 kbit/s (comprises 48, 56 or 64 kbit/s audio and 16, 8 or 0 kbit/s auxiliary data).
• HD VoIP in the Asterisk world involves selecting the G722 codec for VoIP calls.G722 is known as a wideband codec as opposed to g711 which is narrowband.

The nice thing about it is that it does not require any more bandwidth than G711. Both require 64kbit/s each way for a 2-way conversation.

• The difference is that G722 employs compression combined with a higher sample rate to obtain a practical acoustic bandwidth of 50 Hz-7000 Hz as opposed to G711 which has a practical acoustic bandwidth of 200-3000 Hz.

The difference in voice quality is quite noticeable. Instead of sounding like you are talking into a tin can it now sounds like the other person is in the same room. You can hear more subtle nuances in the person’s voice and certain letters/syllables that are hard to distinguish on regular calls become much easier.

• If one endpoint is using G722 and the other is using G711, the endpoint using G722 will hear better sound quality from the other end but the G711 end will not notice much if any difference.
• Transcoding overhead between G722 and g711 is minimal. Roughly equivalent to half the transcoding overhead between G711 and GSM. G.722 patents have expired, so it is freely available.

GSM

Acceptable codec for poor networks.

Video

Read manual for your device to check which codec is supported on your device.

H263/H264 are most popular.

Make sure same codec is chosen between devices you are trying to communicate.

Fax

If your system/provider/devices does not support T38 you should use G711 codec for fax transmitting/receiving.

Notes

When no codecs are checked, then the system will enable and offer all the codecs.

See also

• How to change Audio/Video Codecs priority?
• More about codecs: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk652/tk698/technologies_tech_note09186a0080094ae2.shtml
• G711 vs G729: http://irockasterisk.blogspot.com.es/2011/02/g711-vs-g729-which-one-to-choose.html