Choosing codecs is something that the average ventrilo user doesn’t really pay too much attention to. However, choosing the right codec can greatly increase the overall experience when you’re chatting it up with your online friends. The two most popular codecs in Ventrilo are GSM 6.10 and Speex. GSM 6.10 is known for its superb sound quality, especially when using the highest quality format (which is 44khz 16bit) — however, it has one caveat that may restrict users from using it - it does not support Mac. For Mac (& Windows) users there is an alternative, the Speex codec supports both Windows and Mac. However, while Speex’s high quality format is very clear, it does not compare to GSM 6.10’s in terms of voice quality which is nearly equivalent, if not better, to cell phone quality.

Another major difference between these two codecs is the bandwidth (or the rate at which your internet is transferring data) usage. GSM will generally use more bandwidth than Speex, although both offer lower quality formats that use less bandwidth to help compensate for this. But strictly speaking, the high quality GSM format will use more bandwidth than the high quality Speex format. If some of your users have a slower internet speed you may want to stick with speex, or use one of the lower quality formats. For most people with a DSL, fiber or cable internet connection.

DefconServers.com customers can choose from all of the codecs offered by Ventrilo in our control panel. If your current ventrilo host restricts you to the lowest quality codecs, you can switch to DefconServers and choose from any compatible codec you want at no extra charge.

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