File sizes with the iTunes Store.
I've bought a couple shows from the iTunes Store. I've also downloaded those same shows from bit torrent sites (for reasearch purposes). Comparing the file sizes and the quality of the episodes from each source is very different. Through the BT site, the file size is about half that of the iTunes purchases, and the quality seems to be greater (when downloading in HD). Why is that in the iTunes Store the file izes are so big, but the quality is much more grainy? Does this have anything to do with DRM or is it just a compressing issue?
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...I've also downloaded those same shows from bit torrent sites (for reasearch purposes)...
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Still illegal. I smell thread lock coming.
To answer the question we'd have to know which codec was used for the ones you got from BT. One possibility, I think, is that the audio could have been encoded at a much lower bitrate. Since audio usually isn't very good on computers, especially through the speakers, a higher compression rate could reasonably used without anyone noticing. Also, for the video, if you encoded it in 16 bit, rather than 24 or 32 bit, that would save considerable size, and for many people wouldn't be noticeable.