Encoding Rates and Download Speed

The encoding rate is the rate at which the original audio file is sampled in order to create the digital file. Audio files with a higher sampling rate (in other words a higher number) have the best quality and so will have the best sound quality. At BBC Shop we are offering a superior quality encoding rate on both Audio and Video.

Download speed is the time it takes to download a file from the internet and is determined by three main factors: the size of the file to be downloaded, the speed of your connection to the internet and the volume of traffic on your internet connection.

At BBC Shop we recommend you have a 1 Megabit (Mb) internet connection, or better (the bigger the number, the faster your connection) and that when downloading, you try and minimize other traffic on your internet connection or (better still) use the BBC Shop Download Manager to let your files download whilst you are away from your PC.

See below table for further information on some indicative download speeds:

*assume 75% utilization of connection speed