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I have the following devices:

  • Ubuntu machines
  • PSP
  • iPod with Rockbox installed
  • XBox 360

My music collection is mainly encoded in OGG apart from a few bought albums in MP3.

What is the most universal file format that is commonly supported across all these devices? Up until now I have only played my music on the Ubuntu machines and the iPod, but I'm beginning to use my PSP and the XBox from time to time, and they have a smaller range of supported codecs.

So, is MP3 the only way to go (I don't want to root/similar my PSP or XBox), or would another format fit the bill?

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mp3 is the safest bet. lots of devices use AAC/m4a these days but it really depends on the device - nearly all the ones you mentioned would be able to play AAC for certain other than the xbox, which i am unsure about.

However, i would point out transcoding your audio files causes some loss in quality, so ideally, you'd want to re-rip files from source from scratch if possible.

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Apart from a few protected iTunes tracks (which I've not been able to listen to for a long time!), all my stuff is ripped from CDs that I own, save for the few albums I have legitimately downloaded as MP3s. So, while it'll take a while, I will slowly but surely re-rip my library. I'm tempted to transcode everything as a placeholder while it's re-ripped. – Rich Apr 21 '11 at 11:43
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