FLAC

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FLAC's logo.

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is a free open source lossless audio encoding format designed by the Xiph.Org Foundation and first release on 2001-07-20. The compression algorithm is designed with audio data in mind, so it typically compresses to around 60% of the original size, better than generic lossless compression like ZIP or 7Z. FLAC also has native support for meta data tags, replay gain, and album art. Although the format was by no means the first lossless audio codec available, the fact that it was both open source and parent-free helped it to gain popularity faster than its predecessors. FLAC is now supported by every major operating system, web browser, and mature audio player.

Personal

I found out about FLAC around the same time I found out about Vorbis in the mid-2000s. In my process of ripping my CD library to my computer's hard drive, I wanted to find the best audio format use. I initially used Vorbis, but, not liking the idea of permanently losing quality, I switched to FLAC soon after. I have since been an advocate for FLAC and, though I still use a lossy audio format on my mobile devices, all of my audio is always backed up in FLAC format.

Compression

Below is a comparison of an uncompressed three-minute-long song to various forms of general compression along with various levels of FLAC compression.

Format Size (Bytes) Notes
WAV 31,935,500 Uncompressed audio data.
ZIP 29,485,937 The DEFLATE algorithm using 7-Zip's "ultra" compression.
7Z 23,050,798 The 7Z format using 7-Zip's "ultra" compression.
FLAC 20,878,568 Using "0" level compression. Emphasizes speed over compression.
FLAC 19,305,501 Using "8" level compression. Emphasizes compression over speed.
FLAC 19,190,099 Optimized with FLACOut.

Software

Program Functions Notes
AnyBurn Save
Audacity Open, Save
CDBurnerXP Save
CDex Save
FLACOut Save
foobar2000 Open, Save
foobar2000 Mobile Open
Gold Wave Open, Save
MPlayer Open
VLC Media Player Open, Save
Voice Audiobook Player Open
Winamp Open, Save

Links

Link-Wikipedia.png  Link-Official.png