Hydrogenaudio Knowledgebase - User contributions [en]

Lossless comparison

2016-07-31T14:04:07Z

84.166.190.71: /* Oddball formats */

The '''lossless comparison page''' aims to gather information about lossless codecs available so users can make an informed decision as to what lossless codec to choose for their needs.

== Introduction ==
Given the enormous amount of [[lossless]] audio compressor choices available, it is a very difficult task to choose the one most suited for each person's needs. Some people only take into consideration compression performance when choosing a codec, but as the following table and article shows, there are several other features worth taking into consideration when making a choice.

For example, users wanting good multiplatform compatibility and robustness (e.g., people sharing live recordings) would favour [[WavPack]] or [[FLAC]]. Another user, looking for the very highest compression available, would go with [[OptimFROG]]. Someone wanting portable support would use [[FLAC]] or [[ALAC]], and so on. En fin, this is not a matter worth getting too worked up about. If you later find out the codec you chose isn't the best for your needs, you can just transcompress to another format, without risk of losing quality.

'''Note:''' for latest comparison of lossless compression, scroll down to the [[Lossless comparison#External links|Links section of this page]].

== Comparison Table ==


{| class="wikitable" cellspacing="2"
!width="120px"|'''Features'''
! width="90px" | [[#Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)|FLAC]]
! width="90px" | [[#Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC)|ALAC]]
! width="90px" | [[#WavPack (WV)|WavPack]]
! width="90px" | [[#Tom's_verlustfreier_Audiokompressor (TAK)|TAK]]
! width="90px" | [[#Monkey's_Audio (APE)|Monkey's]]
! width="90px" | [[#Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMAL)|WMAL]]
! width="90px" | [[#OptimFROG (OFR)|OptimFROG]]
! width="90px" | [[#True Audio (TTA)|TTA]]
|- 
| Encoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FFCC66" | slow
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
|- 
| Decoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FFCC66" | slow
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | very slow
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
|- 
| Compression{{ref label|speed|A|A}}{{ref label|comp|B|B}}
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.8%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.1%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 56.0%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 55.1%
| style="background: #FFCC66" | 58.4%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 54.6%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 56.6%
|-
| # presets
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 9
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 2
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 5
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 1
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 1
|-
| Error handling{{ref label|error|C|C}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | yes{{ref label|error_ape|D|D}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| Tagging
| style="background: #00FF00" | Vorbis tags
| style="background: #00FF00" | iTunes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3/APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | ASF
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3/APEv2
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3v1/2
|-
| Hardware support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
|-
| Software support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
|-
| Hybrid/lossy
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| RIFF chunks
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| Streaming
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| Open source
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| Multichannel
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| OS support
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Wine
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Mac
| style="background: #00FF00" | Win/Mac/Linux
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
|}

{|
|-
|{{note label|speed|A|A}} Speed and Compression are based on '''each encoder's default settings''' and are taken from the [http://www.audiograaf.nl/downloads.html this comparison].
|-
|{{note label|comp|B|B}} The Compression ratio is compressed size/uncompressed size * 100. So, lower is better.
|-
|{{note label|error|C|C}} Error handling means that a codec can detect a corruption (flipped bit) in a file and warn the user about it, but still decode the rest of the file.
|-
|{{note label|error_ape|D|D}} The official Monkey's Audio decoder does not support decoding through errors, but this may be achieved with FFmpeg or Winamp, though likely not when the "Insane" preset is used.

== Codecs ==

These are the most popular lossless codecs, in alphabetical order:

=== Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) ===
https://alac.macosforge.org/trac

[[ALAC]] is a codec developed by Apple for usage in [[Apple iPod|iPod]] and AirPort Express.

'''ALAC pros'''
* [[Open source]] (encoding and decoding via FFmpeg and [[CueTools|CUETools]], decoding only via [http://craz.net/programs/itunes/alac.html a standalone decoder])
* Fast encoding
* Fast decoding
* Hardware support ([[Apple iPod|iPod]], AirPort Express)
* Software support (iTunes, Quicktime)
* Independent encoder implementation available: ffmpeg
* Streaming support
* Tagging support (QT tags)
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Used by a few online stores

''' ALAC cons '''
* Limited software support
* No error detection/robustness<ref>[http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=33226&view=findpost&p=862031 HA forum post discussing ALAC robustness]</ref>
* No hybrid/lossy mode (and not [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Not very efficient

''' ALAC Other features '''
* Fits in the [[MP4]] container

=== Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) ===
https://xiph.org/flac/

[[FLAC]] is a lossless codec developed by Josh Coalson. It's part of the Xiph multimedia portfolio, along with [[Opus]], [[Ogg]], [[Vorbis]], [[Speex]] and [[Theora]].

''' FLAC pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Very good hardware support (Android, Marantz, Sonos, [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html many others])
* Very good software support
* Independent encoder implementations available: flake/ffmpeg, FLACCL
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support (FLAC tags)
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support
* Used by a few [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html#music online stores]

''' FLAC cons '''
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Does not handle 32-bit float and there is no encoder that can render to 32-bit integer

''' FLAC Other features '''
* Supports embedded CUE sheets (with [http://flac.sourceforge.net/faq.html#general__no_cuesheet_tags limitations])
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking as standard
* Fits the [[Ogg]] and [[Matroska]] containers

=== Monkey's Audio (APE) ===
http://www.monkeysaudio.com/

[[Monkey's Audio]] is a very efficient lossless compressor developed by Matt Ashland.

''' APE pros '''
* High compression
* Fast encoding
* Good software support
* Simple and user friendly. Official GUI provided.
* Java version (multiplatform)
* Error robustness/decoding up to -c3000 (High compression)<ref>http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=98984&st=0&p=821420&#entry821420</ref>
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])
* [[High resolution]] audio support
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks (only in the GUI encoder)
* Pipe support (only in a [http://www.etree.org/shnutils/shntool/ special] version)

''' APE cons '''
* Problematic license (source provided, no modification or redistribution rights)
* Slow decoding
* No [[multichannel]] support
* No hybrid/lossy mode (and not [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Limited hardware support (Rockbox, some Cowon players); poor battery life due to complicated decoding (see [http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SoundCodecMonkeysAudio MP3 player benchmarks])
* Higher compression levels are extremely CPU intensive

''' APE Other features '''
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Supports APL image link files (similar to CUE sheets)

=== OptimFROG (OFR) ===
http://www.losslessaudio.org/

[[OptimFROG]] is a lossless format developed by Florin Ghido to become the champion in audio compression.

''' OFR pros '''
* Very high compression
* Good software support
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[high resolution]]s
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3]], [[APE tags]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks

''' OFR cons '''
* Closed source
* No [[multichannel]] audio support
* No hardware support
* Very slow decoding
* Slow encoding
* More than one tagging method allowed (ambiguity possible)

''' OFR Other features '''
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking

=== Tom's verlustfreier Audiokompressor (TAK) ===
http://www.thbeck.de/Tak/Tak.html

[[TAK]] is a lossless codec developed by TBeck.

''' TAK pros '''
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Very high efficiency
* Error robust
* Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
* Tagging support
* Supports RIFF chunks
* Pipe support
* Streamable

''' TAK cons '''
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* No hardware support
* Average software support
* Doesn't support Unicode (yet)

''' TAK Other features '''
* Optional MD5 checksum

=== True Audio (TTA) ===
http://tta.tausoft.org/

[[TTA]] is a lossless codec developed by a international team of programmers.

''' TTA pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support ([[ID3]]v1, ID3v2)
* Embedded CUE sheets support
* Error robustness
* Pipe support
* Average compression
* Fast encoding/decoding
* Symmetric algorithm
* Password protection
* Ultra low latency

''' TTA cons '''
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks
* Limited hardware support

''' TTA Other features '''
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container
* Password protection

=== WavPack (WV) ===
http://www.wavpack.com/

[[WavPack]] is a fast and featureful lossless codec developed by David Bryant.

''' WV pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Good efficiency
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Ability to create self extracting files for Win32 platform
* Pipe support
* Good software support

''' WV cons '''
* Limited hardware player support ([http://www.rockbox.org/ RockBox])
* More than one tagging method allowed (ambiguity possible)

''' WV Other features '''
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Supports embedded CUE sheets
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Can encode in both symmetrical and asymmetrical modes.
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container

=== Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMAL) ===
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/codecs/audio.aspx

WMA Lossless is the lossless codec developed by Microsoft to be featured in their Windows Media codec portfolio.

''' WMAL pros '''
* Streaming support
* Very good software support
* Hardware support (Microsoft Zune, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabeat Gigabeat V and S line from Toshiba])
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s.
* Tagging support (proprietary)
* Pipe support

''' WMAL cons '''
* Rather low efficiency
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks

''' WMAL Other features '''
* Fits the [[ASF]] container

=== Other Formats ===
Aside from the formats mentioned above, there are in fact quite a lot of other lossless formats. To keep the table and list brief and readable, a few formats have not been mentioned.

====DTS-HD Master Audio====
Similar to the MPEG-4 SLS format, this format has a core track in an older, more widely supported format, DTS. This core lossy track is made lossless by a secondary track with correction data. It is an optional codec in Blu-ray implementations. Its main use is surround sound encoding, and as is the case with MLP, the price of the encoder ensures it is only used in mastering of Blu-ray discs.

====LA====
LA features an extremely high compression (on par with OptimFrog highest modes, but a bit faster), but it hasn't been updated for more than 10 years. Furthermore, backward compatibility is not guaranteed, so using it for archiving might pose a few problems. It isn't able to cope with file corruption either, software support is very limited and isn't open source.

====MLP/Dolby TrueHD====
The [[MLP|MLP codec]] (of which the mathematical basis was used in Dolby TrueHD) it the codec used for DVD-Audio. It was mandatory in any HD-DVD implementation and optional for Blu-Ray in it's Dolby TrueHD form. It is known to support the 'wasted bits' scheme used in LossyWAV. As encoders are very expensive, its use outside DVD/Blu-ray mastering environments is non-existent. Its main use is encoding surround sound data.

====MPEG-4 ALS====
MPEG-4 ALS is the successor to LPAC, which it was based on. It has been as a ISO standard and there is a reference encoder/decoder, but like TTA, it does not have features that make it stand out from other codecs, nor backing by a large organisation, so it hasn't much software and no hardware support.

====MPEG-4 SLS====
MPEG-4 SLS is a special codec, having a AAC core track and a 'correction track'. Also known as HD-AAC, SLS stands for Scalable to Lossless. However, there is to date still no affordable software to play, encode or decode (the lossless part of) SLS files.

====Shorten====
Shorten was one of the first widely-used lossless formats, and it still occasionally found on the internet, especially in archives, for example etree.org. It is quite fast in both encoding and decoding, but doesn't compress very much. Furthermore, seeking has a troubled past as well as tagging. It is considered obsolete.

====Real Lossless====
Part of the Real codec suite, Real Lossless too hasn't any very special features that make it stand out. Just like WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless, it was created to fit in a codec suite, but unlike WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless, there is no hardware support and software support is limited. Compression is on par with most other codecs, but it is rather slow to encode.

====Oddball formats====
There are a few archaic formats of which encoders and decoders are hard to get by. Most of those would have disappeared by now, but some of them are being preserved for posterity at [[User:Rjamorim|rjamorim]]'s

* Advanced Digital Audio (ADA)
* [http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/bonk Bonk]
* Marian's a-Pac
* AudioZip
* Dakx WAV
* Entis Lab MIO
* LiteWave
* LPAC
* Pegasus SPS
* RK Audio (RKAU)
* Ogg Squish
* Sonarc
* VocPack
* WavArc
* WaveZip/MUSICompress

== See also ==
* [[Lossless]]

== External links ==
''' Other lossless compressions comparisons '''
''Sorted based on last '''update''' date.''

* [http://www.audiograaf.nl/downloads.html Martijn van Beurden's comparison] - tries to compare all codecs and settings with a balanced pool of music (last updated 2015-01-05)
* [http://www.squeezechart.com/audio.html Squeezechart audio] - tests as much codecs as possible, but not all their settings and with a limited test corpus (last updated 2013-10-31)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/lossless/index.asp Synthetic Soul's comparison] (last update 2007-07-28)
* <s>Johan De Bock's speed oriented comparison</s> - best choices speedwise are indicated in green, mostly electronic music (last updated 2006-07-22)
* <s>Hans Heijden's</s> -- used as reference to build the table (last updated 2006-07-07)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/josef/ Josef Pohm's comparison, hosted by Synthetic Soul] (last update 2006-05-29)
* [http://www.bobulous.org.uk/misc/lossless_audio_2006.html Bobulous' lossless audio comparison] — a look at six lossless formats in terms of speed and file size (last updated 2006-05-22)
* <s>Jhan De Bock's size oriented comparison</s> - aimed only at the maximum compression setting for each codec (based on a somewhat limited set of samples, however) (last updated 2006-05-19)
* <s>Gruboolez'</s> -- comparing only classical music (last updated 2005-02-27)
* <s>[http://members.home.nl/w.speek/comparison.htm Speek's]</s> (last updated 2005-02-07)

''' More on lossless compressions '''
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20080731103800/http://www.losslessaudioblog.com/ The Lossless Audio Blog], retrieved from archive.org - by windmiller, is a reliable and complete source of news about lossless compression.
* Go to the [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=33226 Hydrogenaudio thread] to discuss this article.

== References ==

<references/>
[[Category:Guides]]

WavPack

2016-07-31T12:15:37Z

84.166.190.71: /* Feature Summary */

'''WavPack''' is a royalty-free, open source and [[lossless]] or high-quality lossy (in "hybrid" mode) audio compression format developed by David Bryant.

== Description ==
WavPack (pronounced "wave-pack") allows users to compress (and restore) all [[PCM]] audio formats including 8, 16, and 24-bit ints; 32-bit floats; [[mono]], [[stereo]], and [[multichannel]]; [[sampling rate]]s from 6 to 192 kHz. Like other lossless compression schemes the data reduction varies with the source, but it is generally between 25 % and 50 % for typical popular music and somewhat better than that for classical music and other sources with greater dynamic range.

WavPack also incorporates a unique "hybrid" mode that provides all the advantages of lossless compression with an additional bonus. Instead of creating a single file, this mode creates both a relatively small, high-quality lossy file that can be used all by itself, and a "correction" file that (when combined with the lossy file) provides full lossless restoration. For some users this means never having to choose between lossless and lossy compression!

== Feature Summary ==
* Fast and efficient encoding and decoding
* [[Open source]], released under a BSDish license
* Multiplatform
* Hardware support
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Supports embedded CUE sheets
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Ability to create self extracting files for Win32 platform
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible

== History ==
David Bryant started development on WavPack in mid-1998, with the release of version 1.0. This first version compressed and decompressed audio losslessly, nothing else, but by then it already featured one of the best efficiency versus speed ratio among lossless encoders.

Very soon after the release of version 1.0, Bryant released v. 2.0, which featured lossy encoding (using only quantization for data reduction – no psychoacoustic process was applied to the stream).

In 1999, the developer released version 3.0, which featured novelties such as a fast mode (with reduced compression ratio), compression of RAW files and error detection using CRC checksums.

WavPack development is still going on, and a major feature added in late 3.x versions is the hybrid mode, where the encoder generates a lossy file + a correction file, so that both can be decompressed back to the original PCM stream.

WavPack 4 has been recently released. It included important changes, such as fast seeking, multichannel support, high resolution audio support, etc. turning it into one of the most full featured and modern lossless audio compressors.

== Software support ==
=== Players ===
* NullSoft [[Winamp]] (plugin with ReplayGain & Media Library support) and Winamp-compatible players
* [[foobar2000]] Advanced Audio Player (official encoding/decoding addon, with ReplayGain & Cuesheets support)
* [http://www.vuplayer.com/vuplayer.php VUPlayer] (official plugin, supports encoding)
* [[Windows Media Player]] and other directshow-based players (MPC, TCMP, RadLight) (with [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=103693 CoreWavPack] directshow filter)
* [http://www.un4seen.com/xmplay.html XMplay] (official plugin)
* [http://cogosx.sourceforge.net/ Cog] Audio player for MacOS X.
* [[XMMS]] (with Kuniklo's plugin)
* [http://fondriest.frederic.free.fr/realisations/lamip/ LAMIP] (official plugin)
* [http://mpxplay.sourceforge.net/ MPXplay] for DOS!
* [http://aqualung.sourceforge.net/ Aqualung] for GNU/Linux
* [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html VLC Player]
* Cowon [http://www.jetaudio.com/ JetAudio Player]

=== Frontends ===
* Custom Windows [http://www.wavpack.com/WavPack_frontend.zip WavPack frontend] (by Speekenbrink)

=== Converters ===
'''Note:''' ''Several players, like Cowon JetAudio, foobar2000 and VUplayer, can also convert from other formats to WavPack!''

* [http://www.dbpoweramp.com/ dBpowerAMP] Music Converter / Audio Player / CD Writer (official addon)
* [http://www.easeaudioconverter.com/wavpack.htm Ease Audio Converter] (Shareware / NOT Freeware)
* [http://media.io/ Online Audio Converter]

=== Editors ===
* [[Adobe Audition]] and Cool Edit (filter with 32-bit floats & extra info save support)

=== CD writers/rippers ===
* [http://www.nero.com/eng/ Nero]
* [[Exact Audio Copy]] CD Ripper
* [http://cdexos.sourceforge.net CDex] CD ripper
* Cowon [http://www.jetaudio.com/ JetAudio Player]

=== Taggers ===
* [http://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html Mp3tag] Universal Tag Editor
* [http://www.jtclipper.eu/thegodfather/ The GodFather] Tagger / Music manager
* [[Tag.exe|Case's Tag]] command line tagger

=== Other tools ===
* [http://mr-questionman.en.uptodown.com/windows Mr. QuestionMan]
* [http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/ mkvtoolnix] – tool to multiplex WavPack streams inside the Matroska container
''It's worth mentioning the [[Matroska]] guys decided to concentrate on WavPack as the lossless compressor of choice for their container. Quite an honor... :-)''

=== ->[http://www.wavpack.com/#Software WavPack Software Section] ===

== Hardware Support ==
* iRiver iHP-120/iHP-140 with the open source [http://www.rockbox.org Rockbox firmware]
* Roku PhotoBridge HD (with [http://www.wavpack.com/downloads.html plugin])
=== ->[http://www.wavpack.com/index.html#Hardware WavPack Hardware Section] ===

== Technology description ==
To ensure high-speed operation, WavPack uses a very simple predictor that is implemented entirely in integer math. In its "fast" mode the prediction is simply the arithmetic extrapolation of the previous two samples. For example, if the previous two samples were -10 and 20, then the prediction would be 50. For the default mode a simple adaptive factor is added to weigh the influence of the earlier sample on the prediction. In our example the resulting prediction could then vary between 20 for no influence to 50 for full influence. This weight factor is constantly updated based on the audio data's changing spectral characteristics, which is why it is called "adaptive".

The prediction generated is then subtracted from the actual sample to be encoded to generate the error value. In mono mode this value is sent directly to the coder. However, stereo signals tend to have some correlation between the two channels that can be further exploited. Therefore, two error values are calculated that represent the difference and average of the left and right error values. In the "fast" mode of operation these two new values are simply sent to the coder instead of the left and right values. In the default mode, the difference value is always sent to the coder along with one of the other three values (average, left, or right). An adaptive algorithm continuously determines the most efficient of the three to send based on the changing balance of the channels.

The developer has developed a unique data encoder for WavPack that he believes is better than Rice coding in two different areas. It is impossible to encode more efficiently than Rice coding because it represents the optimal bit coding (sometimes known as the Huffman code) for this type of data. WavPack's encoder is slightly less efficient than this, but only by about 0.15 bits/sample (or less than 1% for 16-bit data). The first advantage of WavPack's coder is that it does not require the data to be buffered ahead of encoding, instead it converts each sample directly to bitcodes. This is more computationally efficient and it is better in some applications where coding delay is critical. The second advantage is that it is easily adaptable to lossy encoding because all significant bits (except the implied "one" MSB) are transmitted directly. In this way it is possible to only transmit, for example, the 3 most significant bits (with sign) of each sample. In fact, it is possible to transmit only the sign and implied MSB for each sample with an average of only 3.65 bits/sample.

This coding scheme is used to implement the "lossy" mode of WavPack. In the "fast" mode the output of the non-adaptive decorrelator is simply rounded to the nearest codable value for the specified number of bits. In the default mode the adaptive decorrelator is used (which reduces the average noise about 1 dB) and also both the current and the next sample are considered in choosing the better of the two available codes (which reduces noise another 1 dB).

The developer has decided to not use any floating-point arithmetic in WavPack's data path because he believes that integer operations are less susceptible to subtle chip to chip variations that could corrupt the lossless nature of the compression, the Pentium floating point bug being a blatant example of this. It is possible that a lossless compressor that used floating-point math could generate different output when running on that faulty Pentium. Even disregarding actual bugs, floating-point math is complicated enough that there could be subtle differences between "correct" implementations that could cause trouble for this type of application. To further ensure confidence in the integrity of WavPack's compression, the encoder includes a 32-bit error detection code to the generated streams.

WavPack source code is very portable. It has been compiled on several Unices (Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Compaq Tru64, HP-UX...) as well as Windows, DOS and OpenVMS. It works on architectures such as x86, ARM, PowerPC, SPARC, DEC Alpha, PA-RISC, MIPS, Motorola 68k...

== External links ==
* [http://www.wavpack.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.rarewares.org/lossless.html Unofficial multiplatform versions] at RareWares
* [[Lossless_comparison|Lossless Codec Comparison]]
* [[EAC_and_WavPack | Configuring EAC and WavPack]]

[[Category:Codecs]]
[[Category:Lossless]]

Lossless comparison

2016-07-30T13:48:24Z

84.166.190.71: /* Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) */

The '''lossless comparison page''' aims to gather information about lossless codecs available so users can make an informed decision as to what lossless codec to choose for their needs.

== Introduction ==
Given the enormous amount of [[lossless]] audio compressor choices available, it is a very difficult task to choose the one most suited for each person's needs. Some people only take into consideration compression performance when choosing a codec, but as the following table and article shows, there are several other features worth taking into consideration when making a choice.

For example, users wanting good multiplatform compatibility and robustness (e.g., people sharing live recordings) would favour [[WavPack]] or [[FLAC]]. Another user, looking for the very highest compression available, would go with [[OptimFROG]]. Someone wanting portable support would use [[FLAC]] or [[ALAC]], and so on. En fin, this is not a matter worth getting too worked up about. If you later find out the codec you chose isn't the best for your needs, you can just transcompress to another format, without risk of losing quality.

'''Note:''' for latest comparison of lossless compression, scroll down to the [[Lossless comparison#External links|Links section of this page]].

== Comparison Table ==


{| cellspacing="2" style="text-align:center; border:1px solid blue;"
|width="120px"|'''Features'''
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#Free_Lossless_Audio_Codec_.28FLAC.29 FLAC]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#Apple_Lossless_Audio_Codec_.28ALAC.29 ALAC]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#WavPack_.28WV.29 WavPack]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#Tom.27s_verlustfreier_Audiokompressor_.28TAK.29 TAK]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#Monkey.27s_Audio_.28APE.29 Monkey's]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#Windows_Media_Audio_Lossless_.28WMAL.29 WMAL]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#OptimFROG_.28OFR.29 OptimFROG]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#True_Audio_.28TTA.29 TTA]
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Encoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FFCC66" | slow
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Decoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FFCC66" | slow
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | very slow
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Compression{{ref label|speed|A|A}}{{ref label|comp|B|B}}
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.8%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.1%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 56.0%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 55.1%
| style="background: #FFCC66" | 58.4%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 54.6%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 56.6%
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | # presets
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 9
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 2
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 5
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 1
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 1
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Error handling{{ref label|error|C|C}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | yes{{ref label|error_ape|D|D}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Tagging
| style="background: #00FF00" | Vorbis tags
| style="background: #00FF00" | iTunes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3/APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | ASF
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3/APEv2
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3v1/2
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hardware support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Software support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hybrid/lossy
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | RIFF chunks
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Streaming
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Open source
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Multichannel
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | OS support
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Wine
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Mac
| style="background: #00FF00" | Win/Mac/Linux
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
|}

{|
|-
|{{note label|speed|A|A}} Speed and Compression are based on '''each encoder's default settings''' and are taken from the [http://www.audiograaf.nl/downloads.html this comparison].
|-
|{{note label|comp|B|B}} The Compression ratio is compressed size/uncompressed size * 100. So, lower is better.
|-
|{{note label|error|C|C}} Error handling means that a codec can detect a corruption (flipped bit) in a file and warn the user about it, but still decode the rest of the file.
|-
|{{note label|error_ape|D|D}} The official Monkey's Audio decoder does not support decoding through errors, but this may be achieved with FFmpeg or Winamp, though likely not when the "Insane" preset is used.

== Codecs ==

These are the most popular lossless codecs, in alphabetical order:

=== Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) ===
https://alac.macosforge.org/trac

[[ALAC]] is a codec developed by Apple for usage in [[Apple iPod|iPod]] and AirPort Express.

'''ALAC pros'''
* [[Open source]] (encoding and decoding via FFmpeg and [[CueTools|CUETools]], decoding only via [http://craz.net/programs/itunes/alac.html a standalone decoder])
* Fast encoding
* Fast decoding
* Hardware support ([[Apple iPod|iPod]], AirPort Express)
* Software support (iTunes, Quicktime)
* Independent encoder implementation available: ffmpeg
* Streaming support
* Tagging support (QT tags)
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Used by a few online stores

''' ALAC cons '''
* Limited software support
* No error detection/robustness<ref>[http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=33226&view=findpost&p=862031 HA forum post discussing ALAC robustness]</ref>
* No hybrid/lossy mode (and not [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Not very efficient

''' ALAC Other features '''
* Fits in the [[MP4]] container

=== Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) ===
https://xiph.org/flac/

[[FLAC]] is a lossless codec developed by Josh Coalson. It's part of the Xiph multimedia portfolio, along with [[Opus]], [[Ogg]], [[Vorbis]], [[Speex]] and [[Theora]].

''' FLAC pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Very good hardware support (Android, Marantz, Sonos, [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html many others])
* Very good software support
* Independent encoder implementations available: flake/ffmpeg, FLACCL
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support (FLAC tags)
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support
* Used by a few [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html#music online stores]

''' FLAC cons '''
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Does not handle 32-bit float and there is no encoder that can render to 32-bit integer

''' FLAC Other features '''
* Supports embedded CUE sheets (with [http://flac.sourceforge.net/faq.html#general__no_cuesheet_tags limitations])
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking as standard
* Fits the [[Ogg]] and [[Matroska]] containers

=== Monkey's Audio (APE) ===
http://www.monkeysaudio.com/

[[Monkey's Audio]] is a very efficient lossless compressor developed by Matt Ashland.

''' APE pros '''
* High compression
* Fast encoding
* Good software support
* Simple and user friendly. Official GUI provided.
* Java version (multiplatform)
* Error robustness/decoding up to -c3000 (High compression)<ref>http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=98984&st=0&p=821420&#entry821420</ref>
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])
* [[High resolution]] audio support
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks (only in the GUI encoder)
* Pipe support (only in a [http://www.etree.org/shnutils/shntool/ special] version)

''' APE cons '''
* Problematic license (source provided, no modification or redistribution rights)
* Slow decoding
* No [[multichannel]] support
* No hybrid/lossy mode (and not [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Limited hardware support (Rockbox, some Cowon players); poor battery life due to complicated decoding (see [http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SoundCodecMonkeysAudio MP3 player benchmarks])
* Higher compression levels are extremely CPU intensive

''' APE Other features '''
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Supports APL image link files (similar to CUE sheets)

=== OptimFROG (OFR) ===
http://www.losslessaudio.org/

[[OptimFROG]] is a lossless format developed by Florin Ghido to become the champion in audio compression.

''' OFR pros '''
* Very high compression
* Good software support
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[high resolution]]s
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3]], [[APE tags]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks

''' OFR cons '''
* Closed source
* No [[multichannel]] audio support
* No hardware support
* Very slow decoding
* Slow encoding
* More than one tagging method allowed (ambiguity possible)

''' OFR Other features '''
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking

=== Tom's verlustfreier Audiokompressor (TAK) ===
http://www.thbeck.de/Tak/Tak.html

[[TAK]] is a lossless codec developed by TBeck.

''' TAK pros '''
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Very high efficiency
* Error robust
* Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
* Tagging support
* Supports RIFF chunks
* Pipe support
* Streamable

''' TAK cons '''
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* No hardware support
* Average software support
* Doesn't support Unicode (yet)

''' TAK Other features '''
* Optional MD5 checksum

=== True Audio (TTA) ===
http://tta.tausoft.org/

[[TTA]] is a lossless codec developed by a international team of programmers.

''' TTA pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support ([[ID3]]v1, ID3v2)
* Embedded CUE sheets support
* Error robustness
* Pipe support
* Average compression
* Fast encoding/decoding
* Symmetric algorithm
* Password protection
* Ultra low latency

''' TTA cons '''
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks
* Limited hardware support

''' TTA Other features '''
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container
* Password protection

=== WavPack (WV) ===
http://www.wavpack.com/

[[WavPack]] is a fast and featureful lossless codec developed by David Bryant.

''' WV pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Good efficiency
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Ability to create self extracting files for Win32 platform
* Pipe support
* Good software support

''' WV cons '''
* Limited hardware player support ([http://www.rockbox.org/ RockBox])
* More than one tagging method allowed (ambiguity possible)

''' WV Other features '''
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Supports embedded CUE sheets
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Can encode in both symmetrical and asymmetrical modes.
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container

=== Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMAL) ===
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/codecs/audio.aspx

WMA Lossless is the lossless codec developed by Microsoft to be featured in their Windows Media codec portfolio.

''' WMAL pros '''
* Streaming support
* Very good software support
* Hardware support (Microsoft Zune, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabeat Gigabeat V and S line from Toshiba])
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s.
* Tagging support (proprietary)
* Pipe support

''' WMAL cons '''
* Rather low efficiency
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks

''' WMAL Other features '''
* Fits the [[ASF]] container

=== Other Formats ===
Aside from the formats mentioned above, there are in fact quite a lot of other lossless formats. To keep the table and list brief and readable, a few formats have not been mentioned.

====DTS-HD Master Audio====
Similar to the MPEG-4 SLS format, this format has a core track in an older, more widely supported format, DTS. This core lossy track is made lossless by a secondary track with correction data. It is an optional codec in Blu-ray implementations. Its main use is surround sound encoding, and as is the case with MLP, the price of the encoder ensures it is only used in mastering of Blu-ray discs.

====LA====
LA features an extremely high compression (on par with OptimFrog highest modes, but a bit faster), but it hasn't been updated for more than 10 years. Furthermore, backward compatibility is not guaranteed, so using it for archiving might pose a few problems. It isn't able to cope with file corruption either, software support is very limited and isn't open source.

====MLP/Dolby TrueHD====
The [[MLP|MLP codec]] (of which the mathematical basis was used in Dolby TrueHD) it the codec used for DVD-Audio. It was mandatory in any HD-DVD implementation and optional for Blu-Ray in it's Dolby TrueHD form. It is known to support the 'wasted bits' scheme used in LossyWAV. As encoders are very expensive, its use outside DVD/Blu-ray mastering environments is non-existent. Its main use is encoding surround sound data.

====MPEG-4 ALS====
MPEG-4 ALS is the successor to LPAC, which it was based on. It has been as a ISO standard and there is a reference encoder/decoder, but like TTA, it does not have features that make it stand out from other codecs, nor backing by a large organisation, so it hasn't much software and no hardware support.

====MPEG-4 SLS====
MPEG-4 SLS is a special codec, having a AAC core track and a 'correction track'. Also known as HD-AAC, SLS stands for Scalable to Lossless. However, there is to date still no affordable software to play, encode or decode (the lossless part of) SLS files.

====Shorten====
Shorten was one of the first widely-used lossless formats, and it still occasionally found on the internet, especially in archives, for example etree.org. It is quite fast in both encoding and decoding, but doesn't compress very much. Furthermore, seeking has a troubled past as well as tagging. It is considered obsolete.

====Real Lossless====
Part of the Real codec suite, Real Lossless too hasn't any very special features that make it stand out. Just like WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless, it was created to fit in a codec suite, but unlike WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless, there is no hardware support and software support is limited. Compression is on par with most other codecs, but it is rather slow to encode.

====Oddball formats====
There are a few archaic formats of which encoders and decoders are hard to get by. Most of those would have disappeared by now, but some of them are being preserved for posterity at [[User:Rjamorim|rjamorim]]'s

* Advanced Digital Audio (ADA)
* Bonk
* Marian's a-Pac
* AudioZip
* Dakx WAV
* Entis Lab MIO
* LiteWave
* LPAC
* Pegasus SPS
* RK Audio (RKAU)
* Ogg Squish
* Sonarc
* VocPack
* WavArc
* WaveZip/MUSICompress

== See also ==
* [[Lossless]]

== External links ==
''' Other lossless compressions comparisons '''
''Sorted based on last '''update''' date.''

* [http://www.audiograaf.nl/downloads.html Martijn van Beurden's comparison] - tries to compare all codecs and settings with a balanced pool of music (last updated 2015-01-05)
* [http://www.squeezechart.com/audio.html Squeezechart audio] - tests as much codecs as possible, but not all their settings and with a limited test corpus (last updated 2013-10-31)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/lossless/index.asp Synthetic Soul's comparison] (last update 2007-07-28)
* <s>Johan De Bock's speed oriented comparison</s> - best choices speedwise are indicated in green, mostly electronic music (last updated 2006-07-22)
* <s>Hans Heijden's</s> -- used as reference to build the table (last updated 2006-07-07)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/josef/ Josef Pohm's comparison, hosted by Synthetic Soul] (last update 2006-05-29)
* [http://www.bobulous.org.uk/misc/lossless_audio_2006.html Bobulous' lossless audio comparison] — a look at six lossless formats in terms of speed and file size (last updated 2006-05-22)
* <s>Jhan De Bock's size oriented comparison</s> - aimed only at the maximum compression setting for each codec (based on a somewhat limited set of samples, however) (last updated 2006-05-19)
* <s>Gruboolez'</s> -- comparing only classical music (last updated 2005-02-27)
* <s>[http://members.home.nl/w.speek/comparison.htm Speek's]</s> (last updated 2005-02-07)

''' More on lossless compressions '''
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20080731103800/http://www.losslessaudioblog.com/ The Lossless Audio Blog], retrieved from archive.org - by windmiller, is a reliable and complete source of news about lossless compression.
* Go to the [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=33226 Hydrogenaudio thread] to discuss this article.

== References ==

<references/>
[[Category:Guides]]

Lossless comparison

2016-07-30T13:32:24Z

84.166.190.71: /* Comparison Table */

The '''lossless comparison page''' aims to gather information about lossless codecs available so users can make an informed decision as to what lossless codec to choose for their needs.

== Introduction ==
Given the enormous amount of [[lossless]] audio compressor choices available, it is a very difficult task to choose the one most suited for each person's needs. Some people only take into consideration compression performance when choosing a codec, but as the following table and article shows, there are several other features worth taking into consideration when making a choice.

For example, users wanting good multiplatform compatibility and robustness (e.g., people sharing live recordings) would favour [[WavPack]] or [[FLAC]]. Another user, looking for the very highest compression available, would go with [[OptimFROG]]. Someone wanting portable support would use [[FLAC]] or [[ALAC]], and so on. En fin, this is not a matter worth getting too worked up about. If you later find out the codec you chose isn't the best for your needs, you can just transcompress to another format, without risk of losing quality.

'''Note:''' for latest comparison of lossless compression, scroll down to the [[Lossless comparison#External links|Links section of this page]].

== Comparison Table ==


{| cellspacing="2" style="text-align:center; border:1px solid blue;"
|width="120px"|'''Features'''
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#Free_Lossless_Audio_Codec_.28FLAC.29 FLAC]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#Apple_Lossless_Audio_Codec_.28ALAC.29 ALAC]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#WavPack_.28WV.29 WavPack]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#Tom.27s_verlustfreier_Audiokompressor_.28TAK.29 TAK]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#Monkey.27s_Audio_.28APE.29 Monkey's]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#Windows_Media_Audio_Lossless_.28WMAL.29 WMAL]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#OptimFROG_.28OFR.29 OptimFROG]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#True_Audio_.28TTA.29 TTA]
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Encoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FFCC66" | slow
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Decoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FFCC66" | slow
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | very slow
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Compression{{ref label|speed|A|A}}{{ref label|comp|B|B}}
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.8%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.1%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 56.0%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 55.1%
| style="background: #FFCC66" | 58.4%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 54.6%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 56.6%
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | # presets
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 9
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 2
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 5
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 1
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 1
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Error handling{{ref label|error|C|C}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | yes{{ref label|error_ape|D|D}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Tagging
| style="background: #00FF00" | Vorbis tags
| style="background: #00FF00" | iTunes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3/APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | ASF
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3/APEv2
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3v1/2
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hardware support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Software support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hybrid/lossy
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | RIFF chunks
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Streaming
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Open source
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Multichannel
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | OS support
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Wine
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Mac
| style="background: #00FF00" | Win/Mac/Linux
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
|}

{|
|-
|{{note label|speed|A|A}} Speed and Compression are based on '''each encoder's default settings''' and are taken from the [http://www.audiograaf.nl/downloads.html this comparison].
|-
|{{note label|comp|B|B}} The Compression ratio is compressed size/uncompressed size * 100. So, lower is better.
|-
|{{note label|error|C|C}} Error handling means that a codec can detect a corruption (flipped bit) in a file and warn the user about it, but still decode the rest of the file.
|-
|{{note label|error_ape|D|D}} The official Monkey's Audio decoder does not support decoding through errors, but this may be achieved with FFmpeg or Winamp, though likely not when the "Insane" preset is used.

== Codecs ==

These are the most popular lossless codecs, in alphabetical order:

=== Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) ===
https://alac.macosforge.org/trac

[[ALAC]] is a codec developed by Apple for usage in [[Apple iPod|iPod]] and AirPort Express.

'''ALAC pros'''
* [[Open source]] (encoding and decoding via FFmpeg and [[CueTools|CUETools]], decoding only via [http://craz.net/programs/itunes/alac.html a standalone decoder])
* Fast encoding
* Fast decoding
* Hardware support ([[Apple iPod|iPod]], AirPort Express)
* Software support (iTunes, Quicktime)
* Independent encoder implementation available: ffmpeg
* Streaming support
* Tagging support (QT tags)
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Used by a few online stores

''' ALAC cons '''
* Limited software support
* No error detection/robustness<ref>[http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=33226&view=findpost&p=862031 HA forum post discussing ALAC robustness]</ref>
* No hybrid/lossy mode (and not [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Not very efficient

''' ALAC Other features '''
* Fits in the [[MP4]] container

=== Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) ===
https://xiph.org/flac/

[[FLAC]] is a lossless codec developed by Josh Coalson. It's part of the Xiph multimedia portfolio, along with [[Opus]], [[Ogg]], [[Vorbis]], [[Speex]] and [[Theora]].

''' FLAC pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Very good hardware support (Android, Marantz, Sonos, [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html many others])
* Very good software support
* Independent encoder implementations available: flake/ffmpeg, FLACCL
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support (FLAC tags)
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support
* Used by a few [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html#music online stores]

''' FLAC cons '''
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible
* Does not handle 32-bit float and there is no encoder that can render to 32-bit integer

''' FLAC Other features '''
* Supports embedded CUE sheets (with [http://flac.sourceforge.net/faq.html#general__no_cuesheet_tags limitations])
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking as standard
* Fits the [[Ogg]] and [[Matroska]] containers

=== Monkey's Audio (APE) ===
http://www.monkeysaudio.com/

[[Monkey's Audio]] is a very efficient lossless compressor developed by Matt Ashland.

''' APE pros '''
* High compression
* Fast encoding
* Good software support
* Simple and user friendly. Official GUI provided.
* Java version (multiplatform)
* Error robustness/decoding up to -c3000 (High compression)<ref>http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=98984&st=0&p=821420&#entry821420</ref>
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])
* [[High resolution]] audio support
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks (only in the GUI encoder)
* Pipe support (only in a [http://www.etree.org/shnutils/shntool/ special] version)

''' APE cons '''
* Problematic license (source provided, no modification or redistribution rights)
* Slow decoding
* No [[multichannel]] support
* No hybrid/lossy mode (and not [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Limited hardware support (Rockbox, some Cowon players); poor battery life due to complicated decoding (see [http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SoundCodecMonkeysAudio MP3 player benchmarks])
* Higher compression levels are extremely CPU intensive

''' APE Other features '''
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Supports APL image link files (similar to CUE sheets)

=== OptimFROG (OFR) ===
http://www.losslessaudio.org/

[[OptimFROG]] is a lossless format developed by Florin Ghido to become the champion in audio compression.

''' OFR pros '''
* Very high compression
* Good software support
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[high resolution]]s
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3]], [[APE tags]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks

''' OFR cons '''
* Closed source
* No [[multichannel]] audio support
* No hardware support
* Very slow decoding
* Slow encoding
* More than one tagging method allowed (ambiguity possible)

''' OFR Other features '''
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking

=== Tom's verlustfreier Audiokompressor (TAK) ===
http://www.thbeck.de/Tak/Tak.html

[[TAK]] is a lossless codec developed by TBeck.

''' TAK pros '''
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Very high efficiency
* Error robust
* Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
* Tagging support
* Supports RIFF chunks
* Pipe support
* Streamable

''' TAK cons '''
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* No hardware support
* Average software support
* Doesn't support Unicode (yet)

''' TAK Other features '''
* Optional MD5 checksum

=== True Audio (TTA) ===
http://tta.tausoft.org/

[[TTA]] is a lossless codec developed by a international team of programmers.

''' TTA pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support ([[ID3]]v1, ID3v2)
* Embedded CUE sheets support
* Error robustness
* Pipe support
* Average compression
* Fast encoding/decoding
* Symmetric algorithm
* Password protection
* Ultra low latency

''' TTA cons '''
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks
* Limited hardware support

''' TTA Other features '''
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container
* Password protection

=== WavPack (WV) ===
http://www.wavpack.com/

[[WavPack]] is a fast and featureful lossless codec developed by David Bryant.

''' WV pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Good efficiency
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Ability to create self extracting files for Win32 platform
* Pipe support
* Good software support

''' WV cons '''
* Limited hardware player support ([http://www.rockbox.org/ RockBox])
* More than one tagging method allowed (ambiguity possible)

''' WV Other features '''
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Supports embedded CUE sheets
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Can encode in both symmetrical and asymmetrical modes.
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container

=== Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMAL) ===
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/codecs/audio.aspx

WMA Lossless is the lossless codec developed by Microsoft to be featured in their Windows Media codec portfolio.

''' WMAL pros '''
* Streaming support
* Very good software support
* Hardware support (Microsoft Zune, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabeat Gigabeat V and S line from Toshiba])
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s.
* Tagging support (proprietary)
* Pipe support

''' WMAL cons '''
* Rather low efficiency
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks

''' WMAL Other features '''
* Fits the [[ASF]] container

=== Other Formats ===
Aside from the formats mentioned above, there are in fact quite a lot of other lossless formats. To keep the table and list brief and readable, a few formats have not been mentioned.

====DTS-HD Master Audio====
Similar to the MPEG-4 SLS format, this format has a core track in an older, more widely supported format, DTS. This core lossy track is made lossless by a secondary track with correction data. It is an optional codec in Blu-ray implementations. Its main use is surround sound encoding, and as is the case with MLP, the price of the encoder ensures it is only used in mastering of Blu-ray discs.

====LA====
LA features an extremely high compression (on par with OptimFrog highest modes, but a bit faster), but it hasn't been updated for more than 10 years. Furthermore, backward compatibility is not guaranteed, so using it for archiving might pose a few problems. It isn't able to cope with file corruption either, software support is very limited and isn't open source.

====MLP/Dolby TrueHD====
The [[MLP|MLP codec]] (of which the mathematical basis was used in Dolby TrueHD) it the codec used for DVD-Audio. It was mandatory in any HD-DVD implementation and optional for Blu-Ray in it's Dolby TrueHD form. It is known to support the 'wasted bits' scheme used in LossyWAV. As encoders are very expensive, its use outside DVD/Blu-ray mastering environments is non-existent. Its main use is encoding surround sound data.

====MPEG-4 ALS====
MPEG-4 ALS is the successor to LPAC, which it was based on. It has been as a ISO standard and there is a reference encoder/decoder, but like TTA, it does not have features that make it stand out from other codecs, nor backing by a large organisation, so it hasn't much software and no hardware support.

====MPEG-4 SLS====
MPEG-4 SLS is a special codec, having a AAC core track and a 'correction track'. Also known as HD-AAC, SLS stands for Scalable to Lossless. However, there is to date still no affordable software to play, encode or decode (the lossless part of) SLS files.

====Shorten====
Shorten was one of the first widely-used lossless formats, and it still occasionally found on the internet, especially in archives, for example etree.org. It is quite fast in both encoding and decoding, but doesn't compress very much. Furthermore, seeking has a troubled past as well as tagging. It is considered obsolete.

====Real Lossless====
Part of the Real codec suite, Real Lossless too hasn't any very special features that make it stand out. Just like WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless, it was created to fit in a codec suite, but unlike WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless, there is no hardware support and software support is limited. Compression is on par with most other codecs, but it is rather slow to encode.

====Oddball formats====
There are a few archaic formats of which encoders and decoders are hard to get by. Most of those would have disappeared by now, but some of them are being preserved for posterity at [[User:Rjamorim|rjamorim]]'s

* Advanced Digital Audio (ADA)
* Bonk
* Marian's a-Pac
* AudioZip
* Dakx WAV
* Entis Lab MIO
* LiteWave
* LPAC
* Pegasus SPS
* RK Audio (RKAU)
* Ogg Squish
* Sonarc
* VocPack
* WavArc
* WaveZip/MUSICompress

== See also ==
* [[Lossless]]

== External links ==
''' Other lossless compressions comparisons '''
''Sorted based on last '''update''' date.''

* [http://www.audiograaf.nl/downloads.html Martijn van Beurden's comparison] - tries to compare all codecs and settings with a balanced pool of music (last updated 2015-01-05)
* [http://www.squeezechart.com/audio.html Squeezechart audio] - tests as much codecs as possible, but not all their settings and with a limited test corpus (last updated 2013-10-31)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/lossless/index.asp Synthetic Soul's comparison] (last update 2007-07-28)
* <s>Johan De Bock's speed oriented comparison</s> - best choices speedwise are indicated in green, mostly electronic music (last updated 2006-07-22)
* <s>Hans Heijden's</s> -- used as reference to build the table (last updated 2006-07-07)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/josef/ Josef Pohm's comparison, hosted by Synthetic Soul] (last update 2006-05-29)
* [http://www.bobulous.org.uk/misc/lossless_audio_2006.html Bobulous' lossless audio comparison] — a look at six lossless formats in terms of speed and file size (last updated 2006-05-22)
* <s>Jhan De Bock's size oriented comparison</s> - aimed only at the maximum compression setting for each codec (based on a somewhat limited set of samples, however) (last updated 2006-05-19)
* <s>Gruboolez'</s> -- comparing only classical music (last updated 2005-02-27)
* <s>[http://members.home.nl/w.speek/comparison.htm Speek's]</s> (last updated 2005-02-07)

''' More on lossless compressions '''
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20080731103800/http://www.losslessaudioblog.com/ The Lossless Audio Blog], retrieved from archive.org - by windmiller, is a reliable and complete source of news about lossless compression.
* Go to the [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=33226 Hydrogenaudio thread] to discuss this article.

== References ==

<references/>
[[Category:Guides]]

Lossless comparison

2016-07-30T13:30:56Z

84.166.190.71: /* Comparison Table */

The '''lossless comparison page''' aims to gather information about lossless codecs available so users can make an informed decision as to what lossless codec to choose for their needs.

== Introduction ==
Given the enormous amount of [[lossless]] audio compressor choices available, it is a very difficult task to choose the one most suited for each person's needs. Some people only take into consideration compression performance when choosing a codec, but as the following table and article shows, there are several other features worth taking into consideration when making a choice.

For example, users wanting good multiplatform compatibility and robustness (e.g., people sharing live recordings) would favour [[WavPack]] or [[FLAC]]. Another user, looking for the very highest compression available, would go with [[OptimFROG]]. Someone wanting portable support would use [[FLAC]] or [[ALAC]], and so on. En fin, this is not a matter worth getting too worked up about. If you later find out the codec you chose isn't the best for your needs, you can just transcompress to another format, without risk of losing quality.

'''Note:''' for latest comparison of lossless compression, scroll down to the [[Lossless comparison#External links|Links section of this page]].

== Comparison Table ==


{| cellspacing="2" style="text-align:center; border:1px solid blue;"
|width="120px"|'''Features'''
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#Free_Lossless_Audio_Codec_.28FLAC.29 FLAC]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#Apple_Lossless_Audio_Codec_.28ALAC.29 ALAC]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#WavPack_.28WV.29 WavPack]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#Tom.27s_verlustfreier_Audiokompressor_.28TAK.29 TAK]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#Monkey.27s_Audio_.28APE.29 Monkey's]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#Windows_Media_Audio_Lossless_.28WMAL.29 WMA]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#OptimFROG_.28OFR.29 OptimFROG]
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparison#True_Audio_.28TTA.29 TTA]
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Encoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FFCC66" | slow
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Decoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FFCC66" | slow
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | very slow
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Compression{{ref label|speed|A|A}}{{ref label|comp|B|B}}
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.8%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.1%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 56.0%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 55.1%
| style="background: #FFCC66" | 58.4%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 54.6%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 56.6%
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | # presets
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 9
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 2
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 5
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 1
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 1
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Error handling{{ref label|error|C|C}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | yes{{ref label|error_ape|D|D}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Tagging
| style="background: #00FF00" | Vorbis tags
| style="background: #00FF00" | iTunes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3/APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | ASF
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3/APEv2
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3v1/2
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hardware support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Software support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hybrid/lossy
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | RIFF chunks
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Streaming
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Open source
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Multichannel
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | OS support
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Wine
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Mac
| style="background: #00FF00" | Win/Mac/Linux
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
|}

{|
|-
|{{note label|speed|A|A}} Speed and Compression are based on '''each encoder's default settings''' and are taken from the [http://www.audiograaf.nl/downloads.html this comparison].
|-
|{{note label|comp|B|B}} The Compression ratio is compressed size/uncompressed size * 100. So, lower is better.
|-
|{{note label|error|C|C}} Error handling means that a codec can detect a corruption (flipped bit) in a file and warn the user about it, but still decode the rest of the file.
|-
|{{note label|error_ape|D|D}} The official Monkey's Audio decoder does not support decoding through errors, but this may be achieved with FFmpeg or Winamp, though likely not when the "Insane" preset is used.

== Codecs ==

These are the most popular lossless codecs, in alphabetical order:

=== Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) ===
https://alac.macosforge.org/trac

[[ALAC]] is a codec developed by Apple for usage in [[Apple iPod|iPod]] and AirPort Express.

'''ALAC pros'''
* [[Open source]] (encoding and decoding via FFmpeg and [[CueTools|CUETools]], decoding only via [http://craz.net/programs/itunes/alac.html a standalone decoder])
* Fast encoding
* Fast decoding
* Hardware support ([[Apple iPod|iPod]], AirPort Express)
* Software support (iTunes, Quicktime)
* Independent encoder implementation available: ffmpeg
* Streaming support
* Tagging support (QT tags)
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Used by a few online stores

''' ALAC cons '''
* Limited software support
* No error detection/robustness<ref>[http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=33226&view=findpost&p=862031 HA forum post discussing ALAC robustness]</ref>
* No hybrid/lossy mode (and not [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Not very efficient

''' ALAC Other features '''
* Fits in the [[MP4]] container

=== Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) ===
https://xiph.org/flac/

[[FLAC]] is a lossless codec developed by Josh Coalson. It's part of the Xiph multimedia portfolio, along with [[Opus]], [[Ogg]], [[Vorbis]], [[Speex]] and [[Theora]].

''' FLAC pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Very good hardware support (Android, Marantz, Sonos, [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html many others])
* Very good software support
* Independent encoder implementations available: flake/ffmpeg, FLACCL
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support (FLAC tags)
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support
* Used by a few [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html#music online stores]

''' FLAC cons '''
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible
* Does not handle 32-bit float and there is no encoder that can render to 32-bit integer

''' FLAC Other features '''
* Supports embedded CUE sheets (with [http://flac.sourceforge.net/faq.html#general__no_cuesheet_tags limitations])
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking as standard
* Fits the [[Ogg]] and [[Matroska]] containers

=== Monkey's Audio (APE) ===
http://www.monkeysaudio.com/

[[Monkey's Audio]] is a very efficient lossless compressor developed by Matt Ashland.

''' APE pros '''
* High compression
* Fast encoding
* Good software support
* Simple and user friendly. Official GUI provided.
* Java version (multiplatform)
* Error robustness/decoding up to -c3000 (High compression)<ref>http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=98984&st=0&p=821420&#entry821420</ref>
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])
* [[High resolution]] audio support
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks (only in the GUI encoder)
* Pipe support (only in a [http://www.etree.org/shnutils/shntool/ special] version)

''' APE cons '''
* Problematic license (source provided, no modification or redistribution rights)
* Slow decoding
* No [[multichannel]] support
* No hybrid/lossy mode (and not [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Limited hardware support (Rockbox, some Cowon players); poor battery life due to complicated decoding (see [http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SoundCodecMonkeysAudio MP3 player benchmarks])
* Higher compression levels are extremely CPU intensive

''' APE Other features '''
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Supports APL image link files (similar to CUE sheets)

=== OptimFROG (OFR) ===
http://www.losslessaudio.org/

[[OptimFROG]] is a lossless format developed by Florin Ghido to become the champion in audio compression.

''' OFR pros '''
* Very high compression
* Good software support
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[high resolution]]s
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3]], [[APE tags]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks

''' OFR cons '''
* Closed source
* No [[multichannel]] audio support
* No hardware support
* Very slow decoding
* Slow encoding
* More than one tagging method allowed (ambiguity possible)

''' OFR Other features '''
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking

=== Tom's verlustfreier Audiokompressor (TAK) ===
http://www.thbeck.de/Tak/Tak.html

[[TAK]] is a lossless codec developed by TBeck.

''' TAK pros '''
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Very high efficiency
* Error robust
* Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
* Tagging support
* Supports RIFF chunks
* Pipe support
* Streamable

''' TAK cons '''
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* No hardware support
* Average software support
* Doesn't support Unicode (yet)

''' TAK Other features '''
* Optional MD5 checksum

=== True Audio (TTA) ===
http://tta.tausoft.org/

[[TTA]] is a lossless codec developed by a international team of programmers.

''' TTA pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support ([[ID3]]v1, ID3v2)
* Embedded CUE sheets support
* Error robustness
* Pipe support
* Average compression
* Fast encoding/decoding
* Symmetric algorithm
* Password protection
* Ultra low latency

''' TTA cons '''
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks
* Limited hardware support

''' TTA Other features '''
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container
* Password protection

=== WavPack (WV) ===
http://www.wavpack.com/

[[WavPack]] is a fast and featureful lossless codec developed by David Bryant.

''' WV pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Good efficiency
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Ability to create self extracting files for Win32 platform
* Pipe support
* Good software support

''' WV cons '''
* Limited hardware player support ([http://www.rockbox.org/ RockBox])
* More than one tagging method allowed (ambiguity possible)

''' WV Other features '''
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Supports embedded CUE sheets
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Can encode in both symmetrical and asymmetrical modes.
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container

=== Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMAL) ===
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/codecs/audio.aspx

WMA Lossless is the lossless codec developed by Microsoft to be featured in their Windows Media codec portfolio.

''' WMAL pros '''
* Streaming support
* Very good software support
* Hardware support (Microsoft Zune, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabeat Gigabeat V and S line from Toshiba])
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s.
* Tagging support (proprietary)
* Pipe support

''' WMAL cons '''
* Rather low efficiency
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks

''' WMAL Other features '''
* Fits the [[ASF]] container

=== Other Formats ===
Aside from the formats mentioned above, there are in fact quite a lot of other lossless formats. To keep the table and list brief and readable, a few formats have not been mentioned.

====DTS-HD Master Audio====
Similar to the MPEG-4 SLS format, this format has a core track in an older, more widely supported format, DTS. This core lossy track is made lossless by a secondary track with correction data. It is an optional codec in Blu-ray implementations. Its main use is surround sound encoding, and as is the case with MLP, the price of the encoder ensures it is only used in mastering of Blu-ray discs.

====LA====
LA features an extremely high compression (on par with OptimFrog highest modes, but a bit faster), but it hasn't been updated for more than 10 years. Furthermore, backward compatibility is not guaranteed, so using it for archiving might pose a few problems. It isn't able to cope with file corruption either, software support is very limited and isn't open source.

====MLP/Dolby TrueHD====
The [[MLP|MLP codec]] (of which the mathematical basis was used in Dolby TrueHD) it the codec used for DVD-Audio. It was mandatory in any HD-DVD implementation and optional for Blu-Ray in it's Dolby TrueHD form. It is known to support the 'wasted bits' scheme used in LossyWAV. As encoders are very expensive, its use outside DVD/Blu-ray mastering environments is non-existent. Its main use is encoding surround sound data.

====MPEG-4 ALS====
MPEG-4 ALS is the successor to LPAC, which it was based on. It has been as a ISO standard and there is a reference encoder/decoder, but like TTA, it does not have features that make it stand out from other codecs, nor backing by a large organisation, so it hasn't much software and no hardware support.

====MPEG-4 SLS====
MPEG-4 SLS is a special codec, having a AAC core track and a 'correction track'. Also known as HD-AAC, SLS stands for Scalable to Lossless. However, there is to date still no affordable software to play, encode or decode (the lossless part of) SLS files.

====Shorten====
Shorten was one of the first widely-used lossless formats, and it still occasionally found on the internet, especially in archives, for example etree.org. It is quite fast in both encoding and decoding, but doesn't compress very much. Furthermore, seeking has a troubled past as well as tagging. It is considered obsolete.

====Real Lossless====
Part of the Real codec suite, Real Lossless too hasn't any very special features that make it stand out. Just like WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless, it was created to fit in a codec suite, but unlike WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless, there is no hardware support and software support is limited. Compression is on par with most other codecs, but it is rather slow to encode.

====Oddball formats====
There are a few archaic formats of which encoders and decoders are hard to get by. Most of those would have disappeared by now, but some of them are being preserved for posterity at [[User:Rjamorim|rjamorim]]'s

* Advanced Digital Audio (ADA)
* Bonk
* Marian's a-Pac
* AudioZip
* Dakx WAV
* Entis Lab MIO
* LiteWave
* LPAC
* Pegasus SPS
* RK Audio (RKAU)
* Ogg Squish
* Sonarc
* VocPack
* WavArc
* WaveZip/MUSICompress

== See also ==
* [[Lossless]]

== External links ==
''' Other lossless compressions comparisons '''
''Sorted based on last '''update''' date.''

* [http://www.audiograaf.nl/downloads.html Martijn van Beurden's comparison] - tries to compare all codecs and settings with a balanced pool of music (last updated 2015-01-05)
* [http://www.squeezechart.com/audio.html Squeezechart audio] - tests as much codecs as possible, but not all their settings and with a limited test corpus (last updated 2013-10-31)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/lossless/index.asp Synthetic Soul's comparison] (last update 2007-07-28)
* <s>Johan De Bock's speed oriented comparison</s> - best choices speedwise are indicated in green, mostly electronic music (last updated 2006-07-22)
* <s>Hans Heijden's</s> -- used as reference to build the table (last updated 2006-07-07)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/josef/ Josef Pohm's comparison, hosted by Synthetic Soul] (last update 2006-05-29)
* [http://www.bobulous.org.uk/misc/lossless_audio_2006.html Bobulous' lossless audio comparison] — a look at six lossless formats in terms of speed and file size (last updated 2006-05-22)
* <s>Jhan De Bock's size oriented comparison</s> - aimed only at the maximum compression setting for each codec (based on a somewhat limited set of samples, however) (last updated 2006-05-19)
* <s>Gruboolez'</s> -- comparing only classical music (last updated 2005-02-27)
* <s>[http://members.home.nl/w.speek/comparison.htm Speek's]</s> (last updated 2005-02-07)

''' More on lossless compressions '''
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20080731103800/http://www.losslessaudioblog.com/ The Lossless Audio Blog], retrieved from archive.org - by windmiller, is a reliable and complete source of news about lossless compression.
* Go to the [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=33226 Hydrogenaudio thread] to discuss this article.

== References ==

<references/>
[[Category:Guides]]

Lossless comparison

2016-07-30T13:18:08Z

84.166.190.71: /* Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) */

The '''lossless comparison page''' aims to gather information about lossless codecs available so users can make an informed decision as to what lossless codec to choose for their needs.

== Introduction ==
Given the enormous amount of [[lossless]] audio compressor choices available, it is a very difficult task to choose the one most suited for each person's needs. Some people only take into consideration compression performance when choosing a codec, but as the following table and article shows, there are several other features worth taking into consideration when making a choice.

For example, users wanting good multiplatform compatibility and robustness (e.g., people sharing live recordings) would favour [[WavPack]] or [[FLAC]]. Another user, looking for the very highest compression available, would go with [[OptimFROG]]. Someone wanting portable support would use [[FLAC]] or [[ALAC]], and so on. En fin, this is not a matter worth getting too worked up about. If you later find out the codec you chose isn't the best for your needs, you can just transcompress to another format, without risk of losing quality.

'''Note:''' for latest comparison of lossless compression, scroll down to the [[Lossless comparison#External links|Links section of this page]].

== Comparison Table ==


{| cellspacing="2" style="text-align:center; border:1px solid blue;"
|width="120px"|'''Features'''
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | FLAC
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | ALAC
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | WavPack
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | TAK
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | Monkey's
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | WMA
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | OptimFROG
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | TTA
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Encoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FFCC66" | slow
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Decoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FFCC66" | slow
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | very slow
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Compression{{ref label|speed|A|A}}{{ref label|comp|B|B}}
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.8%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.1%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 56.0%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 55.1%
| style="background: #FFCC66" | 58.4%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 54.6%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 56.6%
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | # presets
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 9
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 2
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 5
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 1
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 1
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Error handling{{ref label|error|C|C}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | yes{{ref label|error_ape|D|D}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Tagging
| style="background: #00FF00" | Vorbis tags
| style="background: #00FF00" | iTunes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3/APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | ASF
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3/APEv2
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3v1/2
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hardware support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Software support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hybrid/lossy
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | RIFF chunks
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | ?
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | ?
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Streaming
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Open source
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Multichannel
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | OS support
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Wine
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Mac
| style="background: #00FF00" | Win/Mac/Linux
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
|}

{|
|-
|{{note label|speed|A|A}} Speed and Compression are based on '''each encoder's default settings''' and are taken from the [http://www.audiograaf.nl/downloads.html this comparison].
|-
|{{note label|comp|B|B}} The Compression ratio is compressed size/uncompressed size * 100. So, lower is better.
|-
|{{note label|error|C|C}} Error handling means that a codec can detect a corruption (flipped bit) in a file and warn the user about it, but still decode the rest of the file.
|-
|{{note label|error_ape|D|D}} The official Monkey's Audio decoder does not support decoding through errors, but this may be achieved with FFmpeg or Winamp, though likely not when the "Insane" preset is used.

== Codecs ==

These are the most popular lossless codecs, in alphabetical order:

=== Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) ===
https://alac.macosforge.org/trac

[[ALAC]] is a codec developed by Apple for usage in [[Apple iPod|iPod]] and AirPort Express.

'''ALAC pros'''
* [[Open source]] (encoding and decoding via FFmpeg and [[CueTools|CUETools]], decoding only via [http://craz.net/programs/itunes/alac.html a standalone decoder])
* Fast encoding
* Fast decoding
* Hardware support ([[Apple iPod|iPod]], AirPort Express)
* Software support (iTunes, Quicktime)
* Independent encoder implementation available: ffmpeg
* Streaming support
* Tagging support (QT tags)
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Used by a few online stores

''' ALAC cons '''
* Limited software support
* No error detection/robustness<ref>[http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=33226&view=findpost&p=862031 HA forum post discussing ALAC robustness]</ref>
* No hybrid/lossy mode (and not [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Not very efficient

''' ALAC Other features '''
* Fits in the [[MP4]] container

=== Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) ===
https://xiph.org/flac/

[[FLAC]] is a lossless codec developed by Josh Coalson. It's part of the Xiph multimedia portfolio, along with [[Opus]], [[Ogg]], [[Vorbis]], [[Speex]] and [[Theora]].

''' FLAC pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Very good hardware support (Android, Marantz, Sonos, [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html many others])
* Very good software support
* Independent encoder implementations available: flake/ffmpeg, FLACCL
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support (FLAC tags)
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support
* Used by a few [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html#music online stores]

''' FLAC cons '''
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible
* Does not handle 32-bit float and there is no encoder that can render to 32-bit integer

''' FLAC Other features '''
* Supports embedded CUE sheets (with [http://flac.sourceforge.net/faq.html#general__no_cuesheet_tags limitations])
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking as standard
* Fits the [[Ogg]] and [[Matroska]] containers

=== Monkey's Audio (APE) ===
http://www.monkeysaudio.com/

[[Monkey's Audio]] is a very efficient lossless compressor developed by Matt Ashland.

''' APE pros '''
* High compression
* Fast encoding
* Good software support
* Simple and user friendly. Official GUI provided.
* Java version (multiplatform)
* Error robustness/decoding up to -c3000 (High compression)<ref>http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=98984&st=0&p=821420&#entry821420</ref>
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])
* [[High resolution]] audio support
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks (only in the GUI encoder)
* Pipe support (only in a [http://www.etree.org/shnutils/shntool/ special] version)

''' APE cons '''
* Problematic license (source provided, no modification or redistribution rights)
* Slow decoding
* No [[multichannel]] support
* No hybrid/lossy mode (and not [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Limited hardware support (Rockbox, some Cowon players); poor battery life due to complicated decoding (see [http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SoundCodecMonkeysAudio MP3 player benchmarks])
* Higher compression levels are extremely CPU intensive

''' APE Other features '''
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Supports APL image link files (similar to CUE sheets)

=== OptimFROG (OFR) ===
http://www.losslessaudio.org/

[[OptimFROG]] is a lossless format developed by Florin Ghido to become the champion in audio compression.

''' OFR pros '''
* Very high compression
* Good software support
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[high resolution]]s
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3]], [[APE tags]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks

''' OFR cons '''
* Closed source
* No [[multichannel]] audio support
* No hardware support
* Very slow decoding
* Slow encoding
* More than one tagging method allowed (ambiguity possible)

''' OFR Other features '''
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking

=== Tom's verlustfreier Audiokompressor (TAK) ===
http://www.thbeck.de/Tak/Tak.html

[[TAK]] is a lossless codec developed by TBeck.

''' TAK pros '''
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Very high efficiency
* Error robust
* Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
* Tagging support
* Supports RIFF chunks
* Pipe support
* Streamable

''' TAK cons '''
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* No hardware support
* Average software support
* Doesn't support Unicode (yet)

''' TAK Other features '''
* Optional MD5 checksum

=== True Audio (TTA) ===
http://tta.tausoft.org/

[[TTA]] is a lossless codec developed by a international team of programmers.

''' TTA pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support ([[ID3]]v1, ID3v2)
* Embedded CUE sheets support
* Error robustness
* Pipe support
* Average compression
* Fast encoding/decoding
* Symmetric algorithm
* Password protection
* Ultra low latency

''' TTA cons '''
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks
* Limited hardware support

''' TTA Other features '''
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container
* Password protection

=== WavPack (WV) ===
http://www.wavpack.com/

[[WavPack]] is a fast and featureful lossless codec developed by David Bryant.

''' WV pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Good efficiency
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Ability to create self extracting files for Win32 platform
* Pipe support
* Good software support

''' WV cons '''
* Limited hardware player support ([http://www.rockbox.org/ RockBox])
* More than one tagging method allowed (ambiguity possible)

''' WV Other features '''
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Supports embedded CUE sheets
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Can encode in both symmetrical and asymmetrical modes.
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container

=== Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMAL) ===
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/codecs/audio.aspx

WMA Lossless is the lossless codec developed by Microsoft to be featured in their Windows Media codec portfolio.

''' WMAL pros '''
* Streaming support
* Very good software support
* Hardware support (Microsoft Zune, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabeat Gigabeat V and S line from Toshiba])
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s.
* Tagging support (proprietary)
* Pipe support

''' WMAL cons '''
* Rather low efficiency
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks

''' WMAL Other features '''
* Fits the [[ASF]] container

=== Other Formats ===
Aside from the formats mentioned above, there are in fact quite a lot of other lossless formats. To keep the table and list brief and readable, a few formats have not been mentioned.

====DTS-HD Master Audio====
Similar to the MPEG-4 SLS format, this format has a core track in an older, more widely supported format, DTS. This core lossy track is made lossless by a secondary track with correction data. It is an optional codec in Blu-ray implementations. Its main use is surround sound encoding, and as is the case with MLP, the price of the encoder ensures it is only used in mastering of Blu-ray discs.

====LA====
LA features an extremely high compression (on par with OptimFrog highest modes, but a bit faster), but it hasn't been updated for more than 10 years. Furthermore, backward compatibility is not guaranteed, so using it for archiving might pose a few problems. It isn't able to cope with file corruption either, software support is very limited and isn't open source.

====MLP/Dolby TrueHD====
The [[MLP|MLP codec]] (of which the mathematical basis was used in Dolby TrueHD) it the codec used for DVD-Audio. It was mandatory in any HD-DVD implementation and optional for Blu-Ray in it's Dolby TrueHD form. It is known to support the 'wasted bits' scheme used in LossyWAV. As encoders are very expensive, its use outside DVD/Blu-ray mastering environments is non-existent. Its main use is encoding surround sound data.

====MPEG-4 ALS====
MPEG-4 ALS is the successor to LPAC, which it was based on. It has been as a ISO standard and there is a reference encoder/decoder, but like TTA, it does not have features that make it stand out from other codecs, nor backing by a large organisation, so it hasn't much software and no hardware support.

====MPEG-4 SLS====
MPEG-4 SLS is a special codec, having a AAC core track and a 'correction track'. Also known as HD-AAC, SLS stands for Scalable to Lossless. However, there is to date still no affordable software to play, encode or decode (the lossless part of) SLS files.

====Shorten====
Shorten was one of the first widely-used lossless formats, and it still occasionally found on the internet, especially in archives, for example etree.org. It is quite fast in both encoding and decoding, but doesn't compress very much. Furthermore, seeking has a troubled past as well as tagging. It is considered obsolete.

====Real Lossless====
Part of the Real codec suite, Real Lossless too hasn't any very special features that make it stand out. Just like WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless, it was created to fit in a codec suite, but unlike WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless, there is no hardware support and software support is limited. Compression is on par with most other codecs, but it is rather slow to encode.

====Oddball formats====
There are a few archaic formats of which encoders and decoders are hard to get by. Most of those would have disappeared by now, but some of them are being preserved for posterity at [[User:Rjamorim|rjamorim]]'s

* Advanced Digital Audio (ADA)
* Bonk
* Marian's a-Pac
* AudioZip
* Dakx WAV
* Entis Lab MIO
* LiteWave
* LPAC
* Pegasus SPS
* RK Audio (RKAU)
* Ogg Squish
* Sonarc
* VocPack
* WavArc
* WaveZip/MUSICompress

== See also ==
* [[Lossless]]

== External links ==
''' Other lossless compressions comparisons '''
''Sorted based on last '''update''' date.''

* [http://www.audiograaf.nl/downloads.html Martijn van Beurden's comparison] - tries to compare all codecs and settings with a balanced pool of music (last updated 2015-01-05)
* [http://www.squeezechart.com/audio.html Squeezechart audio] - tests as much codecs as possible, but not all their settings and with a limited test corpus (last updated 2013-10-31)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/lossless/index.asp Synthetic Soul's comparison] (last update 2007-07-28)
* <s>Johan De Bock's speed oriented comparison</s> - best choices speedwise are indicated in green, mostly electronic music (last updated 2006-07-22)
* <s>Hans Heijden's</s> -- used as reference to build the table (last updated 2006-07-07)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/josef/ Josef Pohm's comparison, hosted by Synthetic Soul] (last update 2006-05-29)
* [http://www.bobulous.org.uk/misc/lossless_audio_2006.html Bobulous' lossless audio comparison] — a look at six lossless formats in terms of speed and file size (last updated 2006-05-22)
* <s>Jhan De Bock's size oriented comparison</s> - aimed only at the maximum compression setting for each codec (based on a somewhat limited set of samples, however) (last updated 2006-05-19)
* <s>Gruboolez'</s> -- comparing only classical music (last updated 2005-02-27)
* <s>[http://members.home.nl/w.speek/comparison.htm Speek's]</s> (last updated 2005-02-07)

''' More on lossless compressions '''
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20080731103800/http://www.losslessaudioblog.com/ The Lossless Audio Blog], retrieved from archive.org - by windmiller, is a reliable and complete source of news about lossless compression.
* Go to the [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=33226 Hydrogenaudio thread] to discuss this article.

== References ==

<references/>
[[Category:Guides]]

WavPack

2016-07-30T13:09:41Z

84.166.190.71: /* External links */

'''WavPack''' is a royalty-free, open source and [[lossless]] or high-quality lossy (in "hybrid" mode) audio compression format developed by David Bryant.

== Description ==
WavPack (pronounced "wave-pack") allows users to compress (and restore) all [[PCM]] audio formats including 8, 16, and 24-bit ints; 32-bit floats; [[mono]], [[stereo]], and [[multichannel]]; [[sampling rate]]s from 6 to 192 kHz. Like other lossless compression schemes the data reduction varies with the source, but it is generally between 25 % and 50 % for typical popular music and somewhat better than that for classical music and other sources with greater dynamic range.

WavPack also incorporates a unique "hybrid" mode that provides all the advantages of lossless compression with an additional bonus. Instead of creating a single file, this mode creates both a relatively small, high-quality lossy file that can be used all by itself, and a "correction" file that (when combined with the lossy file) provides full lossless restoration. For some users this means never having to choose between lossless and lossy compression!

== Feature Summary ==
* Fast and efficient encoding and decoding
* [[Open source]], released under a BSDish license
* Multiplatform
* Hardware support
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Supports embedded CUE sheets
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Ability to create self extracting files for Win32 platform
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible

== History ==
David Bryant started development on WavPack in mid-1998, with the release of version 1.0. This first version compressed and decompressed audio losslessly, nothing else, but by then it already featured one of the best efficiency versus speed ratio among lossless encoders.

Very soon after the release of version 1.0, Bryant released v. 2.0, which featured lossy encoding (using only quantization for data reduction – no psychoacoustic process was applied to the stream).

In 1999, the developer released version 3.0, which featured novelties such as a fast mode (with reduced compression ratio), compression of RAW files and error detection using CRC checksums.

WavPack development is still going on, and a major feature added in late 3.x versions is the hybrid mode, where the encoder generates a lossy file + a correction file, so that both can be decompressed back to the original PCM stream.

WavPack 4 has been recently released. It included important changes, such as fast seeking, multichannel support, high resolution audio support, etc. turning it into one of the most full featured and modern lossless audio compressors.

== Software support ==
=== Players ===
* NullSoft [[Winamp]] (plugin with ReplayGain & Media Library support) and Winamp-compatible players
* [[foobar2000]] Advanced Audio Player (official encoding/decoding addon, with ReplayGain & Cuesheets support)
* [http://www.vuplayer.com/vuplayer.php VUPlayer] (official plugin, supports encoding)
* [[Windows Media Player]] and other directshow-based players (MPC, TCMP, RadLight) (with [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=103693 CoreWavPack] directshow filter)
* [http://www.un4seen.com/xmplay.html XMplay] (official plugin)
* [http://cogosx.sourceforge.net/ Cog] Audio player for MacOS X.
* [[XMMS]] (with Kuniklo's plugin)
* [http://fondriest.frederic.free.fr/realisations/lamip/ LAMIP] (official plugin)
* [http://mpxplay.sourceforge.net/ MPXplay] for DOS!
* [http://aqualung.sourceforge.net/ Aqualung] for GNU/Linux
* [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html VLC Player]
* Cowon [http://www.jetaudio.com/ JetAudio Player]

=== Frontends ===
* Custom Windows [http://www.wavpack.com/WavPack_frontend.zip WavPack frontend] (by Speekenbrink)

=== Converters ===
'''Note:''' ''Several players, like Cowon JetAudio, foobar2000 and VUplayer, can also convert from other formats to WavPack!''

* [http://www.dbpoweramp.com/ dBpowerAMP] Music Converter / Audio Player / CD Writer (official addon)
* [http://www.easeaudioconverter.com/wavpack.htm Ease Audio Converter] (Shareware / NOT Freeware)
* [http://media.io/ Online Audio Converter]

=== Editors ===
* [[Adobe Audition]] and Cool Edit (filter with 32-bit floats & extra info save support)

=== CD writers/rippers ===
* [http://www.nero.com/eng/ Nero]
* [[Exact Audio Copy]] CD Ripper
* [http://cdexos.sourceforge.net CDex] CD ripper
* Cowon [http://www.jetaudio.com/ JetAudio Player]

=== Taggers ===
* [http://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html Mp3tag] Universal Tag Editor
* [http://www.jtclipper.eu/thegodfather/ The GodFather] Tagger / Music manager
* [[Tag.exe|Case's Tag]] command line tagger

=== Other tools ===
* [http://mr-questionman.en.uptodown.com/windows Mr. QuestionMan]
* [http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/ mkvtoolnix] – tool to multiplex WavPack streams inside the Matroska container
''It's worth mentioning the [[Matroska]] guys decided to concentrate on WavPack as the lossless compressor of choice for their container. Quite an honor... :-)''

=== ->[http://www.wavpack.com/#Software WavPack Software Section] ===

== Hardware Support ==
* iRiver iHP-120/iHP-140 with the open source [http://www.rockbox.org Rockbox firmware]
* Roku PhotoBridge HD (with [http://www.wavpack.com/downloads.html plugin])
=== ->[http://www.wavpack.com/index.html#Hardware WavPack Hardware Section] ===

== Technology description ==
To ensure high-speed operation, WavPack uses a very simple predictor that is implemented entirely in integer math. In its "fast" mode the prediction is simply the arithmetic extrapolation of the previous two samples. For example, if the previous two samples were -10 and 20, then the prediction would be 50. For the default mode a simple adaptive factor is added to weigh the influence of the earlier sample on the prediction. In our example the resulting prediction could then vary between 20 for no influence to 50 for full influence. This weight factor is constantly updated based on the audio data's changing spectral characteristics, which is why it is called "adaptive".

The prediction generated is then subtracted from the actual sample to be encoded to generate the error value. In mono mode this value is sent directly to the coder. However, stereo signals tend to have some correlation between the two channels that can be further exploited. Therefore, two error values are calculated that represent the difference and average of the left and right error values. In the "fast" mode of operation these two new values are simply sent to the coder instead of the left and right values. In the default mode, the difference value is always sent to the coder along with one of the other three values (average, left, or right). An adaptive algorithm continuously determines the most efficient of the three to send based on the changing balance of the channels.

The developer has developed a unique data encoder for WavPack that he believes is better than Rice coding in two different areas. It is impossible to encode more efficiently than Rice coding because it represents the optimal bit coding (sometimes known as the Huffman code) for this type of data. WavPack's encoder is slightly less efficient than this, but only by about 0.15 bits/sample (or less than 1% for 16-bit data). The first advantage of WavPack's coder is that it does not require the data to be buffered ahead of encoding, instead it converts each sample directly to bitcodes. This is more computationally efficient and it is better in some applications where coding delay is critical. The second advantage is that it is easily adaptable to lossy encoding because all significant bits (except the implied "one" MSB) are transmitted directly. In this way it is possible to only transmit, for example, the 3 most significant bits (with sign) of each sample. In fact, it is possible to transmit only the sign and implied MSB for each sample with an average of only 3.65 bits/sample.

This coding scheme is used to implement the "lossy" mode of WavPack. In the "fast" mode the output of the non-adaptive decorrelator is simply rounded to the nearest codable value for the specified number of bits. In the default mode the adaptive decorrelator is used (which reduces the average noise about 1 dB) and also both the current and the next sample are considered in choosing the better of the two available codes (which reduces noise another 1 dB).

The developer has decided to not use any floating-point arithmetic in WavPack's data path because he believes that integer operations are less susceptible to subtle chip to chip variations that could corrupt the lossless nature of the compression, the Pentium floating point bug being a blatant example of this. It is possible that a lossless compressor that used floating-point math could generate different output when running on that faulty Pentium. Even disregarding actual bugs, floating-point math is complicated enough that there could be subtle differences between "correct" implementations that could cause trouble for this type of application. To further ensure confidence in the integrity of WavPack's compression, the encoder includes a 32-bit error detection code to the generated streams.

WavPack source code is very portable. It has been compiled on several Unices (Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Compaq Tru64, HP-UX...) as well as Windows, DOS and OpenVMS. It works on architectures such as x86, ARM, PowerPC, SPARC, DEC Alpha, PA-RISC, MIPS, Motorola 68k...

== External links ==
* [http://www.wavpack.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.rarewares.org/lossless.html Unofficial multiplatform versions] at RareWares
* [[Lossless_comparison|Lossless Codec Comparison]]
* [[EAC_and_WavPack | Configuring EAC and WavPack]]

[[Category:Codecs]]
[[Category:Lossless]]

Lossless comparison

2016-07-29T21:30:29Z

84.166.190.71: /* True Audio (TTA) */

The '''lossless comparison page''' aims to gather information about lossless codecs available so users can make an informed decision as to what lossless codec to choose for their needs.

== Introduction ==
Given the enormous amount of [[lossless]] audio compressor choices available, it is a very difficult task to choose the one most suited for each person's needs. Some people only take into consideration compression performance when choosing a codec, but as the following table and article shows, there are several other features worth taking into consideration when making a choice.

For example, users wanting good multiplatform compatibility and robustness (e.g., people sharing live recordings) would favour [[WavPack]] or [[FLAC]]. Another user, looking for the very highest compression available, would go with [[OptimFROG]]. Someone wanting portable support would use [[FLAC]] or [[ALAC]], and so on. En fin, this is not a matter worth getting too worked up about. If you later find out the codec you chose isn't the best for your needs, you can just transcompress to another format, without risk of losing quality.

'''Note:''' for latest comparison of lossless compression, scroll down to the [[Lossless comparison#External links|Links section of this page]].

== Comparison Table ==


{| cellspacing="2" style="text-align:center; border:1px solid blue;"
|width="120px"|'''Features'''
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | FLAC
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | ALAC
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | WavPack
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | TAK
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | Monkey's
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | WMA
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | OptimFROG
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | TTA
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Encoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FFCC66" | slow
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Decoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FFCC66" | slow
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | very slow
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Compression{{ref label|speed|A|A}}{{ref label|comp|B|B}}
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.8%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.1%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 56.0%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 55.1%
| style="background: #FFCC66" | 58.4%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 54.6%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 56.6%
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | # presets
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 9
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 2
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 5
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 1
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 1
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Error handling{{ref label|error|C|C}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | yes{{ref label|error_ape|D|D}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Tagging
| style="background: #00FF00" | Vorbis tags
| style="background: #00FF00" | iTunes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3/APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | ASF
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3/APEv2
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3v1/2
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hardware support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Software support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hybrid/lossy
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | RIFF chunks
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | ?
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | ?
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Streaming
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Open source
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Multichannel
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | OS support
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Wine
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Mac
| style="background: #00FF00" | Win/Mac/Linux
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
|}

{|
|-
|{{note label|speed|A|A}} Speed and Compression are based on '''each encoder's default settings''' and are taken from the [http://www.audiograaf.nl/downloads.html this comparison].
|-
|{{note label|comp|B|B}} The Compression ratio is compressed size/uncompressed size * 100. So, lower is better.
|-
|{{note label|error|C|C}} Error handling means that a codec can detect a corruption (flipped bit) in a file and warn the user about it, but still decode the rest of the file.
|-
|{{note label|error_ape|D|D}} The official Monkey's Audio decoder does not support decoding through errors, but this may be achieved with FFmpeg or Winamp, though likely not when the "Insane" preset is used.

== Codecs ==

These are the most popular lossless codecs, in alphabetical order:

=== Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) ===
http://www.apple.com/itunes/import.html

[[ALAC]] is a codec developed by Apple for usage in [[Apple iPod|iPod]] and AirPort Express.

'''ALAC pros'''
* [[Open source]] (encoding and decoding via FFmpeg and [[CueTools|CUETools]], decoding only via [http://craz.net/programs/itunes/alac.html a standalone decoder])
* Fast encoding
* Fast decoding
* Hardware support ([[Apple iPod|iPod]], AirPort Express)
* Software support (iTunes, Quicktime)
* Independent encoder implementation available: ffmpeg
* Streaming support
* Tagging support (QT tags)
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Used by a few online stores

''' ALAC cons '''
* Limited software support
* No error detection/robustness<ref>[http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=33226&view=findpost&p=862031 HA forum post discussing ALAC robustness]</ref>
* No hybrid/lossy mode (and not [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Not very efficient

''' ALAC Other features '''
* Fits in the [[MP4]] container

=== Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) ===
https://xiph.org/flac/

[[FLAC]] is a lossless codec developed by Josh Coalson. It's part of the Xiph multimedia portfolio, along with [[Opus]], [[Ogg]], [[Vorbis]], [[Speex]] and [[Theora]].

''' FLAC pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Very good hardware support (Android, Marantz, Sonos, [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html many others])
* Very good software support
* Independent encoder implementations available: flake/ffmpeg, FLACCL
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support (FLAC tags)
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support
* Used by a few [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html#music online stores]

''' FLAC cons '''
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible
* Does not handle 32-bit float and there is no encoder that can render to 32-bit integer

''' FLAC Other features '''
* Supports embedded CUE sheets (with [http://flac.sourceforge.net/faq.html#general__no_cuesheet_tags limitations])
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking as standard
* Fits the [[Ogg]] and [[Matroska]] containers

=== Monkey's Audio (APE) ===
http://www.monkeysaudio.com/

[[Monkey's Audio]] is a very efficient lossless compressor developed by Matt Ashland.

''' APE pros '''
* High compression
* Fast encoding
* Good software support
* Simple and user friendly. Official GUI provided.
* Java version (multiplatform)
* Error robustness/decoding up to -c3000 (High compression)<ref>http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=98984&st=0&p=821420&#entry821420</ref>
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])
* [[High resolution]] audio support
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks (only in the GUI encoder)
* Pipe support (only in a [http://www.etree.org/shnutils/shntool/ special] version)

''' APE cons '''
* Problematic license (source provided, no modification or redistribution rights)
* Slow decoding
* No [[multichannel]] support
* No hybrid/lossy mode (and not [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Limited hardware support (Rockbox, some Cowon players); poor battery life due to complicated decoding (see [http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SoundCodecMonkeysAudio MP3 player benchmarks])
* Higher compression levels are extremely CPU intensive

''' APE Other features '''
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Supports APL image link files (similar to CUE sheets)

=== OptimFROG (OFR) ===
http://www.losslessaudio.org/

[[OptimFROG]] is a lossless format developed by Florin Ghido to become the champion in audio compression.

''' OFR pros '''
* Very high compression
* Good software support
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[high resolution]]s
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3]], [[APE tags]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks

''' OFR cons '''
* Closed source
* No [[multichannel]] audio support
* No hardware support
* Very slow decoding
* Slow encoding
* More than one tagging method allowed (ambiguity possible)

''' OFR Other features '''
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking

=== Tom's verlustfreier Audiokompressor (TAK) ===
http://www.thbeck.de/Tak/Tak.html

[[TAK]] is a lossless codec developed by TBeck.

''' TAK pros '''
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Very high efficiency
* Error robust
* Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
* Tagging support
* Supports RIFF chunks
* Pipe support
* Streamable

''' TAK cons '''
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* No hardware support
* Average software support
* Doesn't support Unicode (yet)

''' TAK Other features '''
* Optional MD5 checksum

=== True Audio (TTA) ===
http://tta.tausoft.org/

[[TTA]] is a lossless codec developed by a international team of programmers.

''' TTA pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support ([[ID3]]v1, ID3v2)
* Embedded CUE sheets support
* Error robustness
* Pipe support
* Average compression
* Fast encoding/decoding
* Symmetric algorithm
* Password protection
* Ultra low latency

''' TTA cons '''
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks
* Limited hardware support

''' TTA Other features '''
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container
* Password protection

=== WavPack (WV) ===
http://www.wavpack.com/

[[WavPack]] is a fast and featureful lossless codec developed by David Bryant.

''' WV pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Good efficiency
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Ability to create self extracting files for Win32 platform
* Pipe support
* Good software support

''' WV cons '''
* Limited hardware player support ([http://www.rockbox.org/ RockBox])
* More than one tagging method allowed (ambiguity possible)

''' WV Other features '''
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Supports embedded CUE sheets
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Can encode in both symmetrical and asymmetrical modes.
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container

=== Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMAL) ===
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/codecs/audio.aspx

WMA Lossless is the lossless codec developed by Microsoft to be featured in their Windows Media codec portfolio.

''' WMAL pros '''
* Streaming support
* Very good software support
* Hardware support (Microsoft Zune, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabeat Gigabeat V and S line from Toshiba])
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s.
* Tagging support (proprietary)
* Pipe support

''' WMAL cons '''
* Rather low efficiency
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks

''' WMAL Other features '''
* Fits the [[ASF]] container

=== Other Formats ===
Aside from the formats mentioned above, there are in fact quite a lot of other lossless formats. To keep the table and list brief and readable, a few formats have not been mentioned.

====DTS-HD Master Audio====
Similar to the MPEG-4 SLS format, this format has a core track in an older, more widely supported format, DTS. This core lossy track is made lossless by a secondary track with correction data. It is an optional codec in Blu-ray implementations. Its main use is surround sound encoding, and as is the case with MLP, the price of the encoder ensures it is only used in mastering of Blu-ray discs.

====LA====
LA features an extremely high compression (on par with OptimFrog highest modes, but a bit faster), but it hasn't been updated for more than 10 years. Furthermore, backward compatibility is not guaranteed, so using it for archiving might pose a few problems. It isn't able to cope with file corruption either, software support is very limited and isn't open source.

====MLP/Dolby TrueHD====
The [[MLP|MLP codec]] (of which the mathematical basis was used in Dolby TrueHD) it the codec used for DVD-Audio. It was mandatory in any HD-DVD implementation and optional for Blu-Ray in it's Dolby TrueHD form. It is known to support the 'wasted bits' scheme used in LossyWAV. As encoders are very expensive, its use outside DVD/Blu-ray mastering environments is non-existent. Its main use is encoding surround sound data.

====MPEG-4 ALS====
MPEG-4 ALS is the successor to LPAC, which it was based on. It has been as a ISO standard and there is a reference encoder/decoder, but like TTA, it does not have features that make it stand out from other codecs, nor backing by a large organisation, so it hasn't much software and no hardware support.

====MPEG-4 SLS====
MPEG-4 SLS is a special codec, having a AAC core track and a 'correction track'. Also known as HD-AAC, SLS stands for Scalable to Lossless. However, there is to date still no affordable software to play, encode or decode (the lossless part of) SLS files.

====Shorten====
Shorten was one of the first widely-used lossless formats, and it still occasionally found on the internet, especially in archives, for example etree.org. It is quite fast in both encoding and decoding, but doesn't compress very much. Furthermore, seeking has a troubled past as well as tagging. It is considered obsolete.

====Real Lossless====
Part of the Real codec suite, Real Lossless too hasn't any very special features that make it stand out. Just like WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless, it was created to fit in a codec suite, but unlike WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless, there is no hardware support and software support is limited. Compression is on par with most other codecs, but it is rather slow to encode.

====Oddball formats====
There are a few archaic formats of which encoders and decoders are hard to get by. Most of those would have disappeared by now, but some of them are being preserved for posterity at [[User:Rjamorim|rjamorim]]'s

* Advanced Digital Audio (ADA)
* Bonk
* Marian's a-Pac
* AudioZip
* Dakx WAV
* Entis Lab MIO
* LiteWave
* LPAC
* Pegasus SPS
* RK Audio (RKAU)
* Ogg Squish
* Sonarc
* VocPack
* WavArc
* WaveZip/MUSICompress

== See also ==
* [[Lossless]]

== External links ==
''' Other lossless compressions comparisons '''
''Sorted based on last '''update''' date.''

* [http://www.audiograaf.nl/downloads.html Martijn van Beurden's comparison] - tries to compare all codecs and settings with a balanced pool of music (last updated 2015-01-05)
* [http://www.squeezechart.com/audio.html Squeezechart audio] - tests as much codecs as possible, but not all their settings and with a limited test corpus (last updated 2013-10-31)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/lossless/index.asp Synthetic Soul's comparison] (last update 2007-07-28)
* <s>Johan De Bock's speed oriented comparison</s> - best choices speedwise are indicated in green, mostly electronic music (last updated 2006-07-22)
* <s>Hans Heijden's</s> -- used as reference to build the table (last updated 2006-07-07)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/josef/ Josef Pohm's comparison, hosted by Synthetic Soul] (last update 2006-05-29)
* [http://www.bobulous.org.uk/misc/lossless_audio_2006.html Bobulous' lossless audio comparison] — a look at six lossless formats in terms of speed and file size (last updated 2006-05-22)
* <s>Jhan De Bock's size oriented comparison</s> - aimed only at the maximum compression setting for each codec (based on a somewhat limited set of samples, however) (last updated 2006-05-19)
* <s>Gruboolez'</s> -- comparing only classical music (last updated 2005-02-27)
* <s>[http://members.home.nl/w.speek/comparison.htm Speek's]</s> (last updated 2005-02-07)

''' More on lossless compressions '''
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20080731103800/http://www.losslessaudioblog.com/ The Lossless Audio Blog], retrieved from archive.org - by windmiller, is a reliable and complete source of news about lossless compression.
* Go to the [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=33226 Hydrogenaudio thread] to discuss this article.

== References ==

<references/>
[[Category:Guides]]

Lossless comparison

2016-07-29T21:27:12Z

84.166.190.71: /* Comparison Table */

The '''lossless comparison page''' aims to gather information about lossless codecs available so users can make an informed decision as to what lossless codec to choose for their needs.

== Introduction ==
Given the enormous amount of [[lossless]] audio compressor choices available, it is a very difficult task to choose the one most suited for each person's needs. Some people only take into consideration compression performance when choosing a codec, but as the following table and article shows, there are several other features worth taking into consideration when making a choice.

For example, users wanting good multiplatform compatibility and robustness (e.g., people sharing live recordings) would favour [[WavPack]] or [[FLAC]]. Another user, looking for the very highest compression available, would go with [[OptimFROG]]. Someone wanting portable support would use [[FLAC]] or [[ALAC]], and so on. En fin, this is not a matter worth getting too worked up about. If you later find out the codec you chose isn't the best for your needs, you can just transcompress to another format, without risk of losing quality.

'''Note:''' for latest comparison of lossless compression, scroll down to the [[Lossless comparison#External links|Links section of this page]].

== Comparison Table ==


{| cellspacing="2" style="text-align:center; border:1px solid blue;"
|width="120px"|'''Features'''
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | FLAC
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | ALAC
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | WavPack
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | TAK
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | Monkey's
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | WMA
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | OptimFROG
| width="90px" style="background: #00FFFF" | TTA
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Encoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FFCC66" | slow
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Decoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FFCC66" | slow
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | very slow
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
|- 
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Compression{{ref label|speed|A|A}}{{ref label|comp|B|B}}
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.8%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.1%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 56.0%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 55.1%
| style="background: #FFCC66" | 58.4%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 54.6%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 56.6%
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | # presets
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 9
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 2
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 5
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 1
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 1
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Error handling{{ref label|error|C|C}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | yes{{ref label|error_ape|D|D}}
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Tagging
| style="background: #00FF00" | Vorbis tags
| style="background: #00FF00" | iTunes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3/APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | APEv2
| style="background: #00FF00" | ASF
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3/APEv2
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3v1/2
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hardware support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Software support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hybrid/lossy
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | LossyWAV
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | RIFF chunks
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | ?
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | ?
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Streaming
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Open source
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Multichannel
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | OS support
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Wine
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Mac
| style="background: #00FF00" | Win/Mac/Linux
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
|}

{|
|-
|{{note label|speed|A|A}} Speed and Compression are based on '''each encoder's default settings''' and are taken from the [http://www.audiograaf.nl/downloads.html this comparison].
|-
|{{note label|comp|B|B}} The Compression ratio is compressed size/uncompressed size * 100. So, lower is better.
|-
|{{note label|error|C|C}} Error handling means that a codec can detect a corruption (flipped bit) in a file and warn the user about it, but still decode the rest of the file.
|-
|{{note label|error_ape|D|D}} The official Monkey's Audio decoder does not support decoding through errors, but this may be achieved with FFmpeg or Winamp, though likely not when the "Insane" preset is used.

== Codecs ==

These are the most popular lossless codecs, in alphabetical order:

=== Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) ===
http://www.apple.com/itunes/import.html

[[ALAC]] is a codec developed by Apple for usage in [[Apple iPod|iPod]] and AirPort Express.

'''ALAC pros'''
* [[Open source]] (encoding and decoding via FFmpeg and [[CueTools|CUETools]], decoding only via [http://craz.net/programs/itunes/alac.html a standalone decoder])
* Fast encoding
* Fast decoding
* Hardware support ([[Apple iPod|iPod]], AirPort Express)
* Software support (iTunes, Quicktime)
* Independent encoder implementation available: ffmpeg
* Streaming support
* Tagging support (QT tags)
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Used by a few online stores

''' ALAC cons '''
* Limited software support
* No error detection/robustness<ref>[http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=33226&view=findpost&p=862031 HA forum post discussing ALAC robustness]</ref>
* No hybrid/lossy mode (and not [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Not very efficient

''' ALAC Other features '''
* Fits in the [[MP4]] container

=== Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) ===
https://xiph.org/flac/

[[FLAC]] is a lossless codec developed by Josh Coalson. It's part of the Xiph multimedia portfolio, along with [[Opus]], [[Ogg]], [[Vorbis]], [[Speex]] and [[Theora]].

''' FLAC pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Very good hardware support (Android, Marantz, Sonos, [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html many others])
* Very good software support
* Independent encoder implementations available: flake/ffmpeg, FLACCL
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support (FLAC tags)
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support
* Used by a few [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html#music online stores]

''' FLAC cons '''
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible
* Does not handle 32-bit float and there is no encoder that can render to 32-bit integer

''' FLAC Other features '''
* Supports embedded CUE sheets (with [http://flac.sourceforge.net/faq.html#general__no_cuesheet_tags limitations])
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking as standard
* Fits the [[Ogg]] and [[Matroska]] containers

=== Monkey's Audio (APE) ===
http://www.monkeysaudio.com/

[[Monkey's Audio]] is a very efficient lossless compressor developed by Matt Ashland.

''' APE pros '''
* High compression
* Fast encoding
* Good software support
* Simple and user friendly. Official GUI provided.
* Java version (multiplatform)
* Error robustness/decoding up to -c3000 (High compression)<ref>http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=98984&st=0&p=821420&#entry821420</ref>
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])
* [[High resolution]] audio support
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks (only in the GUI encoder)
* Pipe support (only in a [http://www.etree.org/shnutils/shntool/ special] version)

''' APE cons '''
* Problematic license (source provided, no modification or redistribution rights)
* Slow decoding
* No [[multichannel]] support
* No hybrid/lossy mode (and not [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Limited hardware support (Rockbox, some Cowon players); poor battery life due to complicated decoding (see [http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SoundCodecMonkeysAudio MP3 player benchmarks])
* Higher compression levels are extremely CPU intensive

''' APE Other features '''
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Supports APL image link files (similar to CUE sheets)

=== OptimFROG (OFR) ===
http://www.losslessaudio.org/

[[OptimFROG]] is a lossless format developed by Florin Ghido to become the champion in audio compression.

''' OFR pros '''
* Very high compression
* Good software support
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[high resolution]]s
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3]], [[APE tags]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks

''' OFR cons '''
* Closed source
* No [[multichannel]] audio support
* No hardware support
* Very slow decoding
* Slow encoding
* More than one tagging method allowed (ambiguity possible)

''' OFR Other features '''
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking

=== Tom's verlustfreier Audiokompressor (TAK) ===
http://www.thbeck.de/Tak/Tak.html

[[TAK]] is a lossless codec developed by TBeck.

''' TAK pros '''
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Very high efficiency
* Error robust
* Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
* Tagging support
* Supports RIFF chunks
* Pipe support
* Streamable

''' TAK cons '''
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* No hardware support
* Average software support
* Doesn't support Unicode (yet)

''' TAK Other features '''
* Optional MD5 checksum

=== True Audio (TTA) ===
http://tta.tausoft.org/

[[TTA]] is a lossless codec developed by a international team of programmers.

''' TTA pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support ([[ID3]], [[APE tags]])
* Embedded CUE sheets support
* Error robustness
* Pipe support
* Average compression
* Fast encoding/decoding
* Symmetric algorithm
* Password protection
* Ultra low latency

''' TTA cons '''
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks
* Limited hardware support

''' TTA Other features '''
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container
* Password protection

=== WavPack (WV) ===
http://www.wavpack.com/

[[WavPack]] is a fast and featureful lossless codec developed by David Bryant.

''' WV pros '''
* [[Open source]]
* Fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Good efficiency
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Hybrid/lossy mode
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Ability to create self extracting files for Win32 platform
* Pipe support
* Good software support

''' WV cons '''
* Limited hardware player support ([http://www.rockbox.org/ RockBox])
* More than one tagging method allowed (ambiguity possible)

''' WV Other features '''
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Supports embedded CUE sheets
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Can encode in both symmetrical and asymmetrical modes.
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container

=== Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMAL) ===
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/codecs/audio.aspx

WMA Lossless is the lossless codec developed by Microsoft to be featured in their Windows Media codec portfolio.

''' WMAL pros '''
* Streaming support
* Very good software support
* Hardware support (Microsoft Zune, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabeat Gigabeat V and S line from Toshiba])
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s.
* Tagging support (proprietary)
* Pipe support

''' WMAL cons '''
* Rather low efficiency
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks

''' WMAL Other features '''
* Fits the [[ASF]] container

=== Other Formats ===
Aside from the formats mentioned above, there are in fact quite a lot of other lossless formats. To keep the table and list brief and readable, a few formats have not been mentioned.

====DTS-HD Master Audio====
Similar to the MPEG-4 SLS format, this format has a core track in an older, more widely supported format, DTS. This core lossy track is made lossless by a secondary track with correction data. It is an optional codec in Blu-ray implementations. Its main use is surround sound encoding, and as is the case with MLP, the price of the encoder ensures it is only used in mastering of Blu-ray discs.

====LA====
LA features an extremely high compression (on par with OptimFrog highest modes, but a bit faster), but it hasn't been updated for more than 10 years. Furthermore, backward compatibility is not guaranteed, so using it for archiving might pose a few problems. It isn't able to cope with file corruption either, software support is very limited and isn't open source.

====MLP/Dolby TrueHD====
The [[MLP|MLP codec]] (of which the mathematical basis was used in Dolby TrueHD) it the codec used for DVD-Audio. It was mandatory in any HD-DVD implementation and optional for Blu-Ray in it's Dolby TrueHD form. It is known to support the 'wasted bits' scheme used in LossyWAV. As encoders are very expensive, its use outside DVD/Blu-ray mastering environments is non-existent. Its main use is encoding surround sound data.

====MPEG-4 ALS====
MPEG-4 ALS is the successor to LPAC, which it was based on. It has been as a ISO standard and there is a reference encoder/decoder, but like TTA, it does not have features that make it stand out from other codecs, nor backing by a large organisation, so it hasn't much software and no hardware support.

====MPEG-4 SLS====
MPEG-4 SLS is a special codec, having a AAC core track and a 'correction track'. Also known as HD-AAC, SLS stands for Scalable to Lossless. However, there is to date still no affordable software to play, encode or decode (the lossless part of) SLS files.

====Shorten====
Shorten was one of the first widely-used lossless formats, and it still occasionally found on the internet, especially in archives, for example etree.org. It is quite fast in both encoding and decoding, but doesn't compress very much. Furthermore, seeking has a troubled past as well as tagging. It is considered obsolete.

====Real Lossless====
Part of the Real codec suite, Real Lossless too hasn't any very special features that make it stand out. Just like WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless, it was created to fit in a codec suite, but unlike WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless, there is no hardware support and software support is limited. Compression is on par with most other codecs, but it is rather slow to encode.

====Oddball formats====
There are a few archaic formats of which encoders and decoders are hard to get by. Most of those would have disappeared by now, but some of them are being preserved for posterity at [[User:Rjamorim|rjamorim]]'s

* Advanced Digital Audio (ADA)
* Bonk
* Marian's a-Pac
* AudioZip
* Dakx WAV
* Entis Lab MIO
* LiteWave
* LPAC
* Pegasus SPS
* RK Audio (RKAU)
* Ogg Squish
* Sonarc
* VocPack
* WavArc
* WaveZip/MUSICompress

== See also ==
* [[Lossless]]

== External links ==
''' Other lossless compressions comparisons '''
''Sorted based on last '''update''' date.''

* [http://www.audiograaf.nl/downloads.html Martijn van Beurden's comparison] - tries to compare all codecs and settings with a balanced pool of music (last updated 2015-01-05)
* [http://www.squeezechart.com/audio.html Squeezechart audio] - tests as much codecs as possible, but not all their settings and with a limited test corpus (last updated 2013-10-31)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/lossless/index.asp Synthetic Soul's comparison] (last update 2007-07-28)
* <s>Johan De Bock's speed oriented comparison</s> - best choices speedwise are indicated in green, mostly electronic music (last updated 2006-07-22)
* <s>Hans Heijden's</s> -- used as reference to build the table (last updated 2006-07-07)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/josef/ Josef Pohm's comparison, hosted by Synthetic Soul] (last update 2006-05-29)
* [http://www.bobulous.org.uk/misc/lossless_audio_2006.html Bobulous' lossless audio comparison] — a look at six lossless formats in terms of speed and file size (last updated 2006-05-22)
* <s>Jhan De Bock's size oriented comparison</s> - aimed only at the maximum compression setting for each codec (based on a somewhat limited set of samples, however) (last updated 2006-05-19)
* <s>Gruboolez'</s> -- comparing only classical music (last updated 2005-02-27)
* <s>[http://members.home.nl/w.speek/comparison.htm Speek's]</s> (last updated 2005-02-07)

''' More on lossless compressions '''
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20080731103800/http://www.losslessaudioblog.com/ The Lossless Audio Blog], retrieved from archive.org - by windmiller, is a reliable and complete source of news about lossless compression.
* Go to the [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=33226 Hydrogenaudio thread] to discuss this article.

== References ==

<references/>
[[Category:Guides]]