Hydrogenaudio Knowledgebase - User contributions [en]

Lossless comparison

2012-10-12T21:12:06Z

86.180.63.142: /* Oddball Formats */ Strike Thru , Oddball link ( dead links).

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.

Several 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 that 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="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | FLAC
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | WavPack
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | TAK
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | Monkey's
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | OptimFROG
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | ALAC
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | WMA
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Encoding speed
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Decoding speed
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Compression*
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 58.70%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 58.0%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 55.50%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 54.70%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 58.50%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 56.30%
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Flexibility**
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
|-
|style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Error handling
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Seeking
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| 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" | ID3/APE
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | APEv2 (exp.)
| style="background: #00FF00" | ID3/APE
| style="background: #00FF00" | ID3/APE
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | iTunes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ASF
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hardware support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Software support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hybrid/lossy
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | ReplayGain
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | sort of
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | RIFF chunks
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Streaming
| 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" | Pipe support
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| 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: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes (third-party)
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Multichannel
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | High resolution
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | OS support
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Linux Wine
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | Win/Mac/Linux
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Mac
|}

''(table continued below)''

{| cellspacing="2" style="text-align:center; border:1px solid blue;"
|width="120px"|'''Features'''
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | Shorten
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | LA
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | TTA
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | LPAC
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | MPEG-4 ALS
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | MPEG-4 SLS
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | Real Lossless
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Encoding speed
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Decoding speed
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Compression*
| style="background: #FF9900" | 63.50%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 53.50%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.10%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.20%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.10%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ?
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Flexibility**
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
|-
|! style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Error handling
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Seeking
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Tagging
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3v1
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | proprietary
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hardware support
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Software support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hybrid/lossy
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | ReplayGain
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | RIFF chunks
| style="background: #FF9900" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Streaming
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Pipe support
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Open source
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Multichannel
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | High resolution
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | OS support
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Linux
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Linux/Sol
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | Win/Mac/Linux
|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki> The Compression ratio is calculated with the division of compressed size by uncompressed size * 100. So, lower is better.

Encoding speed, Decoding speed and Compression ratio are based on each encoder's default settings.

<nowiki>**</nowiki> Flexibility refers to the amount of encoding choices offered to the users (Fast/low compression, Slow/high compression and everything inbetween)

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 ===
* Very fast decoding
* [[Open source]] (encoding and decoding via FFmpeg and [[CueTools|CUETools]], decoding only via [http://craz.net/programs/itunes/alac.html a standalone decoder])
* Hardware support ([[Apple iPod|iPod]], AirPort Express)
* Streaming support
* Tagging support (QT tags)
* Excellent hardware-software-lossy format integration with [[iTunes]]/iPod.
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s

=== ALAC cons ===
* Limited software support
* No hybrid/lossy mode

=== ALAC Other features ===
* Fits in the [[MP4]] container
* Can be used with the AirPort Express gadget

== Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) ==
http://flac.sourceforge.net/

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

=== FLAC pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* Very fast decoding
* Fast encoding
* Hardware support ([[Rio Karma|Karma]], Phatbox, etc.)
* Very good software support
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support (FLAC tags)
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible

=== FLAC cons ===
* No hybrid/lossy mode

=== 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
* Fits the [[Ogg]] and [[Matroska]] containers

== LosslessAudio (LA) ==
http://www.lossless-audio.com/

[[LA]] is a lossless codec developed by Michael Bevin.

=== LA pros ===
* Very high compression
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support

=== LA cons ===
* Closed source
* Very slow encoding and decoding
* Doesn't support [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* No hardware support
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Bad software support
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

'''''It's important to mention that the LA foobar plugin is buggy and doesn't produce lossless streams!'''''

== Lossless Predictive Audio Coder (LPAC) ==
* [http://www.nue.tu-berlin.de/menue/mitarbeiter/ehemalige_mitarbeiter/tilman_liebchen/lpac_-_lossless_audio_codec_for_windows_and_linux/ LPAC website]

[[Lossless Predictive Audio Coder]] (LPAC) is a lossless codec developed by Tilman Liebchen. Development of it has been halted in favour of development of [[MPEG-4]] ALS.

=== LPAC pros ===
* Reasonable compression ratios
* [[High resolution]] audio support
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks

=== LPAC cons ===
* Closed source
* No error robustness
* Slow seeking
* No tagging
* No [[multichannel]] support
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* No hardware support
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

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

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

=== APE pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* High efficiency
* Good software support
* Simple and user friendly. Official GUI provided.
* Java version (multiplatform)
* 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 ===
* No [[multichannel]] support
* No error robustness
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Limited hardware support (Rockbox, some Cowon players); poor battery life due to complicated decoding [http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SoundCodecMonkeysAudio MP3 player benchmarks]
* Higher compression levels are extremely CPU intensive
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

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

== MPEG-4 SLS ==
MPEG-4 SLS allows audio encoding from lossless scalable to [[AAC]].

=== SLS pros ===
* Transcoding to standard AAC or any higher lossy bitrate at the speed of copying a file
* Scalable decoding from lossless, to any bitrate down to the AAC core track
* Best lossless compression available when you count the AAC track (~5% gain over any other lossless compression + AAC)
* [[High resolution]] audio support
* Multi channel audio support
* [[Open source]] (MPEG-4 Reference code)
* Embedded in standard MP4 files, so supports same tagging and ReplayGain features as AAC does.

=== SLS cons ===
* No usable software available yet
* Pure lossless compression not the best there is
* Seems to be slow in encoding and decoding, but we have to wait for released software

=== SLS Other features ===
* Transform based lossless codec with optional LC AAC core track

== OptimFROG (OFR) ==
http://losslessaudiocompression.com/

[[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
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible

=== OFR cons ===
* Closed source
* No [[multichannel]] audio support
* No hardware support
* Quite slow decoding

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

== RealAudio Lossless (RAL) ==
http://www.realnetworks.com/products/codecs/realaudio.html

RealAudio lossless is the lossless codec developed by Real Networks for their multimedia portfolio

=== RAL pros ===
* Very fast decoding
* Streaming support
* Tagging support (proprietary)

=== RAL cons ===
* Closed source
* No [[multichannel]] and [[high resolution]] audio support
* Little software support (Real Player)
* No hardware support
* Compression efficiency not on par with other lossless codecs
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* No pipe support
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

== Shorten (SHN) ==
http://www.etree.org/shnutils/shorten/

[[Shorten]] is a very old and featureless lossless codec developed by Tony Robinson at SoftSound.

=== SHN pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* Fast decoding
* Very good software support
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support

=== SHN cons ===
* Quite inefficient
* No [[multichannel]] or [[high resolution]] audio support
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* No error robustness
* Not streamable
* No hardware support
* No native tagging
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

== True Audio (TTA) ==
http://www.true-audio.com/

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

=== TTA pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* Good efficiency
* Hardware support (obscure DVD player)
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support ([[ID3]])
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible
* Error robustness

=== TTA cons ===
* No streaming support
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks
* No pipe support

=== TTA Other features ===
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container

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

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

=== WV pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Good efficiency
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Hardware support ([http://www.rockbox.org/ RockBox])
* 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
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible

=== WV cons ===
* Limited hardware player support

=== WV Other features ===
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Supports embedded CUE sheets
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Can encode in both symmetrical and assymmetrical 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 (All Microsoft Zunes though older models may need firmware updates, also supported by some non-Microsoft devices like the [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 ===
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

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

== Oddball Formats ==
There are several old lossless formats that aren't being featured in the article above. Reasons are: lack of widespread support, lack of features, bad efficiency and, most importantly, it seems no one is really interested in them.

Most of those would have disappeared by now, but they are being preserved for posterity at [[User:Rjamorim|rjamorim]]'s [http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/ ReallyRareWares]

=== Advanced Digital Audio (ADA) ===
* <s>http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/ada.html</s>

=== Bonk ===
* http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/bonk

=== Marian's a-Pac ===
* http://www.marian.de/en/downloads#APAC
* <s>http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/apac.html</s>

=== AudioZip ===
* <s>http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/audiozip.html</s>

=== Dakx WAV ===
* <s>http://www.dakx.com/</s>
* <s>http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/daxwav.html</s>

=== Entis Lab MIO ===
* <s>http://www.entis.gr.jp/eri/frame.html</s>
* <s>http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/mio.html</s>

=== LiteWave ===
* <s>http://www.clearjump.com/products/LiteWave.html</s>
* <s>http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/litewave.html</s>

=== Pegasus SPS ===
* http://www.krishnasoft.com/sps.htm
* <s>http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/pegasussps.html</s>

=== RK Audio (RKAU) ===
* <s>http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/split2000.html</s>

=== Sonarc ===
* <s>http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/sonarc.html</s>

=== VocPack ===
* <s>http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/vocpack.html</s>

=== WavArc ===
* <s>http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/wavarc.html</s>

=== WaveZip/MUSICompress ===
* <s>http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/sndspace/</s>
* <s>http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/wavezip.html</s>

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

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

* <s>[http://uclc.info/LossLess.pdf Johan De Bock's speed oriented comparison]</s> - best choices speedwise are indicated in green, mostly electronic music (last updated 2006-07-22)
* <s>[http://web.inter.nl.net/users/hvdh/lossless/lossless.htm Hans Heijden's]</s> -- used as reference to build the table (last updated 2006-07-07)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/lossless/ Synthetic Soul's comparison] (last update 2007-07-28)
* [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>[http://uclc.info/lossless_audio_compression_test.htm Johan 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>[http://guruboolez.free.fr/lossless/ Guruboolez']</s> -- comparing only classical music (last updated 2005-02-27)
* [http://members.home.nl/w.speek/comparison.htm Speek's] (last updated 2005-02-07)

=== More on lossless compressions ===
* <s>[http://losslessaudioblog.com/ The Lossless Audio Blog]</s> - 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.

[[Category:Guides]]

Lossless comparison

2012-10-12T21:01:23Z

86.180.63.142: /* More on lossless compressions */ strike Thru, ( dead link ) on losslessaudioblog.

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.

Several 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 that 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="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | FLAC
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | WavPack
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | TAK
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | Monkey's
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | OptimFROG
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | ALAC
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | WMA
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Encoding speed
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Decoding speed
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Compression*
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 58.70%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 58.0%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 55.50%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 54.70%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 58.50%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 56.30%
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Flexibility**
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
|-
|style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Error handling
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Seeking
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| 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" | ID3/APE
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | APEv2 (exp.)
| style="background: #00FF00" | ID3/APE
| style="background: #00FF00" | ID3/APE
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | iTunes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ASF
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hardware support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Software support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hybrid/lossy
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | ReplayGain
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | sort of
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | RIFF chunks
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Streaming
| 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" | Pipe support
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| 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: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes (third-party)
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Multichannel
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | High resolution
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | OS support
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Linux Wine
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | Win/Mac/Linux
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Mac
|}

''(table continued below)''

{| cellspacing="2" style="text-align:center; border:1px solid blue;"
|width="120px"|'''Features'''
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | Shorten
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | LA
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | TTA
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | LPAC
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | MPEG-4 ALS
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | MPEG-4 SLS
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | Real Lossless
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Encoding speed
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Decoding speed
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Compression*
| style="background: #FF9900" | 63.50%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 53.50%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.10%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.20%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.10%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ?
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Flexibility**
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
|-
|! style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Error handling
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Seeking
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Tagging
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3v1
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | proprietary
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hardware support
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Software support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hybrid/lossy
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | ReplayGain
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | RIFF chunks
| style="background: #FF9900" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Streaming
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Pipe support
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Open source
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Multichannel
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | High resolution
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | OS support
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Linux
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Linux/Sol
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | Win/Mac/Linux
|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki> The Compression ratio is calculated with the division of compressed size by uncompressed size * 100. So, lower is better.

Encoding speed, Decoding speed and Compression ratio are based on each encoder's default settings.

<nowiki>**</nowiki> Flexibility refers to the amount of encoding choices offered to the users (Fast/low compression, Slow/high compression and everything inbetween)

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 ===
* Very fast decoding
* [[Open source]] (encoding and decoding via FFmpeg and [[CueTools|CUETools]], decoding only via [http://craz.net/programs/itunes/alac.html a standalone decoder])
* Hardware support ([[Apple iPod|iPod]], AirPort Express)
* Streaming support
* Tagging support (QT tags)
* Excellent hardware-software-lossy format integration with [[iTunes]]/iPod.
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s

=== ALAC cons ===
* Limited software support
* No hybrid/lossy mode

=== ALAC Other features ===
* Fits in the [[MP4]] container
* Can be used with the AirPort Express gadget

== Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) ==
http://flac.sourceforge.net/

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

=== FLAC pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* Very fast decoding
* Fast encoding
* Hardware support ([[Rio Karma|Karma]], Phatbox, etc.)
* Very good software support
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support (FLAC tags)
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible

=== FLAC cons ===
* No hybrid/lossy mode

=== 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
* Fits the [[Ogg]] and [[Matroska]] containers

== LosslessAudio (LA) ==
http://www.lossless-audio.com/

[[LA]] is a lossless codec developed by Michael Bevin.

=== LA pros ===
* Very high compression
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support

=== LA cons ===
* Closed source
* Very slow encoding and decoding
* Doesn't support [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* No hardware support
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Bad software support
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

'''''It's important to mention that the LA foobar plugin is buggy and doesn't produce lossless streams!'''''

== Lossless Predictive Audio Coder (LPAC) ==
* [http://www.nue.tu-berlin.de/menue/mitarbeiter/ehemalige_mitarbeiter/tilman_liebchen/lpac_-_lossless_audio_codec_for_windows_and_linux/ LPAC website]

[[Lossless Predictive Audio Coder]] (LPAC) is a lossless codec developed by Tilman Liebchen. Development of it has been halted in favour of development of [[MPEG-4]] ALS.

=== LPAC pros ===
* Reasonable compression ratios
* [[High resolution]] audio support
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks

=== LPAC cons ===
* Closed source
* No error robustness
* Slow seeking
* No tagging
* No [[multichannel]] support
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* No hardware support
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

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

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

=== APE pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* High efficiency
* Good software support
* Simple and user friendly. Official GUI provided.
* Java version (multiplatform)
* 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 ===
* No [[multichannel]] support
* No error robustness
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Limited hardware support (Rockbox, some Cowon players); poor battery life due to complicated decoding [http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SoundCodecMonkeysAudio MP3 player benchmarks]
* Higher compression levels are extremely CPU intensive
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

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

== MPEG-4 SLS ==
MPEG-4 SLS allows audio encoding from lossless scalable to [[AAC]].

=== SLS pros ===
* Transcoding to standard AAC or any higher lossy bitrate at the speed of copying a file
* Scalable decoding from lossless, to any bitrate down to the AAC core track
* Best lossless compression available when you count the AAC track (~5% gain over any other lossless compression + AAC)
* [[High resolution]] audio support
* Multi channel audio support
* [[Open source]] (MPEG-4 Reference code)
* Embedded in standard MP4 files, so supports same tagging and ReplayGain features as AAC does.

=== SLS cons ===
* No usable software available yet
* Pure lossless compression not the best there is
* Seems to be slow in encoding and decoding, but we have to wait for released software

=== SLS Other features ===
* Transform based lossless codec with optional LC AAC core track

== OptimFROG (OFR) ==
http://losslessaudiocompression.com/

[[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
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible

=== OFR cons ===
* Closed source
* No [[multichannel]] audio support
* No hardware support
* Quite slow decoding

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

== RealAudio Lossless (RAL) ==
http://www.realnetworks.com/products/codecs/realaudio.html

RealAudio lossless is the lossless codec developed by Real Networks for their multimedia portfolio

=== RAL pros ===
* Very fast decoding
* Streaming support
* Tagging support (proprietary)

=== RAL cons ===
* Closed source
* No [[multichannel]] and [[high resolution]] audio support
* Little software support (Real Player)
* No hardware support
* Compression efficiency not on par with other lossless codecs
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* No pipe support
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

== Shorten (SHN) ==
http://www.etree.org/shnutils/shorten/

[[Shorten]] is a very old and featureless lossless codec developed by Tony Robinson at SoftSound.

=== SHN pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* Fast decoding
* Very good software support
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support

=== SHN cons ===
* Quite inefficient
* No [[multichannel]] or [[high resolution]] audio support
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* No error robustness
* Not streamable
* No hardware support
* No native tagging
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

== True Audio (TTA) ==
http://www.true-audio.com/

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

=== TTA pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* Good efficiency
* Hardware support (obscure DVD player)
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support ([[ID3]])
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible
* Error robustness

=== TTA cons ===
* No streaming support
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks
* No pipe support

=== TTA Other features ===
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container

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

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

=== WV pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Good efficiency
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Hardware support ([http://www.rockbox.org/ RockBox])
* 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
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible

=== WV cons ===
* Limited hardware player support

=== WV Other features ===
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Supports embedded CUE sheets
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Can encode in both symmetrical and assymmetrical 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 (All Microsoft Zunes though older models may need firmware updates, also supported by some non-Microsoft devices like the [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 ===
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

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

== Oddball Formats ==
There are several old lossless formats that aren't being featured in the article above. Reasons are: lack of widespread support, lack of features, bad efficiency and, most importantly, it seems no one is really interested in them.

Most of those would have disappeared by now, but they are being preserved for posterity at [[User:Rjamorim|rjamorim]]'s [http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/ ReallyRareWares]

=== Advanced Digital Audio (ADA) ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/ada.html

=== Bonk ===
* http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/bonk

=== Marian's a-Pac ===
* http://www.marian.de/en/downloads#APAC
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/apac.html

=== AudioZip ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/audiozip.html

=== Dakx WAV ===
* http://www.dakx.com/
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/daxwav.html

=== Entis Lab MIO ===
* http://www.entis.gr.jp/eri/frame.html
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/mio.html

=== LiteWave ===
* http://www.clearjump.com/products/LiteWave.html
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/litewave.html

=== Pegasus SPS ===
* http://www.krishnasoft.com/sps.htm
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/pegasussps.html

=== RK Audio (RKAU) ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/split2000.html

=== Sonarc ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/sonarc.html

=== VocPack ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/vocpack.html

=== WavArc ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/wavarc.html

=== WaveZip/MUSICompress ===
* http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/sndspace/
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/wavezip.html

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

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

* <s>[http://uclc.info/LossLess.pdf Johan De Bock's speed oriented comparison]</s> - best choices speedwise are indicated in green, mostly electronic music (last updated 2006-07-22)
* <s>[http://web.inter.nl.net/users/hvdh/lossless/lossless.htm Hans Heijden's]</s> -- used as reference to build the table (last updated 2006-07-07)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/lossless/ Synthetic Soul's comparison] (last update 2007-07-28)
* [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>[http://uclc.info/lossless_audio_compression_test.htm Johan 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>[http://guruboolez.free.fr/lossless/ Guruboolez']</s> -- comparing only classical music (last updated 2005-02-27)
* [http://members.home.nl/w.speek/comparison.htm Speek's] (last updated 2005-02-07)

=== More on lossless compressions ===
* <s>[http://losslessaudioblog.com/ The Lossless Audio Blog]</s> - 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.

[[Category:Guides]]

Lossless comparison

2012-10-12T20:58:28Z

86.180.63.142: /* Other lossless compressions comparisons */ Strike Thru , Links unreachable. ( dead links )

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.

Several 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 that 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="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | FLAC
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | WavPack
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | TAK
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | Monkey's
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | OptimFROG
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | ALAC
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | WMA
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Encoding speed
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Decoding speed
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Compression*
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 58.70%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 58.0%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 55.50%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 54.70%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 58.50%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 56.30%
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Flexibility**
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
|-
|style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Error handling
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Seeking
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| 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" | ID3/APE
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | APEv2 (exp.)
| style="background: #00FF00" | ID3/APE
| style="background: #00FF00" | ID3/APE
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | iTunes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ASF
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hardware support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Software support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hybrid/lossy
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | ReplayGain
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | sort of
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | RIFF chunks
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Streaming
| 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" | Pipe support
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| 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: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes (third-party)
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Multichannel
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | High resolution
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | OS support
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Linux Wine
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | Win/Mac/Linux
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Mac
|}

''(table continued below)''

{| cellspacing="2" style="text-align:center; border:1px solid blue;"
|width="120px"|'''Features'''
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | Shorten
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | LA
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | TTA
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | LPAC
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | MPEG-4 ALS
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | MPEG-4 SLS
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | Real Lossless
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Encoding speed
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Decoding speed
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Compression*
| style="background: #FF9900" | 63.50%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 53.50%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.10%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.20%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.10%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ?
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Flexibility**
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
|-
|! style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Error handling
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Seeking
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Tagging
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3v1
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | proprietary
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hardware support
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Software support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hybrid/lossy
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | ReplayGain
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | RIFF chunks
| style="background: #FF9900" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Streaming
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Pipe support
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Open source
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Multichannel
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | High resolution
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | OS support
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Linux
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Linux/Sol
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | Win/Mac/Linux
|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki> The Compression ratio is calculated with the division of compressed size by uncompressed size * 100. So, lower is better.

Encoding speed, Decoding speed and Compression ratio are based on each encoder's default settings.

<nowiki>**</nowiki> Flexibility refers to the amount of encoding choices offered to the users (Fast/low compression, Slow/high compression and everything inbetween)

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 ===
* Very fast decoding
* [[Open source]] (encoding and decoding via FFmpeg and [[CueTools|CUETools]], decoding only via [http://craz.net/programs/itunes/alac.html a standalone decoder])
* Hardware support ([[Apple iPod|iPod]], AirPort Express)
* Streaming support
* Tagging support (QT tags)
* Excellent hardware-software-lossy format integration with [[iTunes]]/iPod.
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s

=== ALAC cons ===
* Limited software support
* No hybrid/lossy mode

=== ALAC Other features ===
* Fits in the [[MP4]] container
* Can be used with the AirPort Express gadget

== Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) ==
http://flac.sourceforge.net/

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

=== FLAC pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* Very fast decoding
* Fast encoding
* Hardware support ([[Rio Karma|Karma]], Phatbox, etc.)
* Very good software support
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support (FLAC tags)
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible

=== FLAC cons ===
* No hybrid/lossy mode

=== 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
* Fits the [[Ogg]] and [[Matroska]] containers

== LosslessAudio (LA) ==
http://www.lossless-audio.com/

[[LA]] is a lossless codec developed by Michael Bevin.

=== LA pros ===
* Very high compression
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support

=== LA cons ===
* Closed source
* Very slow encoding and decoding
* Doesn't support [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* No hardware support
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Bad software support
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

'''''It's important to mention that the LA foobar plugin is buggy and doesn't produce lossless streams!'''''

== Lossless Predictive Audio Coder (LPAC) ==
* [http://www.nue.tu-berlin.de/menue/mitarbeiter/ehemalige_mitarbeiter/tilman_liebchen/lpac_-_lossless_audio_codec_for_windows_and_linux/ LPAC website]

[[Lossless Predictive Audio Coder]] (LPAC) is a lossless codec developed by Tilman Liebchen. Development of it has been halted in favour of development of [[MPEG-4]] ALS.

=== LPAC pros ===
* Reasonable compression ratios
* [[High resolution]] audio support
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks

=== LPAC cons ===
* Closed source
* No error robustness
* Slow seeking
* No tagging
* No [[multichannel]] support
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* No hardware support
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

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

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

=== APE pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* High efficiency
* Good software support
* Simple and user friendly. Official GUI provided.
* Java version (multiplatform)
* 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 ===
* No [[multichannel]] support
* No error robustness
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Limited hardware support (Rockbox, some Cowon players); poor battery life due to complicated decoding [http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SoundCodecMonkeysAudio MP3 player benchmarks]
* Higher compression levels are extremely CPU intensive
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

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

== MPEG-4 SLS ==
MPEG-4 SLS allows audio encoding from lossless scalable to [[AAC]].

=== SLS pros ===
* Transcoding to standard AAC or any higher lossy bitrate at the speed of copying a file
* Scalable decoding from lossless, to any bitrate down to the AAC core track
* Best lossless compression available when you count the AAC track (~5% gain over any other lossless compression + AAC)
* [[High resolution]] audio support
* Multi channel audio support
* [[Open source]] (MPEG-4 Reference code)
* Embedded in standard MP4 files, so supports same tagging and ReplayGain features as AAC does.

=== SLS cons ===
* No usable software available yet
* Pure lossless compression not the best there is
* Seems to be slow in encoding and decoding, but we have to wait for released software

=== SLS Other features ===
* Transform based lossless codec with optional LC AAC core track

== OptimFROG (OFR) ==
http://losslessaudiocompression.com/

[[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
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible

=== OFR cons ===
* Closed source
* No [[multichannel]] audio support
* No hardware support
* Quite slow decoding

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

== RealAudio Lossless (RAL) ==
http://www.realnetworks.com/products/codecs/realaudio.html

RealAudio lossless is the lossless codec developed by Real Networks for their multimedia portfolio

=== RAL pros ===
* Very fast decoding
* Streaming support
* Tagging support (proprietary)

=== RAL cons ===
* Closed source
* No [[multichannel]] and [[high resolution]] audio support
* Little software support (Real Player)
* No hardware support
* Compression efficiency not on par with other lossless codecs
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* No pipe support
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

== Shorten (SHN) ==
http://www.etree.org/shnutils/shorten/

[[Shorten]] is a very old and featureless lossless codec developed by Tony Robinson at SoftSound.

=== SHN pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* Fast decoding
* Very good software support
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support

=== SHN cons ===
* Quite inefficient
* No [[multichannel]] or [[high resolution]] audio support
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* No error robustness
* Not streamable
* No hardware support
* No native tagging
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

== True Audio (TTA) ==
http://www.true-audio.com/

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

=== TTA pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* Good efficiency
* Hardware support (obscure DVD player)
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support ([[ID3]])
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible
* Error robustness

=== TTA cons ===
* No streaming support
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks
* No pipe support

=== TTA Other features ===
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container

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

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

=== WV pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Good efficiency
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Hardware support ([http://www.rockbox.org/ RockBox])
* 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
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible

=== WV cons ===
* Limited hardware player support

=== WV Other features ===
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Supports embedded CUE sheets
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Can encode in both symmetrical and assymmetrical 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 (All Microsoft Zunes though older models may need firmware updates, also supported by some non-Microsoft devices like the [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 ===
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

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

== Oddball Formats ==
There are several old lossless formats that aren't being featured in the article above. Reasons are: lack of widespread support, lack of features, bad efficiency and, most importantly, it seems no one is really interested in them.

Most of those would have disappeared by now, but they are being preserved for posterity at [[User:Rjamorim|rjamorim]]'s [http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/ ReallyRareWares]

=== Advanced Digital Audio (ADA) ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/ada.html

=== Bonk ===
* http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/bonk

=== Marian's a-Pac ===
* http://www.marian.de/en/downloads#APAC
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/apac.html

=== AudioZip ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/audiozip.html

=== Dakx WAV ===
* http://www.dakx.com/
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/daxwav.html

=== Entis Lab MIO ===
* http://www.entis.gr.jp/eri/frame.html
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/mio.html

=== LiteWave ===
* http://www.clearjump.com/products/LiteWave.html
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/litewave.html

=== Pegasus SPS ===
* http://www.krishnasoft.com/sps.htm
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/pegasussps.html

=== RK Audio (RKAU) ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/split2000.html

=== Sonarc ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/sonarc.html

=== VocPack ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/vocpack.html

=== WavArc ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/wavarc.html

=== WaveZip/MUSICompress ===
* http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/sndspace/
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/wavezip.html

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

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

* <s>[http://uclc.info/LossLess.pdf Johan De Bock's speed oriented comparison]</s> - best choices speedwise are indicated in green, mostly electronic music (last updated 2006-07-22)
* <s>[http://web.inter.nl.net/users/hvdh/lossless/lossless.htm Hans Heijden's]</s> -- used as reference to build the table (last updated 2006-07-07)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/lossless/ Synthetic Soul's comparison] (last update 2007-07-28)
* [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>[http://uclc.info/lossless_audio_compression_test.htm Johan 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>[http://guruboolez.free.fr/lossless/ Guruboolez']</s> -- comparing only classical music (last updated 2005-02-27)
* [http://members.home.nl/w.speek/comparison.htm Speek's] (last updated 2005-02-07)

=== More on lossless compressions ===
* [http://losslessaudioblog.com/ The Lossless Audio Blog] - 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.

[[Category:Guides]]

Lossless comparison

2012-10-12T20:39:37Z

86.180.63.142: /* Lossless Predictive Audio Coder (LPAC) */ LPAC link Updated.

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.

Several 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 that 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="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | FLAC
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | WavPack
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | TAK
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | Monkey's
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | OptimFROG
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | ALAC
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | WMA
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Encoding speed
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Decoding speed
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Compression*
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 58.70%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 58.0%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 55.50%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 54.70%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 58.50%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 56.30%
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Flexibility**
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
|-
|style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Error handling
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Seeking
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| 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" | ID3/APE
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | APEv2 (exp.)
| style="background: #00FF00" | ID3/APE
| style="background: #00FF00" | ID3/APE
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | iTunes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ASF
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hardware support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Software support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hybrid/lossy
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | ReplayGain
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | sort of
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | RIFF chunks
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Streaming
| 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" | Pipe support
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| 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: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes (third-party)
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Multichannel
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | High resolution
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | OS support
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Linux Wine
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | Win/Mac/Linux
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Mac
|}

''(table continued below)''

{| cellspacing="2" style="text-align:center; border:1px solid blue;"
|width="120px"|'''Features'''
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | Shorten
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | LA
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | TTA
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | LPAC
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | MPEG-4 ALS
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | MPEG-4 SLS
| width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | Real Lossless
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Encoding speed
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Decoding speed
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Compression*
| style="background: #FF9900" | 63.50%
| style="background: #00FF00" | 53.50%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.10%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.20%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.10%
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ?
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Flexibility**
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
|-
|! style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Error handling
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Seeking
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | slow
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Tagging
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3v1
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | proprietary
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hardware support
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | limited
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Software support
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
| style="background: #FF9900" | bad
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Hybrid/lossy
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | ReplayGain
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | RIFF chunks
| style="background: #FF9900" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Streaming
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Pipe support
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FFFFFF" |  
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Open source
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Multichannel
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | High resolution
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes
| style="background: #FF9900" | no
|-
| align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | OS support
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Linux
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Linux/Sol
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | All
| style="background: #00FF00" | Win/Mac/Linux
|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki> The Compression ratio is calculated with the division of compressed size by uncompressed size * 100. So, lower is better.

Encoding speed, Decoding speed and Compression ratio are based on each encoder's default settings.

<nowiki>**</nowiki> Flexibility refers to the amount of encoding choices offered to the users (Fast/low compression, Slow/high compression and everything inbetween)

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 ===
* Very fast decoding
* [[Open source]] (encoding and decoding via FFmpeg and [[CueTools|CUETools]], decoding only via [http://craz.net/programs/itunes/alac.html a standalone decoder])
* Hardware support ([[Apple iPod|iPod]], AirPort Express)
* Streaming support
* Tagging support (QT tags)
* Excellent hardware-software-lossy format integration with [[iTunes]]/iPod.
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s

=== ALAC cons ===
* Limited software support
* No hybrid/lossy mode

=== ALAC Other features ===
* Fits in the [[MP4]] container
* Can be used with the AirPort Express gadget

== Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) ==
http://flac.sourceforge.net/

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

=== FLAC pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* Very fast decoding
* Fast encoding
* Hardware support ([[Rio Karma|Karma]], Phatbox, etc.)
* Very good software support
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support (FLAC tags)
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible

=== FLAC cons ===
* No hybrid/lossy mode

=== 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
* Fits the [[Ogg]] and [[Matroska]] containers

== LosslessAudio (LA) ==
http://www.lossless-audio.com/

[[LA]] is a lossless codec developed by Michael Bevin.

=== LA pros ===
* Very high compression
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]])
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support

=== LA cons ===
* Closed source
* Very slow encoding and decoding
* Doesn't support [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* No hardware support
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Bad software support
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

'''''It's important to mention that the LA foobar plugin is buggy and doesn't produce lossless streams!'''''

== Lossless Predictive Audio Coder (LPAC) ==
* [http://www.nue.tu-berlin.de/menue/mitarbeiter/ehemalige_mitarbeiter/tilman_liebchen/lpac_-_lossless_audio_codec_for_windows_and_linux/ LPAC website]

[[Lossless Predictive Audio Coder]] (LPAC) is a lossless codec developed by Tilman Liebchen. Development of it has been halted in favour of development of [[MPEG-4]] ALS.

=== LPAC pros ===
* Reasonable compression ratios
* [[High resolution]] audio support
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks

=== LPAC cons ===
* Closed source
* No error robustness
* Slow seeking
* No tagging
* No [[multichannel]] support
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* No hardware support
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

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

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

=== APE pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* High efficiency
* Good software support
* Simple and user friendly. Official GUI provided.
* Java version (multiplatform)
* 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 ===
* No [[multichannel]] support
* No error robustness
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Limited hardware support (Rockbox, some Cowon players); poor battery life due to complicated decoding [http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SoundCodecMonkeysAudio MP3 player benchmarks]
* Higher compression levels are extremely CPU intensive
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

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

== MPEG-4 SLS ==
MPEG-4 SLS allows audio encoding from lossless scalable to [[AAC]].

=== SLS pros ===
* Transcoding to standard AAC or any higher lossy bitrate at the speed of copying a file
* Scalable decoding from lossless, to any bitrate down to the AAC core track
* Best lossless compression available when you count the AAC track (~5% gain over any other lossless compression + AAC)
* [[High resolution]] audio support
* Multi channel audio support
* [[Open source]] (MPEG-4 Reference code)
* Embedded in standard MP4 files, so supports same tagging and ReplayGain features as AAC does.

=== SLS cons ===
* No usable software available yet
* Pure lossless compression not the best there is
* Seems to be slow in encoding and decoding, but we have to wait for released software

=== SLS Other features ===
* Transform based lossless codec with optional LC AAC core track

== OptimFROG (OFR) ==
http://losslessaudiocompression.com/

[[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
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible

=== OFR cons ===
* Closed source
* No [[multichannel]] audio support
* No hardware support
* Quite slow decoding

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

== RealAudio Lossless (RAL) ==
http://www.realnetworks.com/products/codecs/realaudio.html

RealAudio lossless is the lossless codec developed by Real Networks for their multimedia portfolio

=== RAL pros ===
* Very fast decoding
* Streaming support
* Tagging support (proprietary)

=== RAL cons ===
* Closed source
* No [[multichannel]] and [[high resolution]] audio support
* Little software support (Real Player)
* No hardware support
* Compression efficiency not on par with other lossless codecs
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* No pipe support
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

== Shorten (SHN) ==
http://www.etree.org/shnutils/shorten/

[[Shorten]] is a very old and featureless lossless codec developed by Tony Robinson at SoftSound.

=== SHN pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* Fast decoding
* Very good software support
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks
* Pipe support

=== SHN cons ===
* Quite inefficient
* No [[multichannel]] or [[high resolution]] audio support
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* No error robustness
* Not streamable
* No hardware support
* No native tagging
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

== True Audio (TTA) ==
http://www.true-audio.com/

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

=== TTA pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* Good efficiency
* Hardware support (obscure DVD player)
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s
* Tagging support ([[ID3]])
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible
* Error robustness

=== TTA cons ===
* No streaming support
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks
* No pipe support

=== TTA Other features ===
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container

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

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

=== WV pros ===
* [[Open source]]
* Very fast decoding
* Very fast encoding
* Good efficiency
* Error robustness
* Streaming support
* Hardware support ([http://www.rockbox.org/ RockBox])
* 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
* [[ReplayGain]] compatible

=== WV cons ===
* Limited hardware player support

=== WV Other features ===
* Supports 32bit float streams
* Supports embedded CUE sheets
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
* Can encode in both symmetrical and assymmetrical 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 (All Microsoft Zunes though older models may need firmware updates, also supported by some non-Microsoft devices like the [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 ===
* Closed source
* No hybrid/lossy mode
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks
* Doesn't support [[ReplayGain]]

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

== Oddball Formats ==
There are several old lossless formats that aren't being featured in the article above. Reasons are: lack of widespread support, lack of features, bad efficiency and, most importantly, it seems no one is really interested in them.

Most of those would have disappeared by now, but they are being preserved for posterity at [[User:Rjamorim|rjamorim]]'s [http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/ ReallyRareWares]

=== Advanced Digital Audio (ADA) ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/ada.html

=== Bonk ===
* http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/bonk

=== Marian's a-Pac ===
* http://www.marian.de/en/downloads#APAC
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/apac.html

=== AudioZip ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/audiozip.html

=== Dakx WAV ===
* http://www.dakx.com/
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/daxwav.html

=== Entis Lab MIO ===
* http://www.entis.gr.jp/eri/frame.html
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/mio.html

=== LiteWave ===
* http://www.clearjump.com/products/LiteWave.html
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/litewave.html

=== Pegasus SPS ===
* http://www.krishnasoft.com/sps.htm
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/pegasussps.html

=== RK Audio (RKAU) ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/split2000.html

=== Sonarc ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/sonarc.html

=== VocPack ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/vocpack.html

=== WavArc ===
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/wavarc.html

=== WaveZip/MUSICompress ===
* http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/sndspace/
* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/wavezip.html

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

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

* [http://uclc.info/LossLess.pdf Johan De Bock's speed oriented comparison] - best choices speedwise are indicated in green, mostly electronic music (last updated 2006-07-22)
* [http://web.inter.nl.net/users/hvdh/lossless/lossless.htm Hans Heijden's] -- used as reference to build the table (last updated 2006-07-07)
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/lossless/ Synthetic Soul's comparison] (last update 2007-07-28)
* [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)
* [http://uclc.info/lossless_audio_compression_test.htm Johan De Bock's size oriented comparison] - aimed only at the maximum compression setting for each codec (based on a somewhat limited set of samples, however) (last updated 2006-05-19)
* [http://guruboolez.free.fr/lossless/ Guruboolez'] -- comparing only classical music (last updated 2005-02-27)
* [http://members.home.nl/w.speek/comparison.htm Speek's] (last updated 2005-02-07)

=== More on lossless compressions ===
* [http://losslessaudioblog.com/ The Lossless Audio Blog] - 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.

[[Category:Guides]]

GStreamer

2012-10-12T19:26:33Z

86.180.63.142: /* External links */Homepage link Update.

'''GStreamer''' is an media framework for Unix. Application such as media players and editors can be built atop GStreamer, which can handle a wide range of audio and movie formats.

== Supported codecs ==
''Note: List is very incomplete.''

Audio: [[WAV]], [[Audio Interchange File Format|AIFF]], [[Advanced Audio Coding|AAC]], [[MP3]], (Ogg) [[Vorbis]], [[Free Lossless Audio Codec|FLAC]], [[Speex]], [[Monkey's Audio]], [[TTA]], [[Musepack]]

Video: Ogg Theora

Containers: [[AVI]], [[OGG|OGM]], [[Matroska]]

== Application support ==
* [[JuK]]
* [[amarok]]
* [[Muine]]
* [[Rhythmbox]]

== Supported systems ==
* Linux/BSD

== External links ==
[http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/ GStreamer.net]

[[Category:Media Players]]

Audiograbber

2012-10-12T19:10:50Z

86.180.63.142: /* External links */ Dead links Removed.

'''Audiograbber''' is free digital audio extraction (DAE) software for Windows. It can read from audio CDs and output WAV files or other formats (MP3, for example) via external encoders. Since 2004 it is no longer maintained, but it has remained a popular option for CD ripping due to its simple user interface, basic set of useful features, and zero cost.

==Features==
* Directly output or convert a WAV to MP3, OGG, WMA, or downsampled WAV via "internal" encoders (DLL or ACM based)
* Directly output or convert a WAV to any other format via any external command-line encoder (not supplied)
* Drive access via native ASPI (Win NT and up), an external ASPI manager, or MSCDEX
* Manual selection of DAE method (buffered burst, unbuffered burst, dynamic sync width, fixed synch width)
* Drive speed detection and selection
* Optional buffering to RAM when ripping
* Optional recording of analog playback through a soundcard, e.g. as a last resort when DAE won't work
* Easy configuration of output file name formats
* Support for sector-based read offsets (not to be confused with sample-based offset correction)
* Support for duration-based reading with fade-in and fade-out
* Support for specifying track begin/end points (sector based), e.g. for ripping ranges of tracks at once
* CD-G data ripping
* CD-TEXT reading
* freedb and local CD database support
* ID3v2 tag configuration and writing when outputting MP3
* Optional deletion of near-silence from the beginning and/or end of output files
* Optional volume normalization based on peak or average levels, with or without dynamic range compression

==No secure ripping==
Audiograbber is not capable of "[[secure ripping]]", at least not up to the standards of other software designed with this in mind. Its ability to correct for drive read offsets is very coarse; offsets must be manually specified, and must be given in full-sector (588-sample) increments only. Although Audiograbber generates track checksums, its method of doing so doesn't directly take read offsets into account; instead, it trims near-silence from the beginning and end of the track, a method that will work for tracks that begin and end with silence but not universally. Naturally, these checksums are not compatible with those generated by other software such as programs that use the [[AccurateRip]] database. For Audiograbber there is only a very tiny, unmaintained database of checksums to compare against, with no automated interface; it's just a list on the Audiograbber web site.

==Abandonware==
Audiograbber's last official release was version 1.83. Its author is no longer developing the software.

==Custom distributions==
Some custom unofficial versions have been made available.
* [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=57276 tycho's version] - last updated 2007
* Audiograbber 1.83 SE (German only)

==External links==
* [http://www.audiograbber.org/ Audiograbber home (English)]
* [http://www.audiograbber.de/ Audiograbber home (German)] - this is the primary site and may be more up-to-date than the others

{{stub}}

[[Category:CD Rippers]]

Blade

2012-10-12T18:37:24Z

86.180.63.142: /* Addtional Reading */ External Links Update

BladeEnc is a freeware MP3 encoder. It is based on the same ISO compression routines as mpegEnc, so you can expect roughly the same, or better, quality . The main difference is the appearance and speed. BladeEnc doesn't have a nice, user-friendly interface like mpegEnc, but it is more than three times faster, and it works with several popular front-end graphical user interfaces .

==Features==
* Source code available under the LGPL-license!
* Stereo or Mono output. Can downmix to Mono on the fly.
* Supports the following bitrates: 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256 and 320 kBit/s. However, for bitrates lower than 128 kBit we seriously recommend you to use another encoder.
* Flags like Private, Original and Copyright can be set.
* Input samples can be in either 32, 44.1 or 48 kHz.
* Both 8 and 16-bit samples are supported.
* Working CRC checksum generation (since 0.80). The ISO reference code had broken CRC calculations, which has been inherited into every ISO based encoder that haven't added a fix for it.
* Can be compiled for nearly any operating system still in use.
* Commandline based, makes it easy to include BladeEnc into BAT files and shell scripts.


* Reads standard uncompressed WAV- and AIFF-files as well as well as RAW PCM-data.
* Batch encoding. Can encode any number of samples in a row.
* Wildcards supported. You can for example encode all WAV-files in a directory by typing "*.WAV".
* Input samples can be automatically deleted after encoding.
* Large selection of graphical frontends available.
* Task priority can be set from the commandline and is by default set to LOWEST so that you still can use your computer effectively while encoding (Windows & OS/2 only).
* Full support for pipes and redirection (stdin and stdout).
* Textbased configuration file where you can change default settings.

==Screenshot==
<center>[[Image:BladeEnc.png|frame|center|Blade Mp3 Encoder]]</center>

==Addtional Reading==

* [http://home8.swipnet.se/~w-82625/default.htm Blade Encoder Homepage] Tord Jansson
* [http://home.swipnet.se/~w-82625/skeleton/DL.html Blade Encoder downloads] I
* [http://www2.arnes.si/~mmilut/BladeEnc.html Blade Encoder downloads] II
* [[MP3]]

[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Encoder/Decoder]]
[[Category:MP3]]

MediaMonkey

2012-10-12T18:12:15Z

86.180.63.142: External l Stable | Preview links Updated

{{Software Infobox|
|name = MediaMonkey
|logo = [[image:Monkey_head_wiki.png|noframe|MediaMonkey Logo]]
|screenshot =
|caption =
|maintainer = [http://www.ventismedia.com/ Ventis Media, Inc.]
|stable_release = [http://www.mediamonkey.com/MediaMonkey_Setup.exe 4.0.6.1501]
|preview_release = [http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=54426&sd=d 4.0.7.1505]
|operating_system = Windows
|use = Music Organizer, Mass Tagger, [http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Category:Media_Players Media Player], Burning Media, Portable Player Synchronizing
|license = Freeware, Proprietary
|website = [http://www.mediamonkey.com/ www.mediamonkey.com]
}}

'''MediaMonkey''' is a Windows-based media player/library, with built-in file tagger & organizer, [[Compact Disc Digital Audio|Audio CD]] ripper/burner (limited speed on free version), Data CD burner (also limited speed on free version), [[transcoding]] tool, [[ReplayGain]] tool, and lots others, all in an integrated user interface natively themed as a (skinnable) media library.

It maintains its library in a database that is compatible with '''Microsoft Access''' database format, and as such, the database entries can be changed by using Access or other compatible programs. However, it also stores most of its information into the media files' [[tags]] ([[ID3v1]], [[ID3v2]], [[Vorbis comment]], [[WMA]], [[APEv2]], [[WAV]] and [[AAC]] tags are supported), thus ensuring usability with other media players.

MediaMonkey also provides auto-tagging/auto-renaming support, in which tag information are deduced from file's path and name (or alternatively through Amazon which support tagging/adding [[Album Art]]), or reversely, renaming (and relocating) files based on their tag or path information.

Finally, MediaMonkey also support integration with various portable DAPs, including [[Apple iPod]], [[iRiver]], and [[Creative Labs]] devices. Latest MediaMonkey 3.2 added support for [[Palm Pre]]

== Supported Formats ==
* [[Free Lossless Audio Codec]] (FLAC)
* [[Monkey's Audio]] (APE)
* [[MP3]]
* [[Musepack]] (MPC)
* (Ogg) [[Vorbis]]
* [[WAV]]
* [[Windows Media Audio]] (WMA)
* [[AAC]] *Version 3.x and Above

Additional formats may be supported through Winamp input plugins (see below)

== Extensibility ==
MediaMonkey supports most Winamp's input, output, DSP, general, and visualization plugins.

In addition, MediaMonkey provides [http://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/index.php/Scripting scripting interfaces], so it is scriptable (built-in support for JavaScript/VB Script) and also controllable by external applications (through Winamp Compatible Messages or OLE Automatization Server/COM+).

Finally, MediaMonkey is skinnable. Many MediaMonkey users have developed various skins for it, which you can find in the [http://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/index.php/Skinning MediaMonkey Wiki].

== Price ==
The [http://www.mediamonkey.com/product.htm free (Standard) version], is, well, free.

[http://www.mediamonkey.com/product_gold.htm The Gold version] – which adds, among others, automatic/periodic scan of "watched folders" – is 29.95 USD for lifetime.

== External links ==
* [http://www.mediamonkey.com MediaMonkey homepage]
* [http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/ MediaMonkey forums]
* [http://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/ MediaMonkey Wiki]
* [http://mediamonkey.com/faq/ MediaMonkey FAQ]
* [http://mediamonkey.com/support/ MediaMonkey Support Knowledgebase]
* [http://trixmoto.net/mm/ Richard Lewis (t-rix-mo-to) MediaMonkey page]

[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Media Players]]

Mp3tag

2012-10-12T17:52:10Z

86.180.63.142: External l Stable | Preview links Updated

{{Software Infobox
| name = MP3tag
| logo =
| screenshot = [[Image:MP3tag-screenshot.png|250px|MP3tag screenshot]]
| caption = powerful and easy-to-use tool to edit metadata
| maintainer = Florian Heidenreich
| stable_release = [http://www.mp3tag.de/en/download.html v2.52] (2012-07-19)
| preview_release = [http://developer.mp3tag.de/ 2.52a] (2012-10-07)
| operating_system = Windows
| use = Metadata
| license = Freeware
| website = [http://www.mp3tag.de/en/ http://www.mp3tag.de]
}}

=Introduction=
'''MP3tag''' is an powerful [[Metadata|metadata]] editor for lots of common audio formats. You can rename files based on the [[Tagging|tag]] information, replace characters or words from tags and filenames, import/export tag information, create playlists.

The program supports online freedb database lookups for selected files, allowing you to automatically gather proper tag information for select files or CDs.

==Features==

* Write [[ID3v1.1]]-, [[ID3v2]]-, [[APEv2]]-Tags and [[Vorbis_Comment|Vorbis Comments]] to multiple files at once
* Full Unicode support
* Support for embedded cover art
* Automatically create playlists
* Recursive subfolders support
* Remove parts or the entire tag of multiple files
* Rename files based on the tag information
* Import tags from filenames
* Format tags and filenames
* Replace characters or words from tags and filenames
* Regular Expressions
* Export tag information to user-defined formats (like html, rtf, csv, xml)
* Import tag information from online databases like freedb or Amazon (also by text-search)
* Import tag information from local freedb databases
* Support for [[ID3v2|ID3v2.3]] (ISO-8859-1 and UTF-16) and [[ID3v2|ID3v2.4]] with [[UTF-8]]

==Supported formats==

* Advanced Audio Coding ([[AAC|aac]])
* Free Lossless Audio Codec ([[FLAC|flac]])
* Monkey's Audio ([[APE|ape]])
* Mpeg Layer 3 ([[MP3|mp3]])
* MPEG-4 ([[MP4|mp4]] / [[M4A|m4a]] / m4b / [[iTunes]] compatible)
* Musepack ([[MPC|mpc]])
* Ogg Vorbis ([[Ogg_Vorbis|ogg]])
* OptimFROG ([[OptimFROG|ofr]])
* OptimFROG DualStream (ofs)
* Speex ([[Speex|spx]])
* TAK ([[TAK]])
* True Audio (tta)
* Windows Media Audio ([[WMA|wma]])
* WavPack ([[WavPack|wv]])

==Operating Systems==
* Win XP
* Win 2003
* Win Vista
* Win 2008

Windows 2000 is no longer supported as of version 2.40. Version 2.39 is still available on the download page at the MP3tag website.

==External links==
* [http://www.mp3tag.de/en/ Mp3tag: Homepage]
* [http://www.mp3tag.de/en/download.html Mp3tag: Download]
* [http://www.anytag.de/forums/ Mp3tag: official forum]
* [http://www.mp3tag.de/en/changelog.html Mp3tag: changelog]
* [http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/Mp3tagGuide Mp3tagGuide - Slim Devices]
* [http://www.anytag.de/forums/index.php?showtopic=1794 Mp3tag: additional Web Sources]

[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Tag editors]]

Lossless Predictive Audio Compression

2012-10-12T17:03:06Z

86.180.63.142: MPEG-4 ALS l( dead link ) , Updated link.

'''Lossless Predictive Audio Compression''' ('''LPAC''') is a [[lossless]] audio archiver created by the german engineer Tilman Liebchen.

It was a relatively popular format at one point because, even though not being open source, there were versions available for Linux and Solaris. A library also was available, making integration of LPAC encoding and decoding into other applications relatively easy. It was also much more efficient and featureful than the biggest competitor at the time, [[Shorten]].

These days, it lost most of its popularity. In the multiplatform front to [[FLAC]], in the efficiency front to [[Monkey's Audio]] and [[OptimFROG]] and when it comes to feature richness arguably to [[WavPack]].

Recently, mr. Liebchen worked on what will be the standard lossless encoding scheme in MPEG-4 - [http://www.nue.tu-berlin.de/menue/mitarbeiter/ehemalige_mitarbeiter/tilman_liebchen/lpac_-_lossless_audio_codec_for_windows_and_linux/ MPEG-4 ALS] (Audio Lossless coding). As of april 2005, the standardization process is in its final stages.

== Addtional Reading ==
* [http://www.nue.tu-berlin.de/menue/mitarbeiter/ehemalige_mitarbeiter/tilman_liebchen/lpac_-_lossless_audio_codec_for_windows_and_linux/ LPAC website]
* [[Lossless_comparison|Lossless Codec Comparison]] by Rjamorim

[[Category:Codecs]]

Lossless Predictive Audio Compression

2012-10-12T16:44:21Z

86.180.63.142: /* Addtional Reading */ LPAC ( dead link) ,Updated the LPAC link.

'''Lossless Predictive Audio Compression''' ('''LPAC''') is a [[lossless]] audio archiver created by the german engineer Tilman Liebchen.

It was a relatively popular format at one point because, even though not being open source, there were versions available for Linux and Solaris. A library also was available, making integration of LPAC encoding and decoding into other applications relatively easy. It was also much more efficient and featureful than the biggest competitor at the time, [[Shorten]].

These days, it lost most of its popularity. In the multiplatform front to [[FLAC]], in the efficiency front to [[Monkey's Audio]] and [[OptimFROG]] and when it comes to feature richness arguably to [[WavPack]].

Recently, mr. Liebchen worked on what will be the standard lossless encoding scheme in MPEG-4 - [http://www.nue.tu-berlin.de/forschung/projekte/lossless/mp4als.html MPEG-4 ALS] (Audio Lossless coding). As of april 2005, the standardization process is in its final stages.

== Addtional Reading ==
* [http://www.nue.tu-berlin.de/menue/mitarbeiter/ehemalige_mitarbeiter/tilman_liebchen/lpac_-_lossless_audio_codec_for_windows_and_linux/ LPAC website]
* [[Lossless_comparison|Lossless Codec Comparison]] by Rjamorim

[[Category:Codecs]]

Download page

2012-10-10T18:52:11Z

86.180.63.142: /* Windows */ Clean UP , Taggers software.

All programs mentioned anywhere in the wiki can be downloaded here.
See also the [[:Category:Software|Software Category]] article for more software not listed here.

==CD Rippers==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ccccff; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ccccff"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:300px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[CDex]]
| GPL
| [http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | An open-source ripper for Windows that uses cdparanoia functionality
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[DBpowerAMP with AccurateRip|dBpoweramp]]
| commercial
| [http://www.dbpoweramp.com/ here]
| align="left" | A secure ripper for Windows that includes Accurate Stream functionality.
|-
! align="left" | DeepRipper
| GPL
| [http://www.deepburner.com/ here]
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[EAC]]
| Free
| [http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ here]
| align="left" | A secure ripper for Windows, C2 error pointers, Accurate Stream, etc.
|-
! align="left" | [[fre:ac ]]
| GPL
| [http://www.freac.org/ here]
| align="left" |
fre:ac is a free audio converter and CD ripper with support for various popular formats and encoders. Plus supports the CDDB/freedb online CD database which allows you query song information.
|}

===Mac OS X===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #bbffbb; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#bbffbb;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:350px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[Max]]
| GPL
| [http://sbooth.org/Max/ here]
| align="left" | A secure ripper for OS X that uses additional cdparanoia functionality
|-
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[XLD]]
| GPL
| [http://tmkk.pv.land.to/xld/index_e.html here]
| align="left" | X Lossless Decoder(XLD) is a tool for Mac OS X that is able to decode/convert/play various 'lossless' audio files. The supported audio files can be split into some tracks with cue sheet when decoding. Can convert between many lossless and lossy formats. Plugin oriented design, for easy exchange for new encoders.
|}

===Linux===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ffcccc; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ffcccc;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:320px;" | Description
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | abcde
| GPL
|[http://code.google.com/p/abcde/ here]
| align="left" | A command-line based ripper with cdparanoia functionality
|-
! align="left" | [[cdparanoia]]
| BSD, GPL
| [http://www.xiph.org/paranoia/ here]
| align="left" | One of the first secure standalone rippers for the Linux platform
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Grip]]
| GPL
| [http://sourceforge.net/projects/grip/ here]
| align="left" | An open-source Gnome interface ripper that uses cdparanoia functionality
|-
! align="left" | [[Rubyripper]]
| GPL
| [http://code.google.com/p/rubyripper/ here]
| align="left" | A secure ripper for the Linux that uses additional cdparanoia functionality
|}

==CD/DVD Writers==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ccccff; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ccccff"
! style="width:185px;" | Name
! style="width:80px;" | Unicode
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:270px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | BurnAtOnce
| N
| Free
| [http://www.videohelp.com/tools/burnatonce here]
| align="left" | CD writing application based upon CDRDAO
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Burrrn]] (CDA only)
| N
| Free
| [http://www.burrrn.net/ here]
|
|-
! align="left" | CDBurnerXP
|
| Free
| [http://www.cdburnerxp.se/ here]
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | DeepBurner Free
| N
| GPL
| [http://www.deepburner.com/ here]
|
|-
! align="left" | DeepBurner Pro
|
| Shareware
| [http://www.deepburner.com/ here]
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Express Burn
| N
| non-commercial(free)
| [http://nch.com.au/burn/index.html here]
| align="left" | A free version of this software is available for non-commercial use only. The free version does not expire but will only burn normal CDs.
|
|-
! align="left" | Express Burn (Plus Edition)
|
| commercial
| [http://www.nch.com.au/burn/index.html here]
|
|-style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | InfraRecorder
| N
| GPL
| [http://infrarecorder.org/ here]
|
|-
! align="left" | [[Nero]]
| N
| commercial
| [http://www.nero.com/eng/ here]
| align="left" |
|-style="background-color: #eeeeee;"

|
|}

===Mac OS X===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #bbffbb; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#bbffbb;"
! style="width:130px;" | Name
! style="width:80px;" | Unicode
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:310px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[DVD-Audio Tools]]
| Y
| GPL
| [http://dvd-audio.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Open-source DVD-Audio authoring application
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[FireStarter FX]]
| N
| Free
| [http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=FireStarter_FX here]
| align="left" | Free OS X Cocoa CD writing application
|-
! align="left" | [[X-CD-Roast]]
| N
| Free
| [http://www.xcdroast.org/xcdr098/xcdrosX.html here]
| align="left" | New OS X port of this Linux CD writing application
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Burn
| N
| Free
| [http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net/Pages/English/home.html/ here]
| align="left" | Versatile CD/DVD authoring application
|}

===Linux===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ffcccc; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ffcccc;"
! style="width:130px;" | Name
! style="width:80px;" | Unicode
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! align="center" style="width:260px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | CDRDAO
| N
| GPL
| [http://cdrdao.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Cdrdao records audio or data CD-Rs in disk-at-once (DAO) mode
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | DVD-Audio Tools
| Y
| GPL
| [http://dvd-audio.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Open-source DVD-Audio authoring application
|-
! align="left" | [[GnomeBaker]]
| N
| GPL
| [http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnomebaker/ here]
| align="left" | Popular open-source Gnome interface CD/DVD writing application
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[K3b]]
| N
| GPL
| [http://www.k3b.org/ here]
| align="left" | Popular open-source KDE CD writing application for Linux platform
|-
! align="left" | [[X-CD-Roast]]
| Y
| GPL
| [http://www.xcdroast.org here]
| align="left" | New open-source Gnome interface CD/DVD writing application
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Brasero]]
| N
| GPL
| [http://projects.gnome.org/brasero/ here]
| align="left" | Brasero is a application to burn CD/DVD for the Gnome Desktop.(Gnome Default)
|}

==Multimedia Players==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ccccff; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ccccff"
! style="width:120px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! align="center" style="width:220px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[foobar2000]]
| Free, BSD
| [http://www.foobar2000.org/ here]
| align="left" | Advanced tagging, plugin capabilities, and kernel streaming support
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[MediaMonkey]]
| Free, Shareware
| [http://www.mediamonkey.com/ here]
| align="left" | Supports many Winamp plugins
|-
! align="left" | MusikCube
| BSD
| [http://www.musikcube.com/ here]
| align="left" | Supports dynamic playlists and advanced SQL capabilities
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | VUplayer
| Free
| [http://www.vuplayer.com/ here]
| align="left" | Supports many popular digital audio codecs and MOD tracker formats
|-
! align="left" | [[Winamp]]
| Free, Shareware
| [http://www.winamp.com/ here]
| align="left" | Popular audio player for Windows
| align="left" |
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[wxMusik]]
| GPL
| [http://sourceforge.net/projects/musik.berlios/ here]
| align="left" |A cross-platform open-source audio player
|-
! align="left" | [[VLC]]
| Free
| [http://www.videolan.org/vlc// here]
| align="left" | VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
|}

===Mac OS X===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #bbffbb; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#bbffbb;"
! style="width:120px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:220px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | Cog
| GPL
| [http://cogosx.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | An open-source digital audio player for OS X.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Play
| GPL
| [http://sbooth.org/Play/ here]
| align="left" |Play is an application for playing and managing audio files.
|-
! align="left" | [[VLC]]
| Free
| [http://www.videolan.org/vlc// here]
| align="left" | VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
|}

===Linux===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ffcccc; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ffcccc;"
! style="width:120px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:220px;" | Description
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Amarok]]
| GPL
| [http://amarok.kde.org/ here]
| align="left" | Popular open-source KDE audio player similiar to Foobar2000
|-
! align="left" | Audacious
| GPL
| [http://audacious-media-player.org/ here]
| align="left" |Audacious is an open source audio player
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Clementine]]
| GPL
| [http://www.clementine-player.org/ here]
| align="left" | Cross platform media player, a port of [[Amarok]] 1.4 to the Qt 4 and GStreamer framework, can be controlled with a Wii remote
|-
! align="left" | [[DeaDBeeF]]
| GPL
| [http://deadbeef.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Lightweight music player for Linux, GUI similar to [[Foobar2000]]
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Rhythmbox]]
| GPL
| [http://projects.gnome.org/rhythmbox/ here]
| align="left" | GNOME music player
|-
! align="left" | [[VLC]]
| Free
| [http://www.videolan.org/vlc// here]
| align="left" | VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats as well as DVDs, |Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[XMMS]]
| GPL
| [http://www.xmms.org/ here]
| align="left" | Popular open-source audio player similiar to Winamp
|}

=== Console players ===
* mpg123 [http://www.mpg123.org/ Homepage] [http://www.mpg123.org/download.shtml/ Downloads]

===PocketPC===
''These players may not play all your media files. Check their websites for the format support.''
* GSPlayer: http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA032810/
* MortPlayer: http://www.sto-helit.de/
* TCPMP: http://tcpmp.corecodec.org/about

==Tagging Utilities==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ccccff; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ccccff"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:270px;" | Description
|-
|-
! align="left" | Frontah
| Free
| [http://home.vxu.se/mdati00/frontah/ here]
| align="left" | Transcode and tag editor for ID3v1.x, ID3v2.x, Lyrics3, Vorbis Comment, APEv1 & APEv2 tags. Supports ANSI, UTF8 and UTF16 text encoding depends on tag type.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
|-
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | MetatOGGer
| Free
| [http://www.luminescence-software.org/ here]
| align="left" | Tags MP3 ([[ID3]]), Ogg files (Vorbis comment, including Ogg FLAC and Speex), Musepack, Windows Media, WavPack et Monkey's Audio
|-
! align="left" | MP3 Book Helper
| Free
| [http://mp3bookhelper.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Tags [[ID3v1]], ID3v2.3, and Vorbis comments. Features: FreeDB, unicode, guessing and matching, and supporting PAR, SFV, SV, and NFO generation.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[MP3tag]]
| Free
| [http://www.mp3tag.de/ here]
| align="left" | Tags all files supporting [[ID3]], [[APEv2]], and [[Vorbis_Comment|Vorbis Comments]], not only MP3s
|-
! align="left" | MP3 Tag Editor
| Shareware
| [http://www.mp3-tag.com/ here]
| align="left" | Software to edit tags in audio files of [[MP3]], [[WMA]], [[OGG]], [[ASF]], and other music format.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
|-
! align="left" | [[Tag.exe]]
| GPL
| [http://www.synthetic-soul.co.uk/tag/ here]
| align="left" | Command-line universal tagger for Windows
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Tag & Rename
| Shareware
| [http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm here]
|
|-
! align="left" | TagScanner
| Free
| [http://www.xdlab.ru/en/index.htm here]
|
|-
! align="left" | WMP Tag Plus 2.0
| Free
| [http://bmproductions.fixnum.org/wmptagplus/ here]
| align="left" | Software to integrate other tag format than [[ID3]] into Microsoft Windows Media Player 11.
|}

===Mac OS X===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #bbffbb; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#bbffbb;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:270px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | Tag
| GPL
| [http://sbooth.org/Tag/ here]
| align="left" | An open-source tagging application for OS X
|}

===Linux===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ffcccc; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ffcccc;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:270px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[Beets]]
| MIT
| [http://beets.radbox.org/ here]
| align="left" | Cross-platform open source tagging application written in Python, CLI only. Uses the Musicbrainz and Mutagen libraries, still in beta. Mostly automatic, minimal user input required. Many features and plugins. (Read the documentation)
|-
! align="left" | EasyTAG
| GPL
| [http://easytag.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Gnome tagging utility
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" |
|}

==Encoders, Decoders, Etc.==
All basic tools needed to make use of the audio formats supported here.

===[[MP3]]===
* [[LAME]] encoder/decoder: [http://www.rarewares.org/mp3.html download pre-compiled binaries here]. Also check the [[Lame Compiles|Latest recommended version]] page.
* [[MP3Gain]], a ReplayGain-like utility: [http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/download.php download here]

===Ogg [[Vorbis]]===
Currently, all recommended Ogg Vorbis utilities are available at the [http://www.rarewares.org/ogg.html Rarewares Ogg Vorbis page]. The following tools are important:

* '''OggEnc2''': A command-line Ogg Vorbis encoder that can be used with most CD rippers.

* '''OggDec''': Command-line decoder.

* '''[[OggDropXPd]]''': An easy to use, drag'n'drop encoder/decoder with support for automatic tagging, renaming and playlist creation on encoding.

* ''Encoding DLLs'': For encoding within CDex or WinLame.

* '''VorbisGain''': The [[ReplayGain]] utility for Ogg Vorbis.

In addition, the [[Lancer]] suite — a highly SSE-optimized suite of utilities and libraries — are available at [http://homepage3.nifty.com/blacksword/ this page] ''(in Japanese)''. See [[Lancer#Platform-specific Builds|this section]] for information about the different builds.

=== Opus ===
* http://www.opus-codec.org/
* http://rarewares.org/opus.php
* discussion at the [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=96954/ Forum]

===[[Musepack]] (MPC)===
* [http://www.musepack.net/index.php?pg=win Download MPC for Windows]
* [http://www.musepack.net/index.php?pg=lin Download MPC for Linux]
* [http://www.musepack.net/index.php?pg=osx Download MPC for Mac OS X]
* [http://www.musepack.net/index.php?pg=src Download MPC source code]

* [http://forum.musepack.net/showthread.php?t=395 Forum announcement of SV8 release]

===[[FLAC]]===
* CoolEdit / Adobe Audition Filter supporting FLAC: [http://www.vuplayer.com/other.php download here]
* Various FLAC-related utilities (incl. ReplayGain utility): [http://flac.sourceforge.net/download.html FLAC's SourceForge Download page]

==Transcoders==
''Note: Although these tools may convert from one encoding to another, please remember that [[transcoding]] to any [[lossy]] encoding will result in a degraded quality.''
* BeSweet: http://besweet.notrace.dk/
* [[fre:ac ]]
* dBpowerAMP Music Converter (dMC): http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm
* [[foobar2000]] - foobar2000 Free Encoder Pack http://www.foobar2000.org/encoderpack
* MediaCoder: http://www.mediacoderhq.com/
* [[Winamp]]
* WinLAME: http://winlame.sourceforge.net/

==Processing utilities==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ccccff; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ccccff;"
! style="width:120px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:400px;" | Description
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[lossyWAV]]
| GPL
| [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=56129&view=findpost&p=504087 here]
| align="left" | lossyWAV is a lossy pre-processor for [[Wikipedia:Pulse-code modulation|PCM]] (uncompressed) WAV files. It reduces [[Wikipedia:Audio bit depth|bit depth]] of the input signal, which, when used in conjunction with certain lossless codecs, reduces the bitrate of the encoded file significantly.
|}

==Drivers==
===ASPI===
* Ahead Nero ASPI Driver: [ftp://ftp6.nero.com/wnaspi32.dll download]
* Adaptec Windows ASPI Package: [http://www.adaptec.com/en-us/support/_eol/scsi_sw/aspi-4.70/ official website]
* ForceASPI [http://radified.com/ASPI/forceaspi.htm radified.com]
* ASPI4all [http://www.cdr-zone.com/software/aspi_layers/aspi4all.html CDR-Zone.COM]
* FrogAspi [http://www.frogaspi.org/ official website]
* VOB ASAPI Driver 1.3: [http://www.rarewares.org/files/ASAPI.exe download]

===Sound===
* ALSA Project [http://www.alsa-project.org/ official website]
* kX Project [http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/ official website]

==Links==
* [http://www.rarewares.org/ RareWares]

[[Category:Software]]

Download page

2012-10-10T18:25:51Z

86.180.63.142: /* Multimedia Players */ Console Players Added

All programs mentioned anywhere in the wiki can be downloaded here.
See also the [[:Category:Software|Software Category]] article for more software not listed here.

==CD Rippers==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ccccff; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ccccff"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:300px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[CDex]]
| GPL
| [http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | An open-source ripper for Windows that uses cdparanoia functionality
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[DBpowerAMP with AccurateRip|dBpoweramp]]
| commercial
| [http://www.dbpoweramp.com/ here]
| align="left" | A secure ripper for Windows that includes Accurate Stream functionality.
|-
! align="left" | DeepRipper
| GPL
| [http://www.deepburner.com/ here]
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[EAC]]
| Free
| [http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ here]
| align="left" | A secure ripper for Windows, C2 error pointers, Accurate Stream, etc.
|-
! align="left" | [[fre:ac ]]
| GPL
| [http://www.freac.org/ here]
| align="left" |
fre:ac is a free audio converter and CD ripper with support for various popular formats and encoders. Plus supports the CDDB/freedb online CD database which allows you query song information.
|}

===Mac OS X===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #bbffbb; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#bbffbb;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:350px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[Max]]
| GPL
| [http://sbooth.org/Max/ here]
| align="left" | A secure ripper for OS X that uses additional cdparanoia functionality
|-
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[XLD]]
| GPL
| [http://tmkk.pv.land.to/xld/index_e.html here]
| align="left" | X Lossless Decoder(XLD) is a tool for Mac OS X that is able to decode/convert/play various 'lossless' audio files. The supported audio files can be split into some tracks with cue sheet when decoding. Can convert between many lossless and lossy formats. Plugin oriented design, for easy exchange for new encoders.
|}

===Linux===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ffcccc; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ffcccc;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:320px;" | Description
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | abcde
| GPL
|[http://code.google.com/p/abcde/ here]
| align="left" | A command-line based ripper with cdparanoia functionality
|-
! align="left" | [[cdparanoia]]
| BSD, GPL
| [http://www.xiph.org/paranoia/ here]
| align="left" | One of the first secure standalone rippers for the Linux platform
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Grip]]
| GPL
| [http://sourceforge.net/projects/grip/ here]
| align="left" | An open-source Gnome interface ripper that uses cdparanoia functionality
|-
! align="left" | [[Rubyripper]]
| GPL
| [http://code.google.com/p/rubyripper/ here]
| align="left" | A secure ripper for the Linux that uses additional cdparanoia functionality
|}

==CD/DVD Writers==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ccccff; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ccccff"
! style="width:185px;" | Name
! style="width:80px;" | Unicode
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:270px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | BurnAtOnce
| N
| Free
| [http://www.videohelp.com/tools/burnatonce here]
| align="left" | CD writing application based upon CDRDAO
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Burrrn]] (CDA only)
| N
| Free
| [http://www.burrrn.net/ here]
|
|-
! align="left" | CDBurnerXP
|
| Free
| [http://www.cdburnerxp.se/ here]
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | DeepBurner Free
| N
| GPL
| [http://www.deepburner.com/ here]
|
|-
! align="left" | DeepBurner Pro
|
| Shareware
| [http://www.deepburner.com/ here]
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Express Burn
| N
| non-commercial(free)
| [http://nch.com.au/burn/index.html here]
| align="left" | A free version of this software is available for non-commercial use only. The free version does not expire but will only burn normal CDs.
|
|-
! align="left" | Express Burn (Plus Edition)
|
| commercial
| [http://www.nch.com.au/burn/index.html here]
|
|-style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | InfraRecorder
| N
| GPL
| [http://infrarecorder.org/ here]
|
|-
! align="left" | [[Nero]]
| N
| commercial
| [http://www.nero.com/eng/ here]
| align="left" |
|-style="background-color: #eeeeee;"

|
|}

===Mac OS X===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #bbffbb; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#bbffbb;"
! style="width:130px;" | Name
! style="width:80px;" | Unicode
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:310px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[DVD-Audio Tools]]
| Y
| GPL
| [http://dvd-audio.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Open-source DVD-Audio authoring application
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[FireStarter FX]]
| N
| Free
| [http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=FireStarter_FX here]
| align="left" | Free OS X Cocoa CD writing application
|-
! align="left" | [[X-CD-Roast]]
| N
| Free
| [http://www.xcdroast.org/xcdr098/xcdrosX.html here]
| align="left" | New OS X port of this Linux CD writing application
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Burn
| N
| Free
| [http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net/Pages/English/home.html/ here]
| align="left" | Versatile CD/DVD authoring application
|}

===Linux===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ffcccc; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ffcccc;"
! style="width:130px;" | Name
! style="width:80px;" | Unicode
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! align="center" style="width:260px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | CDRDAO
| N
| GPL
| [http://cdrdao.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Cdrdao records audio or data CD-Rs in disk-at-once (DAO) mode
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | DVD-Audio Tools
| Y
| GPL
| [http://dvd-audio.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Open-source DVD-Audio authoring application
|-
! align="left" | [[GnomeBaker]]
| N
| GPL
| [http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnomebaker/ here]
| align="left" | Popular open-source Gnome interface CD/DVD writing application
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[K3b]]
| N
| GPL
| [http://www.k3b.org/ here]
| align="left" | Popular open-source KDE CD writing application for Linux platform
|-
! align="left" | [[X-CD-Roast]]
| Y
| GPL
| [http://www.xcdroast.org here]
| align="left" | New open-source Gnome interface CD/DVD writing application
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Brasero]]
| N
| GPL
| [http://projects.gnome.org/brasero/ here]
| align="left" | Brasero is a application to burn CD/DVD for the Gnome Desktop.(Gnome Default)
|}

==Multimedia Players==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ccccff; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ccccff"
! style="width:120px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! align="center" style="width:220px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[foobar2000]]
| Free, BSD
| [http://www.foobar2000.org/ here]
| align="left" | Advanced tagging, plugin capabilities, and kernel streaming support
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[MediaMonkey]]
| Free, Shareware
| [http://www.mediamonkey.com/ here]
| align="left" | Supports many Winamp plugins
|-
! align="left" | MusikCube
| BSD
| [http://www.musikcube.com/ here]
| align="left" | Supports dynamic playlists and advanced SQL capabilities
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | VUplayer
| Free
| [http://www.vuplayer.com/ here]
| align="left" | Supports many popular digital audio codecs and MOD tracker formats
|-
! align="left" | [[Winamp]]
| Free, Shareware
| [http://www.winamp.com/ here]
| align="left" | Popular audio player for Windows
| align="left" |
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[wxMusik]]
| GPL
| [http://sourceforge.net/projects/musik.berlios/ here]
| align="left" |A cross-platform open-source audio player
|-
! align="left" | [[VLC]]
| Free
| [http://www.videolan.org/vlc// here]
| align="left" | VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
|}

===Mac OS X===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #bbffbb; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#bbffbb;"
! style="width:120px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:220px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | Cog
| GPL
| [http://cogosx.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | An open-source digital audio player for OS X.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Play
| GPL
| [http://sbooth.org/Play/ here]
| align="left" |Play is an application for playing and managing audio files.
|-
! align="left" | [[VLC]]
| Free
| [http://www.videolan.org/vlc// here]
| align="left" | VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
|}

===Linux===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ffcccc; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ffcccc;"
! style="width:120px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:220px;" | Description
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Amarok]]
| GPL
| [http://amarok.kde.org/ here]
| align="left" | Popular open-source KDE audio player similiar to Foobar2000
|-
! align="left" | Audacious
| GPL
| [http://audacious-media-player.org/ here]
| align="left" |Audacious is an open source audio player
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Clementine]]
| GPL
| [http://www.clementine-player.org/ here]
| align="left" | Cross platform media player, a port of [[Amarok]] 1.4 to the Qt 4 and GStreamer framework, can be controlled with a Wii remote
|-
! align="left" | [[DeaDBeeF]]
| GPL
| [http://deadbeef.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Lightweight music player for Linux, GUI similar to [[Foobar2000]]
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Rhythmbox]]
| GPL
| [http://projects.gnome.org/rhythmbox/ here]
| align="left" | GNOME music player
|-
! align="left" | [[VLC]]
| Free
| [http://www.videolan.org/vlc// here]
| align="left" | VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats as well as DVDs, |Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[XMMS]]
| GPL
| [http://www.xmms.org/ here]
| align="left" | Popular open-source audio player similiar to Winamp
|}

=== Console players ===
* mpg123 [http://www.mpg123.org/ Homepage] [http://www.mpg123.org/download.shtml/ Downloads]

===PocketPC===
''These players may not play all your media files. Check their websites for the format support.''
* GSPlayer: http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA032810/
* MortPlayer: http://www.sto-helit.de/
* TCPMP: http://tcpmp.corecodec.org/about

==Tagging Utilities==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ccccff; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ccccff"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:270px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | Abander TagControl
| Shareware
| [http://www.softartstudio.com/tagcontrol/ here]
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | AudioShell
| Free
| [http://www.softpointer.com/AudioShell.htm here]
| align="left" | Integrates with Windows Explorer
|-
! align="left" | Frontah
| Free
| [http://home.vxu.se/mdati00/frontah/ here]
| align="left" | Transcode and tag editor for ID3v1.x, ID3v2.x, Lyrics3, Vorbis Comment, APEv1 & APEv2 tags. Supports ANSI, UTF8 and UTF16 text encoding depends on tag type.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Magic MP3 Tagger
| Shareware
| [http://www.magic-tagger.com here]
| align="left" | Optimized for automatic music identification
|-
! align="left" | [[MediaMonkey]]
| Free, Shareware
| [http://www.mediamonkey.com/ here]
| align="left" | Also a Media Player & Library
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | MetatOGGer
| Free
| [http://www.luminescence-software.org/ here]
| align="left" | Tags MP3 ([[ID3]]), Ogg files (Vorbis comment, including Ogg FLAC and Speex), Musepack, Windows Media, WavPack et Monkey's Audio
|-
! align="left" | MP3 Book Helper
| Free
| [http://mp3bookhelper.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Tags [[ID3v1]], ID3v2.3, and Vorbis comments. Features: FreeDB, unicode, guessing and matching, and supporting PAR, SFV, SV, and NFO generation.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[MP3tag]]
| Free
| [http://www.mp3tag.de/ here]
| align="left" | Tags all files supporting [[ID3]], [[APEv2]], and [[Vorbis_Comment|Vorbis Comments]], not only MP3s
|-
! align="left" | MP3 Tag Editor
| Shareware
| [http://www.mp3-tag.com/ here]
| align="left" | Software to edit tags in audio files of [[MP3]], [[WMA]], [[OGG]], [[ASF]], and other music format.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Mp3/Tag Studio
| Shareware
| [http://www.magnusbrading.com/mp3ts/ here]
| align="left" | Supports ID3v1 & v2 '''only'''. Powerful matching and fancy filters
|-
! align="left" | [[Tag.exe]]
| GPL
| [http://www.synthetic-soul.co.uk/tag/ here]
| align="left" | Command-line universal tagger for Windows
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Tag & Rename
| Shareware
| [http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm here]
|
|-
! align="left" | TagScanner
| Free/Donate
| [http://www.xdlab.ru/en/index.htm here]
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | The GodFather
| Card/Donate
| [http://www.jtclipper.eu/thegodfather/ here]
|
|-
! align="left" | WMPTSE
| Free/Donate
| [http://wmptagext.sourceforge.net here]
| align="left" | Software to integrate other tag format than [[ID3]] into Microsoft Windows Media Player.
|}

===Mac OS X===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #bbffbb; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#bbffbb;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:270px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | Tag
| GPL
| [http://sbooth.org/Tag/ here]
| align="left" | An open-source tagging application for OS X
|}

===Linux===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ffcccc; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ffcccc;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:270px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[Beets]]
| MIT
| [http://beets.radbox.org/ here]
| align="left" | Cross-platform open source tagging application written in Python, CLI only. Uses the Musicbrainz and Mutagen libraries, still in beta. Mostly automatic, minimal user input required. Many features and plugins. (Read the documentation)
|-
! align="left" | EasyTAG
| GPL
| [http://easytag.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Gnome tagging utility
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" |
|}

==Encoders, Decoders, Etc.==
All basic tools needed to make use of the audio formats supported here.

===[[MP3]]===
* [[LAME]] encoder/decoder: [http://www.rarewares.org/mp3.html download pre-compiled binaries here]. Also check the [[Lame Compiles|Latest recommended version]] page.
* [[MP3Gain]], a ReplayGain-like utility: [http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/download.php download here]

===Ogg [[Vorbis]]===
Currently, all recommended Ogg Vorbis utilities are available at the [http://www.rarewares.org/ogg.html Rarewares Ogg Vorbis page]. The following tools are important:

* '''OggEnc2''': A command-line Ogg Vorbis encoder that can be used with most CD rippers.

* '''OggDec''': Command-line decoder.

* '''[[OggDropXPd]]''': An easy to use, drag'n'drop encoder/decoder with support for automatic tagging, renaming and playlist creation on encoding.

* ''Encoding DLLs'': For encoding within CDex or WinLame.

* '''VorbisGain''': The [[ReplayGain]] utility for Ogg Vorbis.

In addition, the [[Lancer]] suite — a highly SSE-optimized suite of utilities and libraries — are available at [http://homepage3.nifty.com/blacksword/ this page] ''(in Japanese)''. See [[Lancer#Platform-specific Builds|this section]] for information about the different builds.

=== Opus ===
* http://www.opus-codec.org/
* http://rarewares.org/opus.php
* discussion at the [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=96954/ Forum]

===[[Musepack]] (MPC)===
* [http://www.musepack.net/index.php?pg=win Download MPC for Windows]
* [http://www.musepack.net/index.php?pg=lin Download MPC for Linux]
* [http://www.musepack.net/index.php?pg=osx Download MPC for Mac OS X]
* [http://www.musepack.net/index.php?pg=src Download MPC source code]

* [http://forum.musepack.net/showthread.php?t=395 Forum announcement of SV8 release]

===[[FLAC]]===
* CoolEdit / Adobe Audition Filter supporting FLAC: [http://www.vuplayer.com/other.php download here]
* Various FLAC-related utilities (incl. ReplayGain utility): [http://flac.sourceforge.net/download.html FLAC's SourceForge Download page]

==Transcoders==
''Note: Although these tools may convert from one encoding to another, please remember that [[transcoding]] to any [[lossy]] encoding will result in a degraded quality.''
* BeSweet: http://besweet.notrace.dk/
* [[fre:ac ]]
* dBpowerAMP Music Converter (dMC): http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm
* [[foobar2000]] - foobar2000 Free Encoder Pack http://www.foobar2000.org/encoderpack
* MediaCoder: http://www.mediacoderhq.com/
* [[Winamp]]
* WinLAME: http://winlame.sourceforge.net/

==Processing utilities==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ccccff; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ccccff;"
! style="width:120px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:400px;" | Description
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[lossyWAV]]
| GPL
| [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=56129&view=findpost&p=504087 here]
| align="left" | lossyWAV is a lossy pre-processor for [[Wikipedia:Pulse-code modulation|PCM]] (uncompressed) WAV files. It reduces [[Wikipedia:Audio bit depth|bit depth]] of the input signal, which, when used in conjunction with certain lossless codecs, reduces the bitrate of the encoded file significantly.
|}

==Drivers==
===ASPI===
* Ahead Nero ASPI Driver: [ftp://ftp6.nero.com/wnaspi32.dll download]
* Adaptec Windows ASPI Package: [http://www.adaptec.com/en-us/support/_eol/scsi_sw/aspi-4.70/ official website]
* ForceASPI [http://radified.com/ASPI/forceaspi.htm radified.com]
* ASPI4all [http://www.cdr-zone.com/software/aspi_layers/aspi4all.html CDR-Zone.COM]
* FrogAspi [http://www.frogaspi.org/ official website]
* VOB ASAPI Driver 1.3: [http://www.rarewares.org/files/ASAPI.exe download]

===Sound===
* ALSA Project [http://www.alsa-project.org/ official website]
* kX Project [http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/ official website]

==Links==
* [http://www.rarewares.org/ RareWares]

[[Category:Software]]

Download page

2012-10-10T18:12:24Z

86.180.63.142: /* Encoders, Decoders, Etc. */ Opus download & discussion link.

All programs mentioned anywhere in the wiki can be downloaded here.
See also the [[:Category:Software|Software Category]] article for more software not listed here.

==CD Rippers==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ccccff; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ccccff"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:300px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[CDex]]
| GPL
| [http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | An open-source ripper for Windows that uses cdparanoia functionality
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[DBpowerAMP with AccurateRip|dBpoweramp]]
| commercial
| [http://www.dbpoweramp.com/ here]
| align="left" | A secure ripper for Windows that includes Accurate Stream functionality.
|-
! align="left" | DeepRipper
| GPL
| [http://www.deepburner.com/ here]
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[EAC]]
| Free
| [http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/ here]
| align="left" | A secure ripper for Windows, C2 error pointers, Accurate Stream, etc.
|-
! align="left" | [[fre:ac ]]
| GPL
| [http://www.freac.org/ here]
| align="left" |
fre:ac is a free audio converter and CD ripper with support for various popular formats and encoders. Plus supports the CDDB/freedb online CD database which allows you query song information.
|}

===Mac OS X===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #bbffbb; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#bbffbb;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:350px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[Max]]
| GPL
| [http://sbooth.org/Max/ here]
| align="left" | A secure ripper for OS X that uses additional cdparanoia functionality
|-
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[XLD]]
| GPL
| [http://tmkk.pv.land.to/xld/index_e.html here]
| align="left" | X Lossless Decoder(XLD) is a tool for Mac OS X that is able to decode/convert/play various 'lossless' audio files. The supported audio files can be split into some tracks with cue sheet when decoding. Can convert between many lossless and lossy formats. Plugin oriented design, for easy exchange for new encoders.
|}

===Linux===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ffcccc; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ffcccc;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:320px;" | Description
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | abcde
| GPL
|[http://code.google.com/p/abcde/ here]
| align="left" | A command-line based ripper with cdparanoia functionality
|-
! align="left" | [[cdparanoia]]
| BSD, GPL
| [http://www.xiph.org/paranoia/ here]
| align="left" | One of the first secure standalone rippers for the Linux platform
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Grip]]
| GPL
| [http://sourceforge.net/projects/grip/ here]
| align="left" | An open-source Gnome interface ripper that uses cdparanoia functionality
|-
! align="left" | [[Rubyripper]]
| GPL
| [http://code.google.com/p/rubyripper/ here]
| align="left" | A secure ripper for the Linux that uses additional cdparanoia functionality
|}

==CD/DVD Writers==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ccccff; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ccccff"
! style="width:185px;" | Name
! style="width:80px;" | Unicode
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:270px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | BurnAtOnce
| N
| Free
| [http://www.videohelp.com/tools/burnatonce here]
| align="left" | CD writing application based upon CDRDAO
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Burrrn]] (CDA only)
| N
| Free
| [http://www.burrrn.net/ here]
|
|-
! align="left" | CDBurnerXP
|
| Free
| [http://www.cdburnerxp.se/ here]
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | DeepBurner Free
| N
| GPL
| [http://www.deepburner.com/ here]
|
|-
! align="left" | DeepBurner Pro
|
| Shareware
| [http://www.deepburner.com/ here]
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Express Burn
| N
| non-commercial(free)
| [http://nch.com.au/burn/index.html here]
| align="left" | A free version of this software is available for non-commercial use only. The free version does not expire but will only burn normal CDs.
|
|-
! align="left" | Express Burn (Plus Edition)
|
| commercial
| [http://www.nch.com.au/burn/index.html here]
|
|-style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | InfraRecorder
| N
| GPL
| [http://infrarecorder.org/ here]
|
|-
! align="left" | [[Nero]]
| N
| commercial
| [http://www.nero.com/eng/ here]
| align="left" |
|-style="background-color: #eeeeee;"

|
|}

===Mac OS X===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #bbffbb; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#bbffbb;"
! style="width:130px;" | Name
! style="width:80px;" | Unicode
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:310px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[DVD-Audio Tools]]
| Y
| GPL
| [http://dvd-audio.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Open-source DVD-Audio authoring application
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[FireStarter FX]]
| N
| Free
| [http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=FireStarter_FX here]
| align="left" | Free OS X Cocoa CD writing application
|-
! align="left" | [[X-CD-Roast]]
| N
| Free
| [http://www.xcdroast.org/xcdr098/xcdrosX.html here]
| align="left" | New OS X port of this Linux CD writing application
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Burn
| N
| Free
| [http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net/Pages/English/home.html/ here]
| align="left" | Versatile CD/DVD authoring application
|}

===Linux===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ffcccc; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ffcccc;"
! style="width:130px;" | Name
! style="width:80px;" | Unicode
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! align="center" style="width:260px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | CDRDAO
| N
| GPL
| [http://cdrdao.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Cdrdao records audio or data CD-Rs in disk-at-once (DAO) mode
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | DVD-Audio Tools
| Y
| GPL
| [http://dvd-audio.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Open-source DVD-Audio authoring application
|-
! align="left" | [[GnomeBaker]]
| N
| GPL
| [http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnomebaker/ here]
| align="left" | Popular open-source Gnome interface CD/DVD writing application
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[K3b]]
| N
| GPL
| [http://www.k3b.org/ here]
| align="left" | Popular open-source KDE CD writing application for Linux platform
|-
! align="left" | [[X-CD-Roast]]
| Y
| GPL
| [http://www.xcdroast.org here]
| align="left" | New open-source Gnome interface CD/DVD writing application
|- style="background-color:#eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Brasero]]
| N
| GPL
| [http://projects.gnome.org/brasero/ here]
| align="left" | Brasero is a application to burn CD/DVD for the Gnome Desktop.(Gnome Default)
|}

==Multimedia Players==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ccccff; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ccccff"
! style="width:120px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! align="center" style="width:220px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[foobar2000]]
| Free, BSD
| [http://www.foobar2000.org/ here]
| align="left" | Advanced tagging, plugin capabilities, and kernel streaming support
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[MediaMonkey]]
| Free, Shareware
| [http://www.mediamonkey.com/ here]
| align="left" | Supports many Winamp plugins
|-
! align="left" | MusikCube
| BSD
| [http://www.musikcube.com/ here]
| align="left" | Supports dynamic playlists and advanced SQL capabilities
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | VUplayer
| Free
| [http://www.vuplayer.com/ here]
| align="left" | Supports many popular digital audio codecs and MOD tracker formats
|-
! align="left" | [[Winamp]]
| Free, Shareware
| [http://www.winamp.com/ here]
| align="left" | Popular audio player for Windows
| align="left" |
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[wxMusik]]
| GPL
| [http://sourceforge.net/projects/musik.berlios/ here]
| align="left" |A cross-platform open-source audio player
|-
! align="left" | [[VLC]]
| Free
| [http://www.videolan.org/vlc// here]
| align="left" | VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
|}

===Mac OS X===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #bbffbb; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#bbffbb;"
! style="width:120px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:220px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | Cog
| GPL
| [http://cogosx.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | An open-source digital audio player for OS X.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Play
| GPL
| [http://sbooth.org/Play/ here]
| align="left" |Play is an application for playing and managing audio files.
|-
! align="left" | [[VLC]]
| Free
| [http://www.videolan.org/vlc// here]
| align="left" | VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
|}

===Linux===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ffcccc; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ffcccc;"
! style="width:120px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:220px;" | Description
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Amarok]]
| GPL
| [http://amarok.kde.org/ here]
| align="left" | Popular open-source KDE audio player similiar to Foobar2000
|-
! align="left" | Audacious
| GPL
| [http://audacious-media-player.org/ here]
| align="left" |Audacious is an open source audio player
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Clementine]]
| GPL
| [http://www.clementine-player.org/ here]
| align="left" | Cross platform media player, a port of [[Amarok]] 1.4 to the Qt 4 and GStreamer framework, can be controlled with a Wii remote
|-
! align="left" | [[DeaDBeeF]]
| GPL
| [http://deadbeef.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Lightweight music player for Linux, GUI similar to [[Foobar2000]]
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Rhythmbox]]
| GPL
| [http://projects.gnome.org/rhythmbox/ here]
| align="left" | GNOME music player
|-
! align="left" | [[VLC]]
| Free
| [http://www.videolan.org/vlc// here]
| align="left" | VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats as well as DVDs, |Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[XMMS]]
| GPL
| [http://www.xmms.org/ here]
| align="left" | Popular open-source audio player similiar to Winamp
|}

===PocketPC===
''These players may not play all your media files. Check their websites for the format support.''
* GSPlayer: http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA032810/
* MortPlayer: http://www.sto-helit.de/
* TCPMP: http://tcpmp.corecodec.org/about

==Tagging Utilities==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ccccff; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ccccff"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:270px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | Abander TagControl
| Shareware
| [http://www.softartstudio.com/tagcontrol/ here]
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | AudioShell
| Free
| [http://www.softpointer.com/AudioShell.htm here]
| align="left" | Integrates with Windows Explorer
|-
! align="left" | Frontah
| Free
| [http://home.vxu.se/mdati00/frontah/ here]
| align="left" | Transcode and tag editor for ID3v1.x, ID3v2.x, Lyrics3, Vorbis Comment, APEv1 & APEv2 tags. Supports ANSI, UTF8 and UTF16 text encoding depends on tag type.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Magic MP3 Tagger
| Shareware
| [http://www.magic-tagger.com here]
| align="left" | Optimized for automatic music identification
|-
! align="left" | [[MediaMonkey]]
| Free, Shareware
| [http://www.mediamonkey.com/ here]
| align="left" | Also a Media Player & Library
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | MetatOGGer
| Free
| [http://www.luminescence-software.org/ here]
| align="left" | Tags MP3 ([[ID3]]), Ogg files (Vorbis comment, including Ogg FLAC and Speex), Musepack, Windows Media, WavPack et Monkey's Audio
|-
! align="left" | MP3 Book Helper
| Free
| [http://mp3bookhelper.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Tags [[ID3v1]], ID3v2.3, and Vorbis comments. Features: FreeDB, unicode, guessing and matching, and supporting PAR, SFV, SV, and NFO generation.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[MP3tag]]
| Free
| [http://www.mp3tag.de/ here]
| align="left" | Tags all files supporting [[ID3]], [[APEv2]], and [[Vorbis_Comment|Vorbis Comments]], not only MP3s
|-
! align="left" | MP3 Tag Editor
| Shareware
| [http://www.mp3-tag.com/ here]
| align="left" | Software to edit tags in audio files of [[MP3]], [[WMA]], [[OGG]], [[ASF]], and other music format.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Mp3/Tag Studio
| Shareware
| [http://www.magnusbrading.com/mp3ts/ here]
| align="left" | Supports ID3v1 & v2 '''only'''. Powerful matching and fancy filters
|-
! align="left" | [[Tag.exe]]
| GPL
| [http://www.synthetic-soul.co.uk/tag/ here]
| align="left" | Command-line universal tagger for Windows
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Tag & Rename
| Shareware
| [http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm here]
|
|-
! align="left" | TagScanner
| Free/Donate
| [http://www.xdlab.ru/en/index.htm here]
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | The GodFather
| Card/Donate
| [http://www.jtclipper.eu/thegodfather/ here]
|
|-
! align="left" | WMPTSE
| Free/Donate
| [http://wmptagext.sourceforge.net here]
| align="left" | Software to integrate other tag format than [[ID3]] into Microsoft Windows Media Player.
|}

===Mac OS X===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #bbffbb; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#bbffbb;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:270px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | Tag
| GPL
| [http://sbooth.org/Tag/ here]
| align="left" | An open-source tagging application for OS X
|}

===Linux===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ffcccc; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ffcccc;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:270px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[Beets]]
| MIT
| [http://beets.radbox.org/ here]
| align="left" | Cross-platform open source tagging application written in Python, CLI only. Uses the Musicbrainz and Mutagen libraries, still in beta. Mostly automatic, minimal user input required. Many features and plugins. (Read the documentation)
|-
! align="left" | EasyTAG
| GPL
| [http://easytag.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Gnome tagging utility
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" |
|}

==Encoders, Decoders, Etc.==
All basic tools needed to make use of the audio formats supported here.

===[[MP3]]===
* [[LAME]] encoder/decoder: [http://www.rarewares.org/mp3.html download pre-compiled binaries here]. Also check the [[Lame Compiles|Latest recommended version]] page.
* [[MP3Gain]], a ReplayGain-like utility: [http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/download.php download here]

===Ogg [[Vorbis]]===
Currently, all recommended Ogg Vorbis utilities are available at the [http://www.rarewares.org/ogg.html Rarewares Ogg Vorbis page]. The following tools are important:

* '''OggEnc2''': A command-line Ogg Vorbis encoder that can be used with most CD rippers.

* '''OggDec''': Command-line decoder.

* '''[[OggDropXPd]]''': An easy to use, drag'n'drop encoder/decoder with support for automatic tagging, renaming and playlist creation on encoding.

* ''Encoding DLLs'': For encoding within CDex or WinLame.

* '''VorbisGain''': The [[ReplayGain]] utility for Ogg Vorbis.

In addition, the [[Lancer]] suite — a highly SSE-optimized suite of utilities and libraries — are available at [http://homepage3.nifty.com/blacksword/ this page] ''(in Japanese)''. See [[Lancer#Platform-specific Builds|this section]] for information about the different builds.

=== Opus ===
* http://www.opus-codec.org/
* http://rarewares.org/opus.php
* discussion at the [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=96954/ Forum]

===[[Musepack]] (MPC)===
* [http://www.musepack.net/index.php?pg=win Download MPC for Windows]
* [http://www.musepack.net/index.php?pg=lin Download MPC for Linux]
* [http://www.musepack.net/index.php?pg=osx Download MPC for Mac OS X]
* [http://www.musepack.net/index.php?pg=src Download MPC source code]

* [http://forum.musepack.net/showthread.php?t=395 Forum announcement of SV8 release]

===[[FLAC]]===
* CoolEdit / Adobe Audition Filter supporting FLAC: [http://www.vuplayer.com/other.php download here]
* Various FLAC-related utilities (incl. ReplayGain utility): [http://flac.sourceforge.net/download.html FLAC's SourceForge Download page]

==Transcoders==
''Note: Although these tools may convert from one encoding to another, please remember that [[transcoding]] to any [[lossy]] encoding will result in a degraded quality.''
* BeSweet: http://besweet.notrace.dk/
* [[fre:ac ]]
* dBpowerAMP Music Converter (dMC): http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm
* [[foobar2000]] - foobar2000 Free Encoder Pack http://www.foobar2000.org/encoderpack
* MediaCoder: http://www.mediacoderhq.com/
* [[Winamp]]
* WinLAME: http://winlame.sourceforge.net/

==Processing utilities==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #ccccff; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#ccccff;"
! style="width:120px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:400px;" | Description
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[lossyWAV]]
| GPL
| [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=56129&view=findpost&p=504087 here]
| align="left" | lossyWAV is a lossy pre-processor for [[Wikipedia:Pulse-code modulation|PCM]] (uncompressed) WAV files. It reduces [[Wikipedia:Audio bit depth|bit depth]] of the input signal, which, when used in conjunction with certain lossless codecs, reduces the bitrate of the encoded file significantly.
|}

==Drivers==
===ASPI===
* Ahead Nero ASPI Driver: [ftp://ftp6.nero.com/wnaspi32.dll download]
* Adaptec Windows ASPI Package: [http://www.adaptec.com/en-us/support/_eol/scsi_sw/aspi-4.70/ official website]
* ForceASPI [http://radified.com/ASPI/forceaspi.htm radified.com]
* ASPI4all [http://www.cdr-zone.com/software/aspi_layers/aspi4all.html CDR-Zone.COM]
* FrogAspi [http://www.frogaspi.org/ official website]
* VOB ASAPI Driver 1.3: [http://www.rarewares.org/files/ASAPI.exe download]

===Sound===
* ALSA Project [http://www.alsa-project.org/ official website]
* kX Project [http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/ official website]

==Links==
* [http://www.rarewares.org/ RareWares]

[[Category:Software]]