Hydrogenaudio Knowledgebase - User contributions [en]

TAK

2014-08-19T15:47:52Z

89.69.171.35:

{{Codec Infobox
| name = Tom's lossless Audio Kompressor
| logo =
| type = lossless
| purpose = lossless audio compression.
| maintainer = Thomas Becker
| recommended_encoder = TAK encoder
| recommended_text = TAK v2.3.0
| website = [http://thbeck.de/Tak/Tak.html ThBeck.de/Tak/Tak.html] ''(German)''
}}

== Description ==
'''Tom's lossless Audio Kompressor''' ('''TAK''') is a lossless audio compressor which promises compression performance similar to [[Monkey's Audio]] “High” and decompression speed similar to [[Free Lossless Audio Codec|FLAC]].

=== Features ===
* High compression
* Fast compression and decompression speed
* Streaming support (necessary headers for decompressing the audio are written to the stream every 2 seconds)
* Piping support for encoding
* Error tolerance (single bit error will never affect more than 250 ms)
* Error detection (each frame protected by a 24-bit checksum (CRC))
* High-resolution (up to 24-bit/channel) audio support
* Support for up to 192 Khz Audio
* Seeking without seek table
* APEv2 tags supported at end of file

=== Pros ===
* Fast encoding speed (while providing better compression TAK encodes as fast as [[Free Lossless Audio Codec|FLAC]] -8 in TAK's “Insane” and several times faster in “Turbo” mode)
* Fast decompression speed (on par with FLAC / [[WavPack]])
* Good compression levels (on par with [[Monkey's Audio]] High)
* Error Robustness
* Fast Seeking

=== Cons ===
* Closed Source
* No hardware support

== Software support ==
=== Windows ===
* [http://thbeck.de/Download/TAK_2.3.0.zip TAK 2.3.0] - Official release which consists of a CLI, a GUI, a [[Winamp]] plugin, the SDK, and the decoding library.
* [http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_input_tak TAK Decoder 0.4.7] - Plugin for [[foobar2000]] (supports tagging and [[ReplayGain]]).
* [http://www.liviocavallo.altervista.org/ dsfTAKSource 0.0.1.6] - DirectShow source filter which uses the official decoding library to play TAK-files in Windows Media Player, Media Player Classic - Home Cinema, Zoom Player and alike.
* [http://reino.degeelebosch.nl/ DC-Bass Source Mod 1.5.2.0] - DirectShow source filter which uses the official decoding library to play TAK-files, amongst many others, in any DirectShow media player (as mentioned above).
* [http://code.google.com/p/lavfilters/ LAV Filters] - Set of open-source DirectShow filters which uses [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=96976&view=findpost&p=810355 FFMpeg's reverse-engineered decoder] to play TAK-files in any DirectShow media player.
* [http://sourceforge.net/projects/mpcbe/ Media Player Classic - BE] - DirectShow media player with an internal TAK source filter which uses FFMpeg's reverse-engineered decoder to play TAK-files. The internal TAK source filter also supports embedded cue-sheets.
* [[Mp3tag]] – universal tag editor with support for TAK
* [http://etree.org/shnutils/shntool/ shntool] (since version 3.0.6)

=== Linux ===
* ffmpeg can demux, decode and parse TAK since commit d7a473926504e2acfa6ae3bead0938e1f4e03441:[http://git.videolan.org/?p=ffmpeg.git;a=commit;h=d7a473926504e2acfa6ae3bead0938e1f4e03441]. First official release that supports TAK decoding is 1.1.
* The GUI program (Tak.exe) and the command-line program (Takc.exe) work with [http://www.winehq.org/ Wine].
* [http://caudec.net/ caudec] is a command-line tool that can encode and decode TAK files, using the official binary (Takc.exe) with Wine (see: [http://caudec.net/documentation/windowscodecs/ installation instructions]). Caudec can also test file integrity and compute (and tag) Replaygain data. While it hasn't been tested at the time of writing, it is possible that TAK support in caudec works on OS X as well.

== Hardware support ==
* None

== Recommended Settings ==
* Default compression: “-p2” (formerly ''Normal'') is the most attractive setting, providing an excellent compromise between compression and encoding speed. (At compression levels close to [[Monkey's Audio]] High (<0.4% difference), it is able to encode more quickly.)
takc -e [input file]
* Highest compression: “-pMax” (same as -p4m) (This will create files which are comparable in size to file created using [[Monkey's Audio]] High. Decompression speed is comparable to [[WavPack]] Normal.)
takc -e -pMax [input file]
* Fastest compression: “-p0” (This will create files which are comparable in size to [[Monkey's Audio]] Fast or [[WavPack]] High. Decompression speed is comparable to [[Free Lossless Audio Codec|FLAC]] 0.)
takc -e -p0 [input file]

=== TAK Performance Graph ===
[[Image:TAK_performance_graph_1-0-4.png|frame|center|Graph showing encoding and decoding rate against compression, using data from Synthetic Soul's test on TAK 1.0.4<br />(see [[TAK#External Links|External Links]])]]

== Using TAK ==
=== TAK with [[foobar2000]] ===
* Copy the takc.exe to your [[foobar2000]] directory
* Go to File → Preferences → Tools → Converter
* Set it up as shown:
[[Image:Tak_foobar_converter.png|frame|center|Screenshot of foobar 0.9.5 Converter settings for TAK 1.0.3]]
'''Note:''' replace -p2 with the desired compression level.

* TAK introduced encoding from STDIN in version 1.0.3, eliminating the need for a temporary file and greatly improving overall compression time. If you are using an earlier version of TAK use the following command line instead:
-e -p2 %s %d
* Use [[APEv2 specification|APEv2]] tagging (will be used as internal tagging)

=== TAK with EAC ===
Please read the [[EAC and TAK|wiki guide]], which details how to create TAK files with [[Exact Audio Copy|EAC]].

=== Converting TAK using pipe ===
Takc.exe -d input.tak - | lame.exe -V 6 - output.mp3
Takc.exe -d input.tak - | opusenc.exe --bitrate 64 - output.opus
Takc.exe -d input.tak - | flac.exe -8 - -o output.flac
Takc.exe -d input.tak - | wavpack.exe -hhx - output.wv

flac.exe -dc input.flac | Takc.exe -e -pMax - output.tak
wvunpack.exe input.wv - | Takc.exe -e -pMax - output.tak
ffmpeg.exe -i input.xxx -f wav - | Takc.exe -e -pMax '''-ihs''' - output.tak

== Future Features ==
* Unicode support
* MD5 audio checksums for verification and identification
* A German version
* Embedded cue sheets
* Embedded cover art
* Multichannel audio

== Frequently Asked Questions ==
; Is the codec safe for use/definitely lossless?
: Yes, TAK is verified as being lossless, as determined through rigorous testing by the author and satisfied users. To check, convert a WAV to TAK and back and compare the two, for instance using [[Foobar2000:Foobar2000|foobar2000]]'s [[Foobar2000:Components/Binary Comparator (foo_bitcompare)|Binary Comparator]].
; Why should I use TAK?
: TAK offers high ratios of compression but also great decoding speeds.
; What can I compress with TAK?
: TAK 1.0 can compress any integer-format (up to 24 bits per channel) PCM RIFF WAVE file (.WAV). Piping support is implemented as of v1.0.3, so converting lossless files to WAV first is not necessary: users can simply pipe the decompressed output from their decoder of choice directly into TAK's encoder.
; What about hardware support?
: There is none at the moment. However, ''-p0'', ''-p1'' and ''-p2'' are the candidates for most suitable settings for hardware.
; Will the source be opened?
: The official encoder and decoder are currently closed-source. Thomas has expressed an intention to open the source of the decoder at some point in time, stipulating preconditions of its first being further refined, ported to C or C++, and documented. This may or may not lead to releases of other code. However, as of June of 2013, he feels that “a lot of (not very exciting) work is required” until the decoding source would be ready to be published, and that may or may not happen in the foreseeable future. Such questions generally generate more noise than fruitful discussion, so it is best to wait and see what happens. In any case, there is an independently implemented open source decoder available, bundled with ffmpeg.

== External Links ==
* [http://thbeck.de/Tak/Tak.html thbeck.de/Tak/Tak.html] – Official Website ''(german)''
* [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=101386 TAK 2.3.0 Discussion Thread on HA] ''(english)''
* [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=89610 TAK 2.2.0 Discussion Thread on HA] ''(english)''
* [http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/lossless/ synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/lossless] – Comparison with Other Codecs (by Synthetic Soul)
* [http://flac.sourceforge.net/comparison.html flac.sourceforge.net/comparison.html] – An Updated Comparison (from FLAC Homepage)

[[Category:Lossless]]
[[Category:Encoder/Decoder]]

Meridian Lossless Packing

2014-08-19T15:42:56Z

89.69.171.35:

'''Meridial Lossless Packing''' ('''MLP''') is a [[lossless]] compression scheme developed by the British pro-audio developer and manufacturer Meridian specially for inclusion in the [[DVD-Audio]] format.

It's a completely closed format - there is no source code or format documentation available. Also, the encoder is quite expensive (US$ 2500 as of October 2005).

Compression efficiency is quite bad for CD content (16 bit, 44100 Hz, stereo), being outperformed by [[Shorten]] and even RAR. It is somewhat better for high resolution content (multichannel, 24 bit, 96 kHz), but still beaten by, e.g., [[WavPack]] -h in both speed and compression. Compression is very slow.

== External links ==
* [http://www.meridian-support.com/white_papers.htm meridian-support] MLP Lossless Compression white-paper.
* [[Lossless comparison|Lossless Codec Comparison]]

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

Free Lossless Audio Codec

2014-08-19T15:31:36Z

89.69.171.35: /* Features */

{{Codec Infobox
| name = FLAC
| logo = [[Image:FLAC logo.gif]]
| type = lossless
| purpose = Popular open source patent free lossless compression scheme.
| maintainer = Josh Coalson, Xiph Community
| recommended_encoder = FLAC encoder
| recommended_text = FLAC v1.3.0 (28-05-2013)
| website = http://xiph.org/flac/
}}
'''Free Lossless Audio Codec''' ('''FLAC''') is a codec for lossless audio compression.
Grossly oversimplified, FLAC is similar to [[MP3]], but [[lossless]], meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality. This is similar to how Zip works, except with FLAC you will get much better compression because it is designed specifically for audio, and you can play back compressed FLAC files in your favorite player (or your car or home stereo, if supported) just like you would an MP3 file.

== General aspects of the format ==
FLAC is freely available and supported on most operating systems, including Windows, UNIX (Linux, *BSD, Solaris, OS X, IRIX), BeOS, OS/2, and Amiga. There are build systems for autotools, MSVC, Watcom C, and Project Builder.

The FLAC project consists of:
* the stream format
* reference encoders and decoders in library form
* flac, a command-line program to encode and decode FLAC files
* metaflac, a command-line metadata editor for FLAC files
* input plugins for various music players

When it's said that FLAC is ''free'', it means more than just that it is available at no cost. It means that the specification of the format is fully open to the public to be used for any purpose, although the FLAC project reserves the right to set the FLAC specification and certify compliance. It also means that neither the FLAC format nor any of the implemented encoding/decoding methods are covered by any known patent. And it means that all the source code is available under open-source licenses. It is the first truly open and free lossless audio format.

== Features ==
* '''Lossless:''' The encoding of audio (PCM) data incurs no loss of information, and the decoded audio is bit-for-bit identical to what went into the encoder. Each frame contains a 16-bit CRC of the frame data for detecting transmission errors. The integrity of the audio data is further insured by storing an MD5 signature of the original unencoded audio data in the file header, which can be compared against later during decoding or testing.
* '''Fast:''' FLAC is asymmetric in favor of decode speed. Decoding requires only integer arithmetic, and is much less compute-intensive than for most perceptual codecs. Real-time decode performance is easily achievable on even modest hardware.
* '''Hardware support:''' Because of FLAC's free reference implementation, low decoding complexity and popularity, FLAC has relatively widespread hardware support compared to other lossless formats.
* '''Streamable:''' Each FLAC frame contains enough data to decode that frame. FLAC does not even rely on previous or following frames. FLAC uses sync codes and CRCs (similar to MPEG and other formats), which, along with framing, allow decoders to pick up in the middle of a stream with a minimum of delay.
* '''Seekable:''' FLAC supports fast sample-accurate seeking. Not only is this useful for playback, it makes FLAC files suitable for use in editing applications.
* '''Flexible metadata:''' New metadata blocks can be defined and implemented in future versions of FLAC without breaking older streams or decoders. Currently there are metadata types for tags, cue sheets, and seek tables. Applications can write their own APPLICATION metadata once they register an ID.
* '''Suitable for archiving:''' FLAC is an open format, and there is no generation loss if you need to convert your data to another format in the future. In addition to the frame CRCs and MD5 signature, FLAC has a verify option that decodes the encoded stream in parallel with the encoding process and compares the result to the original, aborting with an error if there is a mismatch.
* '''Convenient CD archiving:''' FLAC has a ''cue sheet'' metadata block for storing a CD table of contents and all track and index points. For instance, you can rip a CD to a single file, then import the CD's extracted cue sheet while encoding to yield a single file representation of the entire CD. If your original CD is damaged, the cue sheet can be exported later in order to burn an exact copy.
* '''Error resistant:''' Because of FLAC's framing, stream errors limit the damage to the frame in which the error occurred, typically a small fraction of a second worth of data. Contrast this with some other lossless codecs, in which a single error destroys the remainder of the stream.

== Pros ==
* Portable to many systems
* Open source and freely licensed
* Hardware support (PhatBox, Kenwood MusicKeg, Rio Karma, etc. See below)
* Streaming support
* Extremely fast decoding
* Supports multichannel and high resolution streams
* Supports [[ReplayGain]]
* Supports cue-sheet (with some limitations)
* Gaining wide use as successor to [[Shorten]]

== Cons ==
* Compresses less efficiently than other popular modern compressors ([[Monkey's Audio]], [[OptimFROG]])
* Higher compression modes slow, for little gain over the default setting.

== Hardware and software that support FLAC ==
For a more comprehensive list see the [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html FLAC links page].

=== Hardware ===
==== Car stereo ====
* JVC [http://mobile.jvc.com/product.jsp?pathId=139 KD-X "Digital Media Receivers" series] (almost all)
* Kenwood [http://www.kenwood.com/cs/ce/audiofile/index.php?model=KMM KMM series]
* Soundstream [http://soundstream.com/store/car-video/source-units.html Source Units]

==== Home stereo ====
* Olive's [http://www.olive.us/ Symphony] wireless digital music center
* [http://www.numark.com/ Numark]'s DJ equipment (HDX and CDX turntables, HDMIX mixer)
* [http://www.sonos.com/ Sonos Digital Music System]
* Slim Devices' [http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_squeezebox.html Squeezebox] networked audio players

==== Portable ====
* [[Apple iPod]] with [[Rockbox]] firmware
* [[iAudio M3]], M5 and X5
* [[iRiver]] iHP-120/iHP-140 with [[Rockbox]] firmware
* [[Iwod G10]]
* [[Rio Karma]]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SanDisk_Sansa SanDisk Sansa]
* TrekStor's [http://www.trekstor.de/en/products/detail_mp3.php?pid=66 Vibez]
* Devices running Android 3.1+
* [[Pono|Pono Player]]

=== Software ===
==== Players ====

'''Windows'''
* [[foobar2000]]
* [[MediaMonkey]]
* [[Winamp]]
*[http://mplayerwin.sourceforge.net/ Mplayer] Console player
* [http://www.cyberlink.com/products/powerdvd-ultra/features_en_US.html?&r=1 PowerDVD]
* [http://www.videolan.org/ VLC]
* [http://www.un4seen.com/ XMplay]

'''Mac'''
* [http://cogx.org/ Cog]
* [http://www.videolan.org/ VLC]

'''Linux'''
* [http://www.clementine-player.org/ Clementine]
* [http://www.mplayerhq.hu/ MPlayer]
* [http://www.mythtv.org/ MythTV]
* [http://www.videolan.org/ VLC]
* [[XMMS]]

==== Frontends (Windows) ====
* FLAC frontend - [http://sourceforge.net/projects/flacfrontend/ download] / [http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Download_page discussion] (ktf)
* Custom [http://members.home.nl/w.speek/flac.htm Windows Frontend] (by Speek)

==== Frontends (Mac) ====
* [http://www.sbooth.org/Max/ Max]

==== Converters ====
* [http://www.dbpoweramp.com/ dBpowerAMP] Music Converter / Audio Player / CD Writer
* [http://www.mediamonkey.com/ MediaMonkey] Music Manager / Audio Player / CD Writer

==== Editors ====
*[http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Audacity]
* [[Adobe Audition]]
* [http://www.goldwave.com/ GoldWave]

==== CD writers/rippers ====
* [http://www.nero.com/eng/ Nero]
* [http://arson.sourceforge.net/ Arson]
* [http://www.burrrn.net Burrrn] Audio CD burner
* [[Exact Audio Copy]] CD Ripper
* [http://cdexos.sourceforge.net CDex] CD ripper
* [http://www.cdwave.com/ CD Wave]
* [http://cdburnerxp.se/ CDburner XP] CD writer
* [http://www.mediamonkey.com/ MediaMonkey] - CD ripper/writer

==== Taggers ====
* [http://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html Mp3tag] - Universal Tag Editor
* [http://www.jtclipper.eu/thegodfather/ The GodFather] - Tagger / Music manager
* [http://sbooth.org/Tag/ Tag] - for Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)

* [http://www.synthetic-soul.co.uk/tag/ Case's Tag] - Command line tagger
* [https://xiph.org/flac/documentation_tools_metaflac.html metaflac] - for general metadata (including Vorbis comments) maintenance
* [[MediaMonkey]] - Tagger / Music manager (Including multiple and linked album art support)

==== Other tools ====
* [http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/ mkvtoolnix] - tool to multiplex FLAC streams inside the Matroska container
* [https://xiph.org/flac/documentation_tools_metaflac.html metaflac] - for general metadata (including Vorbis comments) maintenance, also to calculate [[ReplayGain]] values for FLAC files lacking such

for a more comprehensive list use the '''External Links''' bottom of this page to visit flac's download and link page.

== Frequently asked questions ==
''Question:'' Does the compression level affect decompression speed?

''Short Answer'': No.

''Long Answer'': In truth, the compression level does affect the decompression speed, but the difference between the various compress levels can barely be measured and is too small to be noticed, even on low-end machines.

''Question:'' What is the best compression level for encoding my music?

''Short Answer'': The default setting, 5.

''Long Answer'': Encoding at the default setting will give the best balance between compression and encoding speed. Encoding at 8 can more than quadruple the encoding time, while having an insignificant effect on compression.

== See also ==
* [[Lossless]]
* [[Lossless comparison]]
* Flac 1.3.0 discussion [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=101082 here]

== Externals links ==
* [http://xiph.org/flac/ FLAC Homepage] | [http://xiph.org/flac/format.html format description] | [http://xiph.org/flac/documentation.html documentation] | [http://xiph.org/flac/faq.html FAQ] | [http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Download_page#Encoders.2C_Decoders.2C_Etc. download]

* Omion's FLAC "[http://web.archive.org/web/20091108104748/http://people.ucsc.edu/~rswilson/flactest File Size vs. Decoding Speed"] Test. - a very thorough test on the influence of the chosen encoding level on the decoding speed of FLAC, the only one so far to have covered FLAC's --super-secret-totally-impractical-compression-level to this extent as well.

[[Category:Lossless]]
[[Category:Encoder/Decoder]]

Monkey's Audio

2014-06-15T17:27:09Z

89.69.171.35:

=Introduction=
Monkey's Audio (APE) is a freeware [[lossless]] audio compression format with a highly competitive compression algorithm, and is used primarily by Windows users. Although software is available for Linux, Monkey's Audio is not as popular among this operating system's users. Monkey's Audio suffers from slow decompression speeds as compared to other lossless audio codecs.

Monkey's Audio uses a combination of traditional lossless compression tactics ([[linear prediction]] and [[channel coupling]]) and a simple [[Neural network]]. To store the output values of its prediction step it uses [[Range coding]], modified to work well with more or less continuous values.

Monkey's Audio's main competitor is [[FLAC]], which has more features than Monkey's Audio (streaming support, for example) and hardware support to its advantage, though its efficiency in compression is not as great.

Monkey's Audio is released under a "custom" license that allows you to do pretty much anything with the source code, on the provision that you ask the author for permission.

==Related Articles==
* [[Lossless_comparison|Lossless Codec Comparison]] by Rjamorim
* [[EAC_and_Monkeys_Audio | Configuring EAC and Monkey's Audio]]

==External links==
* [http://www.monkeysaudio.com/ Monkey's Audio: Homepage] Latest Version: 4.12 (June 26, 2013)
* [http://www.bebits.com/app/3318 Monkey's Audio Package] for BeOS

[[Category:Codecs]]

AAC Guide

2014-06-15T17:24:11Z

89.69.171.35: /* Encoding to AAC */

The purpose of this guide is helping you create AAC/MP4 files the most easy and quick way possible.

==Ripping from CD directly to AAC==

# Using [[Guide aac itunes ripping|Apple iTunes]]
# Using [[Guide aac cdex|CDex]] + Psytel AACenc or NAACenc
# Using [[Guide aac eac|EAC]] + Psytel AACenc or NAACenc
# Using [[Guide aac kaudiocreator|KAudioCreator]] + FAAC
# Using [[K3b and Nero AAC|K3b]] + Nero AAC (via Wine)

==Encoding to AAC==

# Using [[Guide aac itunes|Apple iTunes]]
# Using [[Nero AAC]] (or NAACenc)
# Using [[FAAC]]
# Using [[Guide aac psytel|Psytel AACenc and Fastenc]]
# Using [[Guide aac squeeze|Sorenson Squeeze]]

==Transcoding from other formats to AAC==
''(of course, conversion from lossy formats is never recommended. The idea of this guide is to help people convert from lossless formats. i.e [[ALAC]])''

# Using [[Guide aac foobar|Foobar2000]] + foo_neroaac
# Using [[Guide aac nero plugins|Ahead Nero]] + Mausau's plugins
# Using [[K3b_and_Nero_AAC|K3b]] + Nero AAC (via Wine)

==Wrapping AAC streams in MP4==

# Using [[Guide aac mp4ui|MP4ui]]
# Using [[Guide aac mp4creator|MPEG4ip MP4creator]]

==Appendix==

# [[Playback aac|Playing back AAC files]]

[[Category:Encoding Guides]]

Lossless

2014-06-15T17:23:02Z

89.69.171.35: /* Oddball Formats */

Compression is '''lossless''' when decoding the compressed data gives a result which is identical bit-by-bit to the uncompressed original.

Generic file compression formats, like ZIP or RAR, are lossless. However, trying to compress raw audio with those generally results in files which are only slightly- if at all- smaller than the originals. Lossless audio formats take advantage of knowledge about real-world audio data to provide compression ratios averaging around 50% on most music.

[[Lossy]] encoders only attempt to approximate the sound of the original waveform rather than preserving all the information present in it. Losslessly compressed audio will therefore unavoidably be larger than audio compressed with any reasonable [[lossy]] encoder. However, this disadvantage is offset by lossless files' ability to be [[transcoding|transcoded]] to other lossless formats without any quality degradation.

== Popular lossless formats ==
* [[Apple Lossless]] ([[ALAC]])
* [[Free Lossless Audio Codec]] (FLAC)
* [[Lossless Audio]] (LA)
* [[Lossless Predictive Audio Compression]] (LPAC)
* [[Meridian Lossless Packing]] (MLP)
* [[Monkey's Audio]] (APE)
* [[OptimFROG]]
* [[RK Audio]] (RKAU)
* [[Shorten]] (SHN)
* [[TAK]]
* [[TTA]]
* [[WavPack]]
* [[Windows Media Audio|WMA lossless]]

== Oddball Formats ==
There are several old lossless formats that aren't really deserving of having an article all for themselves. Reasons are: lack of widespread support, lack of features, bad efficiency and, most importantly, it seems noone 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

* Advanced Digital Audio (ADA)
* Marian's a-Pac
* AudioZip
* Dakx WAV
* Entis Lab MIO
* LiteWave
* Pegasus SPS
* RKaudio
* Split2000
* Sonarc
* VocPack
* WavArc
* WaveZip/MUSICompress

Note that currently '''no single format can be considered best for all applications'''. Rather, the best format depends on the ''intended use'', as well as a number of other factors (such as licensing and file structure). For example, Shorten and FLAC are widely used for sharing live music because of their cross-platform support and speed. Monkey's Audio is popular among Windows users for its superior compression ratio.

== Comparisons ==
''Note the specific assumptions and limitations of each comparison; in particular, results are sensitive to the music selected'''

; [[Lossless comparison]] : A comparision focusing more on codec features and less on absolute encoding efficiency. Also features a table comparing most popular codecs based on their features.

* Performance Comparison of Lossless Audio Compressors [http://members.home.nl/w.speek/comparison.htm here] - Compares file size, encode speed, decode speed for [[APE]], [[FLAC]], [[LPAC]], [[WavPack]], Shorten ([[SHN]]), [[RKAU]], [[OptimFROG]], [[LA]], [[WMA | WMA Lossless]]. Updated 5-2003

* Lossless audio formats [http://www.bobulous.org.uk/misc/lossless_audio_2006.html here] - A comparison of the rip-and-encode speed and album file size of six different lossless formats: [[WAV|uncompressed Wave]], [[FLAC]], [[WavPack]], [[SHN|Shorten]], [[APE|Monkey's Audio]], and [[OptimFROG]]. First published on 22nd May 2006.

[[Category:Codecs]]

Lossless

2014-06-15T17:21:45Z

89.69.171.35: /* Comparisons */

Compression is '''lossless''' when decoding the compressed data gives a result which is identical bit-by-bit to the uncompressed original.

Generic file compression formats, like ZIP or RAR, are lossless. However, trying to compress raw audio with those generally results in files which are only slightly- if at all- smaller than the originals. Lossless audio formats take advantage of knowledge about real-world audio data to provide compression ratios averaging around 50% on most music.

[[Lossy]] encoders only attempt to approximate the sound of the original waveform rather than preserving all the information present in it. Losslessly compressed audio will therefore unavoidably be larger than audio compressed with any reasonable [[lossy]] encoder. However, this disadvantage is offset by lossless files' ability to be [[transcoding|transcoded]] to other lossless formats without any quality degradation.

== Popular lossless formats ==
* [[Apple Lossless]] ([[ALAC]])
* [[Free Lossless Audio Codec]] (FLAC)
* [[Lossless Audio]] (LA)
* [[Lossless Predictive Audio Compression]] (LPAC)
* [[Meridian Lossless Packing]] (MLP)
* [[Monkey's Audio]] (APE)
* [[OptimFROG]]
* [[RK Audio]] (RKAU)
* [[Shorten]] (SHN)
* [[TAK]]
* [[TTA]]
* [[WavPack]]
* [[Windows Media Audio|WMA lossless]]

== Oddball Formats ==
There are several old lossless formats that aren't really deserving of having an article all for themselves. Reasons are: lack of widespread support, lack of features, bad efficiency and, most importantly, it seems noone 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

Advanced Digital Audio (ADA)

Marian's a-Pac

AudioZip

Dakx WAV

Entis Lab MIO

LiteWave

Pegasus SPS

RKaudio

Split2000

Sonarc

VocPack

WavArc

WaveZip/MUSICompress

Note that currently '''no single format can be considered best for all applications'''. Rather, the best format depends on the ''intended use'', as well as a number of other factors (such as licensing and file structure). For example, Shorten and FLAC are widely used for sharing live music because of their cross-platform support and speed. Monkey's Audio is popular among Windows users for its superior compression ratio.

== Comparisons ==
''Note the specific assumptions and limitations of each comparison; in particular, results are sensitive to the music selected'''

; [[Lossless comparison]] : A comparision focusing more on codec features and less on absolute encoding efficiency. Also features a table comparing most popular codecs based on their features.

* Performance Comparison of Lossless Audio Compressors [http://members.home.nl/w.speek/comparison.htm here] - Compares file size, encode speed, decode speed for [[APE]], [[FLAC]], [[LPAC]], [[WavPack]], Shorten ([[SHN]]), [[RKAU]], [[OptimFROG]], [[LA]], [[WMA | WMA Lossless]]. Updated 5-2003

* Lossless audio formats [http://www.bobulous.org.uk/misc/lossless_audio_2006.html here] - A comparison of the rip-and-encode speed and album file size of six different lossless formats: [[WAV|uncompressed Wave]], [[FLAC]], [[WavPack]], [[SHN|Shorten]], [[APE|Monkey's Audio]], and [[OptimFROG]]. First published on 22nd May 2006.

[[Category:Codecs]]

FAAC

2014-06-15T14:34:16Z

89.69.171.35: /* Features */

FAAC is the oldest free and open-source AAC encoder. It is available for practically all Linux distributions. Present version (June 2012) is 1.28.

== What is FAAC? ==
'''FAAC''' stands for Freeware Advanced Audio Coder. FAAC is a software to compress audio in the [[AAC]] format.

== Features ==

* Portable
* Reasonably fast
* LC, Main, LTP support
* DRM support through DreaM

== Licensing ==
Please note that although faac is available in source code format, its license is NOT the GPL. Quoting: "''FAAC is based on the original ISO MPEG reference code. The changes to this code are licensed under the LGPL license. The original license is not compatible with the LGPL, please be aware of this when using FAAC. The original license text can be found in the README file included in the download package.''"

== Best Settings ==
The default quality setting for faac, q=100, generates files at an average bitrate of approx. 128kbps. This quality level is good enough for casual, non-critical listening, but note that other encoders for AAC and other compressed formats may provide better quality files at similar bitrates.

For better quality encoding, I suggest q=150, resulting in average bitrates around 175kbps. Based on my own (subjective) tests, at this quality level faac provides high quality artifact free music reproduction and is comparable in quality to proprietary AAC encoders at similar bitrates.

Note that faac will by default wrap AAC data in an MP4 container for output files with the extensions .mp4 and .m4a.

== Decoder ==
A companion AAC decoder, faad2, is available.

== External links ==

*[http://www.audiocoding.com/faac.html FAAC at Audiocoding]

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