Hydrogenaudio Knowledgebase - User contributions [en]

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2019-08-08T14:00:43Z

92.40.88.192: /* Encoders, Decoders, Etc. */ discussion link 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 #00A1F1; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background-color: #00A1F1;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:500px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[DBpowerAMP with AccurateRip|dBpoweramp]]
| commercial
| [http://www.dbpoweramp.com/ here]
| align="left" | A secure ripper for Windows that includes Accurate Stream functionality.
|- 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 #79C753; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#79C753;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:500px;" | 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 #D65076; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#D65076;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:450px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | abcde
| GPL
|[https://abcde.einval.com/wiki/ here]
| align="left" | A command-line based ripper with cdparanoia functionality
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[cdparanoia]]
| BSD, GPL
| [https://xiph.org/paranoia/ here]
| align="left" | One of the first secure standalone rippers for the Linux platform
|-
! align="left" | Grip
| GPL
| [https://sourceforge.net/projects/grip/ here]
| align="left" | An open-source Gnome interface ripper that uses cdparanoia functionality
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Rubyripper]]
| GPL
| [https://github.com/bleskodev/rubyripper here]
| align="left" | A secure ripper for Linux that uses additional cdparanoia functionality
|-
! align="left" | [[Whipper]]
| GPL
| [https://github.com/whipper-team/whipper here]
| align="left" | A secure ripper for the Linux command-line built on cdparanoia
|}

==CD/DVD Writers==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #00A1F1; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#00A1F1"
! style="width:185px;" | Name
! style="width:80px;" | Unicode
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:270px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[Burrrn]] (CDA only)
| N
| Free
| 
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | CDBurnerXP
|
| Free
| [http://www.cdburnerxp.se/ here]
|
|-
! align="left" | DeepBurner
| N
| GPL
| [http://www.deepburner.com/ here]
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | InfraRecorder
| N
| GPL
| [http://infrarecorder.org/ here]
|
|-
|}

===Mac OS X===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #79C753; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#79C753;"
! 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 #D65076; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#D65076;"
! style="width:130px;" | Name
! style="width:80px;" | Unicode
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! align="center" style="width:450px;" | 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 #00A1F1; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#00A1F1"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! align="center" style="width:500px;" | 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" | VUplayer
| Free
| [http://www.vuplayer.com/ here]
| align="left" | Supports many popular digital audio codecs and MOD tracker formats
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Winamp]]
| Free, Shareware
| [http://www.winamp.com/ here]
| align="left" | Popular audio player for Windows
| align="left" |
|-
! align="left" | [[VLC]]
| LGPL
| [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.
|}

===Players / Source code ===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #98DDDE; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#98DDDE"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! align="center" style="width:450px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | MusikCube
| BSD
| [http://www.musikcube.com/ here]
| align="left" | Supports dynamic playlists and advanced SQL capabilities
|}

===Mac OS X===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #79C753; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#79C753;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:450px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[foobar2000]]
| Free
| [https://www.foobar2000.org/mac/ here]
| align="left" | Most of the features implemented are known to work reasonably well.
|-
! align="left" | [[VOX]]
| Free
| [https://vox.rocks/mac-music-player here]
| align="left" | Mac Music Player for Hi-Res music through the popular sources.
|-
! align="left" | Cog
| GPL
| [http://cogosx.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | An open-source digital audio player for OS X.
|- 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]]
| LGPL
| [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 #D65076; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#D65076;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:450px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[Amarok]]
| GPL
| [http://amarok.kde.org/ here]
| align="left" | Popular open-source KDE audio player similiar to Foobar2000
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | Audacious
| [http://opensource.org/docs/osd OSD]
| [http://audacious-media-player.org/ here]
| align="left" |Audacious is an open source audio player
|-
! 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
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | DeaDBeeF
| GPL
| [http://deadbeef.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | Lightweight music player for Linux, GUI similar to [[Foobar2000]]
|-
! align="left" | [[Rhythmbox]]
| GPL
| [http://projects.gnome.org/rhythmbox/ here]
| align="left" | GNOME music player
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[VLC]]
| LGPL
| [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.
|-
! align="left" | [[XMMS]]
| GPL
| [http://www.xmms.org/ here]
| align="left" | Popular open-source audio player similiar to Winamp
|}

=== command-line(Shell) players ===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #98DDDE; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#98DDDE;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:90px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:350px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | mpg123
| LGPL
| [http://www.mpg123.org/ here]
| align="left" | mpg123 is a real time MPEG audio player/decoder
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | mplayer for windows
| GPL v2
| [http://mplayerwin.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | MPlayer is a free and open source media player.
|}

==Tagging Utilities==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #00A1F1; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#00A1F1"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:500px;" | Description
|-
! 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" | Tag & Rename
| Shareware
| [http://www.softpointer.com/tr.htm here]
|
|-
! align="left" | TagScanner
| Free
| [http://www.xdlab.ru/en/index.htm here]
| align="left" | Tag editor with built-in audio player.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! 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 #79C753; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#79C753;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:320px;" | 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 #D65076; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#D65076;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:450px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[Beets]]
| MIT
| [http://beets.io/ 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)
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | EasyTAG
| GPL
| [https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/EasyTAG here]
| align="left" | Gnome tagging utility
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" |
|-
! align="left" | Puddletag
| GPLv3
| [http://docs.puddletag.net/index.html here]
| align="left" | Puddletag is a Linux audio tag editor similar to Mp3tag
|}

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

{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #F6D155; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#F6D155;"
! style="width:100px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:500px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | [[MP3]]
| GPL
| [http://lame.sourceforge.net/ here]
| align="left" | LAME is a lossy audio compression.
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[Opus]]
| GPL
| [http://www.opus-codec.org/ here]
| align="left" | Opus is a totally open, royalty-free codec. It is primarily designed for interactive speech and music transmission over the Internet. discussion in the opus [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showforum=71 Forum]
|-
! align="left" | [[Musepack]]
| GPL
| [http://www.musepack.net/index.php?pg=enc here]
| align="left" | Musepack is a lossy audio compression.
|
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[FLAC]]
| GPL
| [http://xiph.org/flac/index.html here]
| align="left" | FLAC is a lossless audio compression. discussion in the [https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/board,67.0.html Forum]
|
|-
! align="left" | qaac
| GPL
| [https://sites.google.com/site/qaacpage/home here]
| align="left" | qaac is a command line AAC/ALAC encoder frontend based on Apple encoder. discussion in the [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=85135 Forum]
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[WavPack]]
| GPL
| [http://www.wavpack.com/ here]
| align="left" | WavPack is a hybrid lossless wavefile compressor. discussion in the WavPack [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showforum=68 Forum]
|
|-
|}

===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.

==Transcoders==
''Note: Although these tools may convert from one encoding to another, please remember that [[transcoding]] to any [[lossy]] encoding <u>will</u> result in a degraded quality.''
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #55B4B0; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#55B4B0;"
! style="width:150px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:270px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | dBpowerAMP
| Shareware
| [http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm here]
| align="left" | dBpoweramp Music Converter
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | [[foobar2000]]
| Freeware
| [http://www.foobar2000.org/encoderpack here]
| align="left" | foobar2000 Free Encoder Pack,
discussion in the [https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,108593.msg934566/topicseen.html#new Forum]
|-
! align="left" | [[fre:ac ]]
| GPL
| [http://www.freac.org/ here]
|- style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | ferocious
| free
| [https://github.com/jniemann66/ferocious here]
| align="left" | discussion in the [https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,111777.msg921198.html Forum]
|
|-
! align="left" | BatchEncoder
| MIT license
| [https://github.com/wieslawsoltes/BatchEncoder here]
| align="left" | discussion in the [https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,50822/topicseen.html Forum]
|
|-style="background-color: #eeeeee;"
! align="left" | WinLAME
| GPL
| [http://winlame.sourceforge.net/ here]
|
|-
! align="left" | LossyFlacGUI
|
| [https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,113178.0.html here]
| align="left" | discussion in the [https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,113178.0.html Forum]
|
|}

==Processing utilities==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #00A1F1; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#00A1F1;"
! style="width:120px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:500px;" | Description
|-
! 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.
|}

==File Archiver - Plugins==
===Windows===
{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1" style="text-align:center; border:2px solid #00A1F1; margin-bottom: 20px;"
|- style="background:#00A1F1;"
! style="width:120px;" | Name
! style="width:100px;" | License
! style="width:100px;" | Website
! style="width:500px;" | Description
|-
! align="left" | WavPack7z
|
| [http://www.tc4shell.com/en/7zip/wavpack7z/ here]
| align="left" | WavPack7z is a plugin for the popular 7-Zip archiver. It allows you to pack uncompressed PCM audio data using the highly efficient WavPack compression algorithm.
discussion in the [https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,117037.0.html forum]
|}

[[Category:Software]]

Free Lossless Audio Codec

2019-08-08T13:55:25Z

92.40.88.192: /* External links */ FLAC 1.3.3 topic added

{{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 v1.3.2 (1 Jan 2017)
| 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 a lossy file.

FLAC is supported by default in Android since version 3.1 and in Windows 10.

== 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 [http://xiph.org/flac/license.html 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 ====
* Kenwood [http://www.kenwood.com/cs/ce/audiofile/index.php?model=KMM KMM series]
* Pioneer [http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/25/121/61/overview.html Car Stereo] (search FLAC)
* JVC [http://mobile.jvc.com/product.jsp?pathId=139 KD-X "Digital Media Receivers" series] (almost all)
* Soundstream [http://soundstream.com/store/car-video/source-units.html Source Units]
* Tesla Model S
* Citroën DS5

==== 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]]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FiiO_X_Series FiiO X Series]

== Software ==

==== Players Software ====

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

*Mac
*# [http://cogx.org/ Cog]
*# [[VLC]]
*# [http://coppertino.com/ VOX]

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

===Frontends (Windows)===
* [[foobar2000]] Music Converter / Audio Player
* <s> FLAC frontend (ktf) </s>
* <s> Windows Frontend (by Speek) </s>

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

===Converters===
*for a more comprehensive list [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Download_page#Transcoders here]
*# [http://www.dbpoweramp.com/ dBpowerAMP] Music Converter / Audio Player / CD Writer
*# [[ MediaMonkey]] Music Manager / Audio Player / CD Writer
*# [[fre:ac]] Music Converter / CD Writer/Ripper
*# [[foobar2000]] Music Converter / Audio Player

===Editors===
*List of popular audio editors
*# [[Audacity]]
*# [[Adobe Audition]]
*# [http://www.goldwave.com/ GoldWave]

===CD writers/rippers===
*for a comprehensive list of CD/DVD [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Download_page#CD.2FDVD_Writers Writers] & [http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Download_page#CD_Rippers rippers]
*# [http://www.nero.com/eng/ Nero]
*# [http://cdburnerxp.se/ CDBurnerXP] CD writer
*# [[MediaMonkey]] - CD ripper/writer
*# [[Exact Audio Copy]] CD Ripper
*# [http://www.cdwave.com/ CD Wave]
*# [http://arson.sourceforge.net/ Arson]
*#  Burrrn  Audio CD burner
*#  CDex CD ripper

===Taggers===
*for a comprehensive list of tag editors [[http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Download_page#Tagging_Utilities here]]
*# [[Mp3tag]] - Universal Tag Editor
*# [http://www.xdlab.ru/en/ TagScanner] - "The Ultimate Tag Editor"
*# [[foobar2000]]
*# [[MediaMonkey]] - Tagger / Music manager (Including multiple and linked album art support)
*# [http://www.jtclipper.eu/thegodfather/ The GodFather] - Tagger / Music manager
*# [http://sbooth.org/Tag/ Tag] - for Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
*# <s>[http://www.synthetic-soul.co.uk/tag/ Case's Tag] - Command line tagger </s>
*# [https://xiph.org/flac/documentation_tools_metaflac.html metaflac] - for general metadata (including Vorbis comments) maintenance

==== 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

== 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]]

== External links ==
* [http://xiph.org/flac/ FLAC homepage]
* {{ha|http://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/board,67.0.html|FLAC discussion board}}
* {{ha|https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,118008.msg974100/topicseen.html#new|FLAC 1.3.3 topic}}
* {{ha|http://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,107611.0.html|FLAC 1.3.1 topic}}
* {{ha|http://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,107913.0.html|FLAC 1.3.1 non-SSE2 build for older CPUs}}
* {{ha|http://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,107990.0.html|Lossless codec comparison (Jan ’15)}} by [http://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?action=profile;u=68263 ktf] graphs the influence of the chosen encoding level on the encoding and decoding performance of FLAC 1.3.1 and various other lossless codecs. Omion's older test, "[http://web.archive.org/web/20091108104748/http://people.ucsc.edu/~rswilson/flactest File Size vs. Decoding Speed]", covers the influence of the chosen encoding level on the decoding speed of FLAC 1.2.1.

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