Lossless

2005-11-23T05:55:04Z

Hpv: /* Popular lossless formats */

=Lossless compression explained=

==Popular lossless formats==
* [[Apple Lossless]] ([[ALAC]])

* [[FLAC]]

* [[Lossless Audio]] ([[LA]])

* [[LPAC]]

* [[MLP]]

* [[Monkey's Audio]] ([[APE]])

* [[OptimFROG]]

* [[RKAU]]

* [[Shorten]] ([[SHN]])

* [[TTA]]

* [[WavPack]]

* [[WMA | 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 [http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/ ReallyRareWares]

; Advanced Digital Audio (ADA)

* http://www.rjamorim.com/rrw/ada.html

; 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

; RKaudio

* http://www.msoftware.co.nz/downloads_page.php
* http://rksoft.virtualave.net/rkau.html

; Split2000

* 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

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.

Lossless compressors comparisons (note the specific assumptions and limitations of each comparison; in particular, results are sensitive to the music selected):

; http://web.inter.nl.net/users/hvdh/lossless/lossless.htm : Includes an interesting graph of encode/decode speeds vs. file size on the All Albums page

; [[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.

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

; http://www.firstpr.com.au/audiocomp/lossless/ : Includes a variety of notes, but the testing was completed in 2000, making the results largely obsolete.

Hydrogenaudio Knowledgebase - User contributions [en]

Lossless