https://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=188.28.186.124&feedformat=atomHydrogenaudio Knowledgebase - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T01:36:49ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.22.7https://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Lossless_comparisonLossless comparison2019-05-23T14:46:26Z<p>188.28.186.124: /* External links */ synthetic-soul site deprecated</p>
<hr />
<div>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.<br />
<br />
== Introduction ==<br />
Given the enormous amount of [[lossless]] audio compressor choices available, it is a very difficult task to choose the one most suited for each person's needs. Some people only take into consideration compression performance when choosing a codec, but as the following table and article shows, there are several other features worth taking into consideration when making a choice.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
'''Note:''' for latest comparison of lossless compression, scroll down to the [[Lossless comparison#External links|Links section of this page]].<br />
<br />
== Comparison Table ==<br />
<!-- Do NOT add links to the table. It's cluttered and colourful enough as it is. Please add them to the article itself if needed. Thanks --><br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable" cellspacing="2"<br />
!width="120px"|'''Features'''<br />
! width="90px" | [[#Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)|FLAC]]<br />
! width="90px" | [[#Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC)|ALAC]]<br />
! width="90px" | [[#WavPack (WV)|WavPack]]<br />
! width="90px" | [[#Tom's_verlustfreier_Audiokompressor (TAK)|TAK]]<br />
! width="90px" | [[#Monkey's_Audio (APE)|Monkey's]]<br />
! width="90px" | [[#Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMAL)|WMAL]]<br />
! width="90px" | [[#OptimFROG (OFR)|OptimFROG]]<br />
! width="90px" | [[#True Audio (TTA)|TTA]]<br />
|- <!-- *** Encoding speed is very fast if > 150x, fast if >75x, average if >40x, slow if >20x, very slow if <20x *** --><br />
| Encoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast<br />
| style="background: #FFCC66" | slow<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast<br />
|- <!-- *** For decoding speed thresholds are doubled, i.e., very fast if >300x, fast if >150x etc *** --><br />
| Decoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | very fast<br />
| style="background: #FFCC66" | slow<br />
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average<br />
| style="background: #FF9900" | very slow<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast<br />
|- <!-- *** Thresholds for compression are at 56% and 58% *** --> <br />
| Compression{{ref label|speed|A|A}}{{ref label|comp|B|B}}<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.8%<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.1%<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | 56.0%<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | 55.1%<br />
| style="background: #FFCC66" | 58.4%<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | 54.6%<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 56.6%<br />
|-<br />
| # presets<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 9<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 2<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 5<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 1<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | > 10<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | 1<br />
|-<br />
| Error handling{{ref label|error|C|C}}<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #FF9900" | no<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | yes{{ref label|error_ape|D|D}}<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
|-<br />
| Tagging<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | Vorbis tags<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | iTunes<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3/APEv2<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | APEv2<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | APEv2<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | ASF<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | ID3/APEv2<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | ID3v1/2 or APEv2<br />
|-<br />
| Hardware support <br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good<br />
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited<br />
| style="background: #FF9900" | no<br />
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited<br />
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited<br />
| style="background: #FF9900" | no<br />
| style="background: #FFCC66" | limited<br />
|-<br />
| Software support<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | very good<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good<br />
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good<br />
| style="background: #FFCC66" | average<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | good<br />
|-<br />
| Hybrid/lossy<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | [[LossyWAV]]<br />
| style="background: #FF9900" | no<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | [[LossyWAV]]<br />
| style="background: #FF9900" | no<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | [[LossyWAV]]<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #FF9900" | no<br />
|-<br />
| RIFF chunks<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #FF9900" | no<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #FF9900" | no<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #FF9900" | no<br />
|-<br />
| Streaming<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #FF9900" | no<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
|-<br />
| Open source<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #FF9900" | no<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #FF9900" | no<br />
| style="background: #FF9900" | no<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
|-<br />
| Multichannel<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #FF9900" | no<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
| style="background: #FF9900" | no<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | yes<br />
|-<br />
| OS support<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | All<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | All<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | All<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Wine<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | All<br />
| style="background: #CCFFCC" | Win/Mac<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | Win/Mac/Linux<br />
| style="background: #00FF00" | All<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{|<br />
|-<br />
|{{note label|speed|A|A}} Speed and Compression are based on '''each encoder's default settings''' and taken from [http://www.audiograaf.nl/downloads.html this comparison].<br />
|-<br />
|{{note label|comp|B|B}} The Compression ratio is compressed size/uncompressed size * 100. So, lower is better. <br />
|-<br />
|{{note label|error|C|C}} Error handling means that a codec can detect a corruption (flipped bit) in a file and warn the user about it, but it will still decode the rest of the file.<br />
|-<br />
|{{note label|error_ape|D|D}} The official Monkey's Audio decoder does not support decoding through errors, but this may be achieved with FFmpeg or Winamp, though likely not, when the "Insane" preset is used.<br />
<br />
== Codecs ==<br />
<br />
These are the most popular lossless codecs, in alphabetical order:<br />
<br />
=== Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) ===<br />
https://alac.macosforge.org/trac<br />
<br />
[[ALAC]] is a codec developed by Apple for usage in [[Apple iPod|iPod]] and AirPort Express.<br />
<br />
'''ALAC pros'''<br />
* [[Open source]] (encoding and decoding via FFmpeg and [[CueTools|CUETools]], decoding only via [http://craz.net/programs/itunes/alac.html a standalone decoder])<br />
* Fast encoding<br />
* Fast decoding<br />
* Hardware support ([[Apple iPod|iPod]], AirPort Express)<br />
* Software support (iTunes, Quicktime)<br />
* Independent encoder implementation available: ffmpeg<br />
* Streaming support<br />
* Tagging support (QT tags)<br />
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s<br />
* Used by a few online stores<br />
<br />
''' ALAC cons '''<br />
* Limited software support<br />
* No error detection/robustness<ref>[http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=33226&view=findpost&p=862031 HA forum post discussing ALAC robustness]</ref><br />
* No hybrid/lossy mode (and not [[LossyWAV]] compatible)<br />
* Not very efficient<br />
<br />
''' ALAC Other features '''<br />
* Fits in the [[MP4]] container<br />
<br />
=== Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) ===<br />
https://xiph.org/flac/<br />
<br />
[[FLAC]] is a lossless codec developed by Josh Coalson. It's part of the Xiph multimedia portfolio, along with [[Opus]], [[Ogg]], [[Vorbis]], [[Speex]] and [[Theora]].<br />
<br />
''' FLAC pros '''<br />
* [[Open source]]<br />
* Very fast decoding<br />
* Very fast encoding<br />
* Very good hardware support (Android, Marantz, Sonos, [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html many others])<br />
* Very good software support<br />
* Independent encoder implementations available: flake/ffmpeg, FLACCL<br />
* Error robustness<br />
* Streaming support<br />
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s<br />
* Tagging support (FLAC tags)<br />
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks<br />
* Pipe support<br />
* Used by a few [http://xiph.org/flac/links.html#music online stores]<br />
<br />
''' FLAC cons '''<br />
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)<br />
* Does not handle 32-bit float and there is no encoder that can render to 32-bit integer<br />
<br />
''' FLAC Other features '''<br />
* Supports embedded CUE sheets (with [http://flac.sourceforge.net/faq.html#general__no_cuesheet_tags limitations])<br />
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking as standard<br />
* Fits the [[Ogg]] and [[Matroska]] containers<br />
<br />
=== Monkey's Audio (APE) ===<br />
http://www.monkeysaudio.com/<br />
<br />
[[Monkey's Audio]] is a very efficient lossless compressor developed by Matt Ashland.<br />
<br />
''' APE pros '''<br />
* High compression<br />
* Fast encoding<br />
* Good software support<br />
* Simple and user friendly. Official GUI provided.<br />
* Java version (multiplatform)<br />
* Error robustness/decoding up to -c3000 (High compression)<ref>http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=98984&st=0&p=821420&#entry821420</ref><br />
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])<br />
* [[High resolution]] audio support<br />
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks (only in the GUI encoder)<br />
* Pipe support (only in a [http://www.etree.org/shnutils/shntool/ special] version)<br />
<br />
''' APE cons '''<br />
* Problematic license (source provided, no modification or redistribution rights)<br />
* Slow decoding<br />
* No [[multichannel]] support<br />
* No hybrid/lossy mode (and not [[LossyWAV]] compatible)<br />
* Limited hardware support (Rockbox, some Cowon players); poor battery life due to complicated decoding (see [http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SoundCodecMonkeysAudio MP3 player benchmarks])<br />
* Higher compression levels are extremely CPU intensive<br />
<br />
''' APE Other features '''<br />
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking<br />
* Supports APL image link files (similar to CUE sheets)<br />
<br />
=== OptimFROG (OFR) ===<br />
http://www.losslessaudio.org/<br />
<br />
[[OptimFROG]] is a lossless format developed by Florin Ghido to become the champion in audio compression.<br />
<br />
''' OFR pros '''<br />
* Very high compression<br />
* Good software support<br />
* Error robustness<br />
* Streaming support<br />
* Supports [[high resolution]]s<br />
* Hybrid/lossy mode<br />
* Tagging support ([[ID3]], [[APE tags]])<br />
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks<br />
<br />
''' OFR cons '''<br />
* Closed source<br />
* No [[multichannel]] audio support<br />
* No hardware support<br />
* Very slow decoding<br />
* Slow encoding<br />
* More than one tagging method allowed (ambiguity possible)<br />
<br />
''' OFR Other features '''<br />
* Supports 32bit float streams<br />
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking<br />
<br />
=== Tom's verlustfreier Audiokompressor (TAK) ===<br />
http://www.thbeck.de/Tak/Tak.html<br />
<br />
[[TAK]] is a lossless codec developed by Thomas Becker.<br />
<br />
''' TAK pros '''<br />
* Very fast decoding<br />
* Very fast encoding<br />
* Very high efficiency<br />
* Error robust<br />
* Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions<br />
* Tagging support<br />
* Supports RIFF chunks<br />
* Pipe support <br />
* Streamable<br />
<br />
''' TAK cons '''<br />
* Closed source<br />
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)<br />
* No hardware support<br />
* Average software support<br />
* Doesn't support Unicode (yet)<br />
<br />
''' TAK Other features '''<br />
* Optional MD5 checksum<br />
<br />
=== True Audio (TTA) ===<br />
http://tta.tausoft.org/<br />
<br />
[[TTA]] is a lossless codec developed by a international team of programmers.<br />
<br />
''' TTA pros '''<br />
* [[Open source]]<br />
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s<br />
* Tagging support ([[ID3]]v1, ID3v2 or [[APEv2]])<br />
* Embedded CUE sheets support<br />
* Error robustness<br />
* Pipe support<br />
* Average compression<br />
* Fast encoding/decoding<br />
* Symmetric algorithm<br />
* Ultra low latency<br />
<br />
''' TTA cons '''<br />
* No hybrid/lossy mode<br />
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks<br />
* Limited hardware support<br />
<br />
''' TTA Other features '''<br />
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container<br />
* Password protection<br />
<br />
=== WavPack (WV) ===<br />
http://www.wavpack.com/<br />
<br />
[[WavPack]] is a fast and featureful lossless codec developed by David Bryant.<br />
<br />
''' WV pros '''<br />
* [[Open source]]<br />
* Fast decoding<br />
* Very fast encoding<br />
* Good efficiency<br />
* Error robustness<br />
* Streaming support<br />
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s<br />
* Hybrid/lossy mode<br />
* Tagging support ([[ID3v1]], [[APE tags]])<br />
* Supports [[RIFF]] chunks<br />
* Ability to create self extracting files for Win32 platform<br />
* Pipe support<br />
* Good software support<br />
<br />
''' WV cons '''<br />
* Limited hardware player support ([http://www.rockbox.org/ RockBox])<br />
* More than one tagging method allowed (ambiguity possible)<br />
<br />
''' WV Other features '''<br />
* Can compress the Direct-Stream Digital (DSD) audio recording format<br />
* Supports 32bit float streams<br />
* Supports embedded CUE sheets<br />
* Accept audio files bigger than 4GB<br />
* Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking<br />
* Can encode in both symmetrical and asymmetrical modes.<br />
* Fits the [[Matroska]] container<br />
<br />
=== Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMAL) ===<br />
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff819508(v=vs.85).aspx<br />
<br />
WMA Lossless is the lossless codec developed by Microsoft to be featured in their Windows Media codec portfolio.<br />
<br />
''' WMAL pros '''<br />
* Streaming support<br />
* Very good software support<br />
* Hardware support (Microsoft Zune, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabeat Gigabeat V and S line from Toshiba])<br />
* Supports [[multichannel]] audio and [[high resolution]]s.<br />
* Tagging support (proprietary)<br />
* Pipe support<br />
<br />
''' WMAL cons '''<br />
* Rather low efficiency<br />
* Closed source<br />
* No hybrid/lossy mode (but is [[LossyWAV]] compatible)<br />
* Doesn't support [[RIFF]] chunks<br />
<br />
''' WMAL Other features '''<br />
* Fits the [[ASF]] container<br />
<br />
=== Other Formats ===<br />
Aside from the formats mentioned above, there are in fact quite a lot of other lossless formats. To keep the table and list brief and readable, a few formats have not been mentioned.<br />
<br />
====DTS-HD Master Audio====<br />
Similar to the MPEG-4 SLS format, this format has a core track in an older, more widely supported format, DTS. This core lossy track is made lossless by a secondary track with correction data. It is an optional codec in Blu-ray implementations. Its main use is surround sound encoding, and as is the case with MLP, the price of the encoder ensures it is only used in mastering of Blu-ray discs.<br />
<br />
====LA====<br />
http://www.lossless-audio.com/<br />
<br />
LA features an extremely high compression (on par with OptimFrog highest modes, but a bit faster), but it hasn't been updated for more than 10 years. Furthermore, backward compatibility is not guaranteed, so using it for archiving might pose a few problems. It isn't able to cope with file corruption either, software support is very limited and isn't open source.<br />
<br />
====MLP/Dolby TrueHD====<br />
The [[MLP|MLP codec]] (of which the mathematical basis was used in Dolby TrueHD) is the codec used for DVD-Audio. It was mandatory in any HD-DVD implementation and optional for Blu-Ray in it's Dolby TrueHD form. It is known to support the 'wasted bits' scheme used in LossyWAV. As encoders are very expensive, its use outside DVD/Blu-ray mastering environments is non-existent. Its main use is encoding surround sound data.<br />
<br />
====MPEG-4 ALS====<br />
MPEG-4 ALS is the successor to LPAC, which it was based on. It has been as a ISO standard and there is a reference encoder/decoder, but like TTA, it does not have features that make it stand out from other codecs, nor backing by a large organisation, so it hasn't much software and no hardware support.<br />
<br />
====MPEG-4 SLS====<br />
MPEG-4 SLS is a special codec, having a AAC core track and a 'correction track'. Also known as HD-AAC, SLS stands for Scalable to Lossless. However, there is to date still no affordable software to play, encode or decode (the lossless part of) SLS files.<br />
<br />
====Shorten====<br />
http://www.etree.org/shncom.html<br />
<br />
Shorten was one of the first widely-used lossless formats, and it still occasionally found on the internet, especially in archives, for example etree.org. It is quite fast in both encoding and decoding, but doesn't compress very much. Furthermore, seeking has a troubled past as well as tagging. It is considered obsolete.<br />
<br />
====Real Lossless====<br />
Part of the Real codec suite, Real Lossless too hasn't any very special features that make it stand out. Just like WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless, it was created to fit in a codec suite, but unlike WMA Lossless and Apple Lossless, there is no hardware support and software support is limited. Compression is on par with most other codecs, but it is rather slow to encode.<br />
<br />
====Oddball formats====<br />
There are a few archaic formats of which encoders and decoders are hard to get by. Most of those would have disappeared by now, but some of them are being preserved for posterity at [[User:Rjamorim|rjamorim]]'s <br />
<br />
* Advanced Digital Audio (ADA) <br />
* [http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/bonk Bonk] <br />
* AudioZip <br />
* Dakx WAV <br />
* Entis Lab MIO <br />
* LiteWave <br />
* [http://www.nue.tu-berlin.de/menue/mitarbeiter/ehemalige_mitarbeiter/tilman_liebchen/lpac_-_lossless_audio_codec_for_windows_and_linux/ LPAC]<br />
* Marian's a-Pac<br />
* [http://mp3hd-toolkit.soft32.com/ mp3HD (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III HD)]<br />
* Pegasus SPS <br />
* [http://www.free-codecs.com/download/rk_audio_compressor.htm RK Audio (RKAU)] <br />
* Ogg Squish/Tarkin<br />
* Sonarc <br />
* VocPack <br />
* [http://www.firstpr.com.au/audiocomp/lossless/wavarc/ WavArc] <br />
* [http://www.firstpr.com.au/audiocomp/lossless/WaveZip/ WaveZip]/MUSICompress<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
* [[Lossless]]<br />
<br />
== External links ==<br />
''' Other lossless compressions comparisons '''<br />
''Sorted based on last '''update''' date.''<br />
<br />
* [http://www.audiograaf.nl/downloads.html Martijn van Beurden's comparison] - tries to compare all codecs and settings with a balanced pool of music (last updated 2015-01-05)<br />
* [http://www.squeezechart.com/audio.html Squeezechart audio] - tests as much codecs as possible, but not all their settings and with a limited test corpus (last updated 2013-10-31)<br />
* <s>[http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/lossless/index.asp Synthetic Soul's comparison] (last update 2007-07-28)</s><br />
* <s>Johan De Bock's speed oriented comparison</s> - best choices speedwise are indicated in green, mostly electronic music (last updated 2006-07-22)<br />
* <s>Hans Heijden's</s> -- used as reference to build the table (last updated 2006-07-07)<br />
* <s>Josef Pohm's comparison, hosted by Synthetic Soul</s> (last update 2006-05-29)<br />
* [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)<br />
* <s>Jhan De Bock's size oriented comparison</s> - aimed only at the maximum compression setting for each codec (based on a somewhat limited set of samples, however) (last updated 2006-05-19)<br />
* <s>Gruboolez'</s> -- comparing only classical music (last updated 2005-02-27)<br />
* <s>Speek's</s> (last updated 2005-02-07)<br />
*[http://www.firstpr.com.au/audiocomp/lossless/ Lossless Compression of Audio] Much information about oddball formats including comparison of them. (last updated 2005-10-21) <br />
<br />
''' More on lossless compressions '''<br />
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20080731103800/http://www.losslessaudioblog.com/ The Lossless Audio Blog], retrieved from archive.org - by windmiller, is a reliable and complete source of news about lossless compression.<br />
* Go to the [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=33226 Hydrogenaudio thread] to discuss this article.<br />
<br />
== References ==<br />
<br />
<references/><br />
[[Category:Guides]]</div>188.28.186.124https://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Tag_(tagging_software)Tag (tagging software)2019-05-23T14:44:50Z<p>188.28.186.124: /* External links */ synthetic-soul site deprecated</p>
<hr />
<div>{{stub}} <br />
'''Tag''' is an open-source command line tool for Windows that may be used to tag numerous audio files, using various tagging schemes, including [[ID3v1]], [[ID3v2]], [[APEv1]], [[APEv2]], [[Vorbis_Comment|Vorbis]] and [[FLAC]].<br />
<br />
Tag can tag files automatically from their filename, by attempting to guess the filename format from one of fifty presets. You can also view tags for files, and create playlists.<br />
<br />
<br />
==Features==<br />
<br />
* Tag files using [[ID3v1]], [[APEv1]], [[APEv2]], [[Vorbis_Comment|Vorbis]], [[FLAC]] and [[Lyrics3|Lyrics]]<br />
* View tags<br />
* Copy tags from one file to another<br />
* Tag from filename<br />
* Remove all tags or only [[ID3v2]]<br />
* Tag files recursively<br />
* Create playlists<br />
* Set tag values from the contents of a file<br />
* Piping support<br />
* Convert tags to different format<br />
* Remove tags<br />
* Generate Winamp playlists (optionally with AlbumList extensions and playing times)<br />
* Generate text files with information about tracks and album (format customizable)<br />
* Test mode that shows what would happen without actually doing anything to files<br />
<br />
==Development==<br />
<br />
Tag was originally developed by Case, but he stopped developing Tag after version 2.0.39.<br />
<br />
Neil Popham ([[USer:Synthetic Soul|Synthetic Soul]]) took over the development of Tag starting version 2.0.40. The latest version is '''2.0.50'''.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
==Additional Reading==<br />
* [[Wapet]], also written by Case<br />
<br />
=Command Line Help=<br />
<br />
<pre><br />
Version 2.0.50<br />
<br />
Usage: Tag [options] <filenames / directories / @file_with_parameters><br />
Wildcards are supported in filenames and directories<br />
<br />
Options:<br />
--title <value> : set title to <value><br />
--artist <value> : set artist to <value><br />
--album <value> : set album to <value><br />
--year <value> : set year to <value><br />
--comment <value> : set comment to <value><br />
--track <value> : set track number to <value><br />
--genre <value> : set genre to <value><br />
<br />
Tag fields can also be set with:<br />
-t <item=x> : set tag item <item> to value <x><br />
-f <item=x> : set tag item <item> from content of file <x><br />
-u <item=x> : set tag item <item> to value <x> (x is UTF-8 coded)<br />
<br />
--help : show full help<br />
--hideinfo : don't display file information<br />
--hidetags : don't display tags<br />
--hidenames : don't display filenames<br />
--simple : use simple tag display format<br />
--recursive : search files recursively in all subdirectories<br />
--fromfile <file> : copy tag information from <file><br />
--allow <item=x> : allow access to files with specified properties only<br />
--auto : generate tags from filenames<br />
--scheme <scheme> : specify file structure scheme (ie. L/A - N - T)<br />
--autoscheme : select automatically best scheme from list of schemes<br />
--nomagic : use plain schemes, disable extra automations<br />
--chreplace : use character replacing when tagging<br />
--rentag : rename files to match scheme, filename from tag data<br />
--rename <scheme> : rename files to <scheme>, filename generated from old name<br />
--move : when renaming move files to subdirectories<br />
--overwrite : overwrite existing files when renaming<br />
--trackinc : use incremental track numbering<br />
--caps : capitalize words<br />
--Caps : capitalize only first word<br />
--lower : convert all characters to lower case<br />
--upper : convert all characters to upper case<br />
--tcaps <item> : capitalize words in tag field <item><br />
--tCaps <item> : capitalize only first word in tag field <item><br />
--tlower <item> : convert all characters to lower case in tag field <item><br />
--tupper <item> : convert all characters to upper case in tag field <item><br />
--nozero : ignore leading zeros on track numbers<br />
--zeropad : add trailing zero to track number if missing<br />
--commafix : fix comma separated artist field (x, the -> the x)<br />
--spacefix : replaces underscore (_) and %20 with space<br />
--itemfix : fix item names in APE v1.0/2.0 tags<br />
--umlfix : fix umlauts (ae -> ä, oe -> ö, ue -> ü)<br />
--swapta : swap title <--> artist<br />
--remove : remove all tags<br />
--removeid3v2 : remove only ID3v2 tags<br />
--removeid3v2u : remove only unnecessary ID3v2 tags (fields fit in ID3v1)<br />
--playlist : generate one playlist per directory<br />
--oneplaylist : generate one playlist from all files<br />
--playlists : generate one playlist per album in current directory<br />
--a-artist <x> : set album artist to <x><br />
--a-title <x> : set album title to <x><br />
--onlyfiles : writes only filenames in playlist, no extra information<br />
--dirname : use directory name for playlist naming<br />
--plname <name> : use <name> as playlist name.<br />
--slashes : use slashes '/' instead of backslashes '\' in playlists<br />
--nospaces : replaces space by underscore in names of written files<br />
--sort <by> : sort playlist only by <x><br />
--sort+ <x> : add new playlist sorting property <x><br />
--sortdesc : sort in descending order<br />
--newdate : don't keep files original date/time<br />
--oldtype : use old tag format<br />
--ape2 : default to APE v2.0<br />
--force <tag> : force use of selected tag type<br />
--extid3 : extend over long title field into comment field with id3<br />
--nocheck : don't check file extension<br />
--test : test mode, no files will be modified<br />
--paranoid : return non-zero code on warnings/non-critical errors<br />
--tofile <scheme> : save screen output to file, name generated from <scheme><br />
--tofileext <ext> : use extension <ext> instead of .txt<br />
--tofilen <name> : save screen output to file <name><br />
--tocue <scheme> : output cuesheet tag to file, name generated from <scheme><br />
--tocuen <name> : output cuesheet tag to file <name><br />
--tocuea : output cuesheet tag to file, name generated from source<br />
--tostdoutn <tag> : write <tag> value to stdout<br />
--stdout : write tag details to stdout instead of stderr<br />
--nfo <file> : generate .nfo file and save to <file><br />
--listdefaults : view default settings<br />
--listexceptions : view list of exceptions in capitalize function<br />
--listgenres : view list of possible ID3v1 tag genres<br />
--listpresets : view list of defined presets<br />
--decode : use external decoder and use <scheme> to name output<br />
--acculen : display length more accurately<br />
--ansioutput : don't convert output to OEM codepage<br />
--<number> : use predefined preset <number><br />
</pre><br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
* Case's original : http://www.rarewares.org/others.html<br />
* <s> Synthetic Soul's version : http://www.synthetic-soul.co.uk/tag/ </s><br />
* [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=25921&st=0 Synthetic Soul's Tag.exe development thread on HA Forums]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Software]]<br />
[[Category:Tag editors]]</div>188.28.186.124https://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=TAKTAK2019-05-23T14:43:28Z<p>188.28.186.124: /* External Links */ synthetic-soul site deprecated :(</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Codec Infobox<br />
| name = Tom's lossless Audio Kompressor<br />
| logo =<br />
| type = lossless<br />
| purpose = (T)om's verlustfreier (A)udio(k)ompressor<br />
| maintainer = Thomas Becker<br />
| recommended_encoder = TAK encoder<br />
| recommended_text = TAK v2.3.0 (2013-06-18)<br />
| website = [http://thbeck.de/Tak/Tak.html ThBeck.de/Tak/Tak.html] ''(German)''<br />
}}<br />
<br />
== Description ==<br />
'''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]].<br />
<br />
=== Features ===<br />
* High compression<br />
* Fast compression and decompression speed<br />
* Streaming support (necessary headers for decompressing the audio are written to the stream every 2 seconds)<br />
* Piping support for encoding<br />
* Error tolerance (single bit error will never affect more than 250 ms)<br />
* Error detection (each frame protected by a 24-bit checksum (CRC))<br />
* High-resolution (up to 24-bit/channel) audio support<br />
* Support for up to 192 Khz Audio<br />
* Seeking without seek table<br />
* APEv2 tags supported at end of file<br />
<br />
=== Pros ===<br />
* 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)<br />
* Fast decompression speed (on par with FLAC / [[WavPack]])<br />
* Good compression levels (on par with [[Monkey's Audio]] High)<br />
* Error Robustness<br />
* Fast Seeking<br />
<br />
=== Cons ===<br />
* Closed Source<br />
* No hardware support<br />
<br />
<br />
== Software support ==<br />
=== Windows ===<br />
* [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.<br />
* [http://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_input_tak TAK Decoder 0.4.8] - Plugin for [[foobar2000]] (supports tagging and [[ReplayGain]]).<br />
* [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.<br />
* [http://rwijnsma.home.xs4all.nl/dc-bsm/index.htm DC-Bass Source Mod] - DirectShow source filter which uses the official decoding library to play TAK-files, amongst many others, in any DirectShow media player (as mentioned above).<br />
* [http://code.google.com/p/lavfilters/ LAV Filters] - Set of open-source DirectShow filters which uses [https://ffmpeg.org/pipermail/ffmpeg-devel/2012-September/131785.html FFMpeg's reverse-engineered decoder] to play TAK-files in any DirectShow media player.<br />
* [http://www.videolan.org/vlc VLC Media Player] - Can: transcode from/play (no encoding); since at least version 2.2.0<br />
* [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.<br />
* [[Mp3tag]] – universal tag editor with support for TAK<br />
* [http://etree.org/shnutils/shntool/ shntool] (since version 3.0.6)<br />
* [http://picard.musicbrainz.org/ MusicBrainz Picard] (since version 0.11)<br />
<br />
=== Linux ===<br />
* 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.<br />
* The GUI program (Tak.exe) and the command-line program (Takc.exe) work with [http://www.winehq.org/ Wine].<br />
* [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.<br />
* [http://picard.musicbrainz.org/ MusicBrainz Picard] (since version 0.11)<br />
<br />
== Hardware support ==<br />
* None<br />
<br />
<br />
== Recommended Settings ==<br />
* 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.)<br />
takc -e [input file]<br />
* 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.)<br />
takc -e -pMax [input file]<br />
* 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.)<br />
takc -e -p0 [input file]<br />
<br />
=== TAK Performance Graph ===<br />
[[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]])]]<br />
<br />
<br />
== Using TAK ==<br />
=== TAK with [[foobar2000]] ===<br />
* Copy the takc.exe to your [[foobar2000]] directory<br />
* Go to File → Preferences → Tools → Converter<br />
* Set it up as shown:<br />
[[Image:Tak_foobar_converter.png|frame|center|Screenshot of foobar 0.9.5 Converter settings for TAK 1.0.3]]<br />
'''Note:''' replace -p2 with the desired compression level.<br />
<br />
* 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:<br />
-e -p2 %s %d<br />
* Use [[APEv2 specification|APEv2]] tagging (will be used as internal tagging)<br />
<br />
=== TAK with EAC ===<br />
Please read the [[EAC and TAK|wiki guide]], which details how to create TAK files with [[Exact Audio Copy|EAC]].<br />
<br />
=== Converting TAK using pipe ===<br />
Takc.exe -d input.tak - | lame.exe -V 6 - output.mp3<br />
Takc.exe -d input.tak - | opusenc.exe --bitrate 64 - output.opus<br />
Takc.exe -d input.tak - | flac.exe -8 - -o output.flac<br />
Takc.exe -d input.tak - | wavpack.exe -hhx - output.wv<br />
<br />
flac.exe -dc input.flac | Takc.exe -e -pMax - output.tak<br />
wvunpack.exe input.wv - | Takc.exe -e -pMax - output.tak<br />
ffmpeg.exe -i input.xxx -f wav - | Takc.exe -e -pMax '''-ihs''' - output.tak<br />
<br />
<br />
== Future Features ==<br />
* Unicode support<br />
* MD5 audio checksums for verification and identification<br />
* A German version<br />
* Embedded cue sheets<br />
* Embedded cover art<br />
* Multichannel audio<br />
<br />
<br />
== Frequently Asked Questions ==<br />
; Is the codec safe for use/definitely lossless?<br />
: 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]].<br />
; Why should I use TAK?<br />
: TAK offers high ratios of compression but also great decoding speeds.<br />
; What can I compress with TAK?<br />
: 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.<br />
; What about hardware support?<br />
: There is none at the moment. However, ''-p0'', ''-p1'' and ''-p2'' are the candidates for most suitable settings for hardware.<br />
; Will the source be opened?<br />
: 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.<br />
<br />
<br />
== External Links ==<br />
* [http://thbeck.de/Tak/Tak.html thbeck.de/Tak/Tak.html] – Official Website ''(german)''<br />
* [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=101386 TAK 2.3.0 Discussion Thread on HA] ''(english)''<br />
* [http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=89610 TAK 2.2.0 Discussion Thread on HA] ''(english)''<br />
* <s>[http://synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/lossless/ synthetic-soul.co.uk/comparison/lossless] – Comparison with Other Codecs (by Synthetic Soul) </s><br />
* [http://flac.sourceforge.net/comparison.html flac.sourceforge.net/comparison.html] – An Updated Comparison (from FLAC Homepage)<br />
<br />
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[[Category:Lossless]]<br />
[[Category:Encoder/Decoder]]</div>188.28.186.124