Lossless Audio: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:23, 28 December 2021

Lossless Audio (La) is a lossless audio compressor developed 2002 to 2004 by Michael Bevin, for the Windows and Linux/x86 platforms.

La is available as closed-source freeware with a graphical front-end and plugins for Winamp/XMMS and foobar2000; its foobar2000 plugin truncates the end of files and should be avoided.

La was - and might still be - the highest compressing lossless encoder, possibly rivaled only by OptimFrog at its highest (and apparently even slower) setting. Both encoding and decoding are CPU-intensive. It is limited to 16 bit input. With the software being closed-source and no format specification available, it is not known whether this is a limitation to the format or to the encoder.

Addtional Reading

Official website
Lossless Codec Comparison originally by Rjamorim, with links to comparisons.
HA forum thread describing how to decode LA files with foobar2000 using la.exe instead of the buggy plugin

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-'''Lossless Audio''' ('''LA''') is a [[lossless]] audio compressor developed by Michael Bevin.
+'''Lossless Audio''' ('''La''') is a [[lossless]] audio compressor developed 2002 to 2004 by Michael Bevin, for the Windows and Linux/x86 platforms.
-== Pros ==
+La is available as closed-source freeware with a graphical front-end and plugins for [[Winamp]]/[[XMMS]] and [[foobar2000]]; '''''its foobar2000 plugin truncates the end of files''''' and should be avoided.
-* Compresses files better than almost any other current lossless encoder
-* Available for Windows (win32) and Linux/x86 (binaries only).
+La was - and might still be - the highest compressing lossless encoder, possibly rivaled only by [[OptimFrog]] at its highest (and apparently even slower) setting. Both encoding and decoding are CPU-intensive.
-* [[XMMS]] + [[Winamp]] plugin available
+It is limited to 16 bit input. With the software being closed-source and no format specification available, it is not known whether this is a limitation to the format or to the encoder.
-== Cons ==
-* Very slow encode and decode (realtime on 700–800 MHz CPU)
-* No source code or format specification available.
-'''''It's worth mentioning that the LA [[foobar2000]] plugin doesn't produce bit-identical streams, and the author has shown no interest in fixing this issue!'''''
 == Addtional Reading ==
-* <s>[http://www.lossless-audio.com/ Lossless Audio website] </s>
+* [http://www.lossless-audio.com/ Official website]
-* [[Lossless_comparison|Lossless Codec Comparison]] by Rjamorim
+* [[Lossless_comparison|Lossless Codec Comparison]] originally by Rjamorim, with links to comparisons.
+* [https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php?topic=114989.msg948073#msg948073  HA forum thread describing how to decode LA files with foobar2000 using la.exe instead of the buggy plugin]
+{{navbox audio codecs}}
 [[Category:Codecs]]


Audio codecs: type/usage	for end-users to encode	on physical media etc.	legacy formats
Lossless	(Uncompr. LPCM) • ALAC • FLAC • Monkey's Audio • MPEG-4 ALS • OptimFROG • TAK • TTA • WavPack	MLP/Dolby TrueHD	La • LPAC/LTAC • RealAudio Lossless • RK Audio • Shorten • WMA Lossless • (others)
Lossy	(ADPCM formats) • AAC • AC-3 • MP2 • MP3 • Musepack • Opus • Vorbis	AC-3 • DTS • (Bluetooth codecs)	ATRAC • QDesign • Real Audio • RK Audio (lossy modes) • Speex • VQF • WMA
Hybrid lossless&lossy	OptimFROG DualStream • WavPack	DTS-HD MA • MPEG-4 SLS	ATRAC Advanced Lossless • mp3HD