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Lossless audio formats

Lossless audio formats

We will show you the formats that maintain all the quality of the audio files, compressing just enough. Lossless formats tend to maintain the original quality almost totally, suffering a minimum loss of quality. In summary, they are slightly compressed so that the audio remains intact and the size on disk is smaller.

Among the Lossless formats we have:

FLAC, is a format whose algorithm is similar to ZIP or GZip, but specially designed for audio compression. While ZIP would compress a CD quality audio file from 10% to 20% of its original size, FLAC would compress it from 30% to 50% while maintaining the full quality of the source.

Monkey’s Audio (APE), like FLAC allows lossless compression, but the greatness of Monkey’s is that it compresses bit by bit, reaching data rates of up to 700kbps without any loss of quality.

Apple Lossless (ALAC) uses an MP4 container (with a .M4A extension) for its files just like the MPEG-4 AAC and is specially created for use on the iPod.

Shorten is another Lossless format with characteristics similar to Monkey’s Audio or FLAC, but using the .SHN extension and requires fewer resources for its reproduction.

WavPack uses a hybrid mode, unlike the other Lossless formats, since it uses a Lossy file, which creates a relatively small file at high quality, and a corrector file that recovers the remaining quality of the original file, resulting in an audio file at averages between Lossless and Lossy, but with the same quality as a compressed file with any other Lossless algorithm.

TTA (True Audio) is a free and free LossLess format that reduces by 30% the original size of the source audio file and uses compression / decompression in real time.

What are the advantages of listening to music in FLAC format?

The FLAC format allows us to save audio without loss of quality. This codec encodes the file with the same information that the original CD would have (which would be the WAV file).

Flac

It is an open source format (Free Lossless Audio Codec) that could be improved, thanks to its registration as an open source license.

Higher quality, especially for HiFi equipment: this format allows us to enjoy a bitrate between 900 and 1100 kbps that does not delete information as it does in the MP3, even if it is of high quality. You will notice a warmer, fuller and cleaner sound.
The information is continuous between tracks: just like on the original CD, you can listen to music without interruptions between tracks.
The music is not altered: and that is the main reason why FLAC is ideal. Well, the file you use is the same one that you would download from the CD.
The FLAC format supports unlimited sampling rates – a FLAC can reproduce frequencies of 192,000 Hz without problem.
However, all that it reduces is not gold. There are also some problems with FLACs that you should be aware of, although they are not serious at all.

Disadvantages of listening to music in FLAC format

They take up more: as a FLAC file usually takes up a little more than half of the original CD file. It is easy for an album to go to 300 MB.
Many players do not support FLAC – this is changing in a beastly way. But the industry has fought for the MP3 to the last breath and many players, radios, etc. do not yet support this standard.
That is, the disadvantages are or rather were. In the future we will have a new cleaner format, which will surely take up less space and be an evolution of FLAC. Currently, however, it is the format par excellence and the one that we should all use, although I am not sure that a new, closed format will not come out, that can cope with it before it reaches its peak.

Compressed audio with loss

Compressed audio with loss

Today we will analyze the audio files that have a loss of quality. Because digital audio files can be divided into two classes, those that are compressed suffer a loss of quality and those that have not had any loss.
The difference We will see later but for now we will be clear that each of the formats offers a different quality according to the algorithm that has been used to compress the music in order to save space on the hard disk.
Some definitely discard information which is normally sought to be inaudible information for the human ear or to be repetitive information, so even when information is discarded, quality is not lost.

Compressed digital sound files fall into two categories: those that have suffered lossy compression and those that have not.

Loss compression means that an algorithm that uses a smaller amount of information has been used. The resulting file differs from the original.

MP3 or MPEG1 Audio Layer 3

It is the most widespread and used compression format, in its various variants. The loss of information that involves the mp3 format passes (almost) unnoticed to the human ear.

An mp3 file can occupy up to 15 times less than its original while retaining high quality. This is why the standard for streaming is considered and is the most suitable type of file for use on the internet and for portable media.

WMA or Windows Media Audio

WMA is the Microsoft audio compression format. It was designed for playback with the Windows Media Player program.

WMA is the direct competitor in mp3 quality and compression with the difference that it adds author information. Its extension is * .wma.

Recently, Microsoft has developed a variant of the WMA format with compression, but without loss.

OGG Vorbis

Ogg Vorbis is a container format developed in open source, freely distributed and without a patent. This is the biggest difference with the rest of compressed audio files.

Files in this format have a high quality and can be played on almost any device. Its use is much less widespread than the previous ones, although, in some cases, it gives better results.

Its use is patent free. Therefore, many media players, such as the popular VLC, include Ogg codecs that, on the other hand, can be freely downloaded from the Xiph.org website. Its extension is * .ogg.