FLAC vs. ALAC: Which Lossless Audio Format Should You Use?

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FLAC vs. ALAC: Which Lossless Audio Format Should You Use?

Introduction

When it comes to lossless audio formats, two options stand out: FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) and ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec). Both formats offer high-quality audio with no loss in data, making them ideal for audiophiles, music producers, and anyone who wants the best possible sound. But which format should you use? In this article, we’ll compare FLAC and ALAC in-depth to help you make an informed decision.

Technical Comparison of FLAC and ALAC

Encoding and Decoding Algorithms

FLAC and ALAC use different encoding and decoding algorithms. FLAC uses a linear predictive coding (LPC) algorithm to compress audio data, while ALAC uses a modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) algorithm. Both algorithms are capable of lossless compression, but they achieve it in slightly different ways.

Compression Ratios and Resulting File Sizes

One of the most significant differences between FLAC and ALAC is the compression ratio and resulting file size. FLAC is known for its high compression ratio, which means it can significantly reduce the size of audio files without sacrificing quality. ALAC, on the other hand, has a lower compression ratio, which results in larger file sizes.

Bitrate and Frequency Support

FLAC and ALAC support different bitrate and frequency options. FLAC supports a wider range of bitrates and frequencies, up to 655,350 kbps and 655,350 Hz, respectively. ALAC, on the other hand, supports a maximum bitrate of 24 bits and a maximum frequency of 96 kHz.

Compatibility with Different Platforms and Devices

FLAC is an open-source format that is widely supported by different platforms and devices, including Windows, Mac OS, iOS, Android, and Linux. ALAC, on the other hand, is a proprietary format developed by Apple and is primarily designed to work with Apple devices and software.

Sound Quality Comparison

Objective Measurements of Sound Quality

Objective measurements of sound quality show that FLAC and ALAC are both capable of producing high-quality audio with no loss in data. However, FLAC is known for its slightly better performance in terms of audio quality and fidelity.

Listening Tests and Subjective Evaluations of Sound Quality

Subjective evaluations of sound quality are more difficult to measure but are still essential in comparing FLAC and ALAC. Listening tests show that there is no significant difference between the two formats in terms of sound quality, and the differences that do exist are often imperceptible to the human ear.

Potential Differences in Sound Quality Based on Specific Use Cases

There may be differences in sound quality based on specific use cases. For example, FLAC may be a better option for music producers who need the highest possible sound quality for their recordings. ALAC may be a better option for Apple users who want to take advantage of Apple’s ecosystem.

Metadata and Tagging Support

Comparison of Metadata and Tagging Features

FLAC and ALAC both support metadata and tagging features, such as artist, album, track title, and album art. However, there may be differences in how they handle metadata and tagging, depending on the music player or database used.

FLAC vs. ALAC: Technical Comparison

Let’s dive into a technical comparison of FLAC and ALAC to better understand the differences between these two lossless audio formats.

Compression Ratio: FLAC has a better compression ratio than ALAC. This means that FLAC files are smaller than ALAC files, while still retaining the same audio quality. FLAC typically compresses audio files by 50-70%, while ALAC compresses files by 30-50%. This makes FLAC a more efficient format for storage and distribution.

Decompression Speed: ALAC has a faster decompression speed than FLAC. This means that ALAC files will play more quickly than FLAC files on devices with limited processing power. However, this difference is negligible on modern devices with powerful processors.

Metadata Support: Both FLAC and ALAC support metadata, such as artist, album, track number, and cover art. However, FLAC has more extensive metadata support than ALAC, including the ability to embed arbitrary data in the file header.

Hardware and Software Compatibility: ALAC has better compatibility with Apple devices, as it is the default lossless audio format for iTunes and Apple Music. However, FLAC is more widely supported across various hardware and software platforms, including Android devices, Windows, and Linux.

Performance: Both FLAC and ALAC offer excellent audio quality, with no loss of audio data during compression. However, the performance of these formats can vary depending on the hardware and software used for playback. In general, FLAC offers slightly better audio quality than ALAC, but the difference is generally negligible.

Conclusion: Which Lossless Audio Format Should You Use?

Ultimately, the choice between FLAC and ALAC depends on your specific needs and preferences. If you primarily use Apple devices and software, ALAC may be the better choice due to its better compatibility with those devices. However, if you need a more efficient format for storage and distribution, or if you use a variety of hardware and software platforms, FLAC may be the better choice.

Regardless of which format you choose, both FLAC and ALAC offer excellent audio quality and are suitable for professional and high-fidelity audio applications.

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How to normalize FLAC files? Mp4Gain is the solution.

How to normalize FLAC files? Mp4Gain is the solution.

Normalize FLAC

For years, Mp4Gain has been able to serve to normalize the loudness of the most popular audio formats such as Ogg, FLAC, ACC, Mp3, etc and also video such as mp4, avi, flv, mpeg, etc. has received a lot of attention.

Initially it was the normalization of the audio volume level of mp3s, but later we have been able to achieve with great success and great quality to normalize the loudness of all these other audio and video formats.

How to normalize FLAC?

The operation is simple: you just have to load your audio or video files and press the button to normalize your audio volume level and that’s it. In no time you will have the file perfectly normalized.

At the same time you can perform other functions, such as equalizing the sound. and improve the sound quality, modify the bitrate, the samplerate and modify the pitch without affecting the speed or vice versa, modify the speed without affecting the pitch.

How to normalize FLAC files using Mp4Gain?

The easiest way to normalize FLAC files or to convert (and normalize at the same time) mp4 videos or directly convert mp3 to FLAC is to use Mp4Gain, which is as simple as loading the mp3 or an mp4 and clicking on the video and that’s it. you can convert from mp4 to FLAC or from mp3 to FLAC, all with the best sound quality and with the volume perfectly normalized.

WAV has no better sound quality than FLAC

WAV has no better sound quality than FLAC.

FLAC vs WAV

The switch to file playback invites unnecessary discussion.

FLAC y WAV

In recent years, audio equipment has expanded into the field of file playback, which has been handled by personal computers, and most of the players currently on the market are equipped with a USB terminal and a LAN terminal, and they are compatible with various audio formats. .

Network audio PC audio file format Sound quality difference FLAC WAV JPLAY

It can be roughly divided into four formats.

Lossy compressed audio formats, such as mp3 and AAC
Lossless compressed audio formats such as FLAC and ALAC
High quality WAV format equal to or better than a CD sound source
Audio formats other than CD (such as DSD)
If you enjoy music with PC audio or network audio, it is a common understanding that the sound of lossy compressed audio format is worse than that of a CD.

In theory, lossy compressed audio formats lose information during the compression process and cannot be restored to the original WAV file, so if you want to make up for the difference, you can increase or interpolate the information. There is no choice but to “fill in”. Even so, the amount of information is not the same, and since we are interpolating what is not there, although it sounds good, it is only an imitation.

I think the argument that there is a difference in sound quality when there is a difference in the amount of information theoretically was also at the time of the transition from pre-records to CDs and the emergence of SACD and DVD-Audio. The difference in the amount of information is the difference in sound quality, which can be said to be the same when comparing high-resolution and CD-equivalent sound sources. It is true in a sense, although it is conditional on the material at the time of production being good.

Discussion of lossless compression formats
On the other hand, as a story to debate among people who enjoy PC audio and network audio, there is a similar story between WAV files equivalent to CD sound sources and FLAC files in lossless compression audio format.

WAV sounds better than FLAC.
Sound is better without tag information.
So make all sound sources WAV and remove all tags.
No, it’s inconvenient without a label, so commit to FLAC
Certainly, the sound output between FLAC files and WAV files may sound different if you play it back on a PC or network audio player. Even at home, when I play it on the Marantz NA-11S1, I feel a slight difference.

Network audio PC audio file format Sound quality difference FLAC WAV JPLAY

However, WAV files, FLAC files, and the CD sound source used as the extraction source are originally sound sources with the same amount of information, unlike the lossy compressed audio format. Which is better, when playing on a CD or when playing a WAV file, or when the sound source is the same?

The answer is fixed.

It depends on the quality of the player.

If you are good at playing CDs, you will hear them better. If you’re good at playing WAV files, WAV files should sound better. Since it is related to the creator’s commitment, I think the sound quality may not be exactly the same depending on the playback path and the processing method.

Similarly, FLAC has the same amount of information, so there should be no difference in sound quality. But it certainly sounds different. I think it should be the same.

Let’s change our perspective and look at the lossless compressed file format, which is not an audio file.

WAV vs FLAC – Comparision

Why WAV and FLAC make fun of saying “the quality of the sound is different”?

WAV vs FLAC

By observing the area of audio files (audiophiles), sound quality is different between WAV and FLAC!

FLAC versus WAV File Format

There are people who scream. In this article I would like to consider if it is true.

Differences between
WAV (Wave) is a file format that can store linear PCM, and FLAC is a format that can store audio with compression without loss (ie, it can be compressed without loss of sound quality).
According to the FLAC standard, formats of up to an integer of 32 bits / 655,350 Hz can be stored, but the encoder itself supports an integer up to 24 bits.
WAV is a former standard created in 1991 and is actually a type of container standard called Riff. Several waveform data can be saved in WAV, and 64-bit floating, etc. can also be stored.
In other words, if both are in the range of 24 bits, you can save exactly the same waveform. This is a perfect combination at the waveform level.
If you are using a music player called FOOBAR2000, you can use a supplement called Binary Share to confirm that there is no difference of 1 bit between WAV and FLAC.
FLAC has a CRC checking sum for each frame and the file has an MD5 hash to detect damage to the file. It is possible that WAV does not realize even if it is damaged, as confusing data.
By the way, if you want to save 32 bits or more, you can use a lossless compression format named Wavpack.
“Decodify load gar”
The logic of those who argue that there is a difference in sound quality between WAV and FLAC is generally “FLAC requires decoding to PCM for reproduction, and there is a need for decoding, so the CPU load is high and quality of sound is high. It gets worse. ”
The first half of this logic is correct. FLAC is a compression without loss and must be decoded for reproduction. However, when discussing the second half, questions arise.
Although FLAC is a compressed format first, the load during decoding is one of the lowest among all lossless compressed audio formats.
The codecperformancecomparison site has decoding speeds by format. Among them, FLAC has a speed that far exceeds Monkey’s Audio, Wavpack, AAC and MP3. The decoding speed is almost the same regardless of whether the compression rate is 5 or 8.
It is said that FLAC can decode only by arithmetic of integers (source), and is quite fast. Although WAV does not require decoding, it is nothing more than using the CPU, since reading the file, saves it in memory and the CPU processes the driver and sends the data to the sound card.
In addition, WAV is not compressed, so there is the problem that the file size increases. This means that reading files from storage is clearly more frequent than FLAC. This is nothing more than using more bandwidth of your computer bus. How do you explain the electromagnetic noise that generate these storage and buses? Has anyone verified it?
Importance of the ABX test (double blind test)
I think most people in audio files (OTA, audiophiles) minimize science and think about things with several conjectures, relying solely on their own senses.
“Clear sound” “Soft and elegant acutes” “Natural Low”
These words sound good, but they have to do with falsifier and I can not even start a discussion.
I want to compare A and B. At that time, the “ABX test” or double-blind test (double blind method) is useful.
Let’s say you have A and B. I want to compare A and B. It can be WAV and FLAC, or an oxygen-free copper cable and Amazon Basics cable. It may be the sound reproduced by the electricity generated by hydroelectric power and the sound reproduced by sunlight, or the difference between iPod and Walkman, cassette tape and disk.
If you really want to make a comparison, hide A and B and ask. There is another collaborator in this. When you start the test, the collaborators first prepare the equipment for A and B, and they clearly touch each sound as A or B. Next, the collaborator hides A or B and reproduces the sound. It can be in the order of Aabbaba or Ababab. Anyway, he plays randomly. And the collaborator asks: “What was the random sound I presented for the first time, A or B?” He can request and re-listen to the sounds A and B at any time during the test.

What is a “FLAC file”? Part 2

What is a “FLAC file”? Part 2

FLAC

He appeared there, compression without losses.

FLAC format file

Humans are greedy creatures.
While recognizing the excellent technology of MP3, if you still want to return to the original Wave file, you want to compress it in a format that can be reversed exactly.
Unlined compression is a compression method that allows you to return to the original form if you wish, even if it compresses it.
Unfortunately, MP3s have an “irreversible” cross, so they can not play that role.

Here comes the “compressed file without loss” for music as “FLAC file”. There are other formats for “compression without loss” files such as “Apel Archive”, “WMA Lossless” and “Apple Lossless”, but from my point of view, the “FLAC file” seems to be the most widespread.

This “FLAC file” is much less popular than the “MP3 file”.
However, if you want to reverse a “FLAC file” to a “Wave file”, you can revert to the original “Wave” exactly without a 1-bit error.

Oh, you might think that a good file format could be more popular.
I also believe it.
But everything in the world is barter. Not all are satisfied unilaterally. If you get one, you must sacrifice one.

The “lossless compressed files” represented by “FLAC files” are sacrificed to obtain the wonderful property of “non-loss compression”.

That is the “compression rate”.

“MP3” compressed the original “Wave” file at 1/10, but the “FLAC file” is limited to the maximum compression.
In other words, in the case of “MP3 file”, a small element of about 5 minutes compressed to “5MB”, and even in a 1 hour box office success symphony, but in the case of “Flac File”, a small element of about 5 minutes. A symphony of box office of an hour of “25 MB” can only be compressed at about “300 MB”.

This is really subtle.
Probably “NG” in the era of telephone lines through modems.
However, in the ADSL era, this also reached the level of “Is there one?”
And when the optical lines are generalized, it is probably “yes”.

With current optical lines, you should be able to download “FLAC files” more comfortably than downloading MP3 files in the telephone line era.
In other words, the low “compression rate” that was sacrificed to perform a “compression without losses” is not necessarily a “sacrifice” due to the generalization of the optical lines. In that case, the mainstream of music files on the Internet can be replaced with “loss compression files” represented by “MP3 files” to “FLAC files” of “non-loss compression”.

The establishment of the “FLAC file database” this time was due to I wanted to lead that trend.

Basically, download and then decodify a wave file

So, how is the downloaded “FLAC file” played? Unfortunately, it can not be reproduced with important software as “iTunes” and “WMP”.
At the moment, the “FLAC files” can be reproduced without problems.

However, I do not recommend playing “FLAC files” as they are.
The greatest merit of the “FLAC file” is “reversibility”. Then, the way to take full advantage of merit is to decode the “FLAC file”, restore it to the original “Wave” file and then play it.

The increase in capacity and reduction in the price of hard drives are also a wind in favor of this trend.
In addition, even those that have not yet entered the Audio of the PC can record a “Wave file” on a CD and play it on a CD player. Since it is a “lossless compression” without deterioration of sound quality, the quality of CD created in this way is exactly the same as that of the market.

Well, how are you?
If you have read up here and are interested in “FLAC files”, go to “FLAC file database” and download it.

Next time, I will explain how to decode a “FLAC file” and restore it to “Wave File” as a first step to use the “FLAC file”.

What is a “FLAC file”?

What is a “FLAC file”?

FLAC

Introduction to FLAC.

Free Lossless Audio Codec FLAC

The base of the music files are the “Wave files”. If you draw a music file from a commercially available CD, it will be saved in this “Wave file” format. Therefore, this “Wave file” is the best in terms of sound quality.

However, the inconvenience is that the file size is very large.
Generally, “1 minute = 10 MB”, so even a small element of about 5 minutes will be “50 MB”, and a 1 hour masterpiece symphony will be “600 MB”.
When I try to download such a large file on a thin line in the first days of the Internet, it does not end, even if it takes hours (days?). (It is still difficult for “600MB” files ^^;)
Even so, the desire to share music widely through the Internet created a compression technology called “MP3 files”.

I will omit a difficult explanation, but the good thing about this “MP3 file” was that “reduced the deterioration of sound quality as much as possible” and “reduced the size of the file”. Now, even if the file size is reduced to 1/10, you can enjoy music with a sound quality that is not very different from that of a CD.
In other words, even if the file size is reduced to “5MB” for a small element of approximately 5 minutes, or “60MB” for a 1 hour box office success symphony, you can now enjoy music with a quality of Sound that is not very different from that of a CD.

It’s really great.

However, there is a difference in sound quality when compared to the grave.
With the growing interest in PC audio these days, more and more people pay attention to this sound quality. For those who say that, it is “natural” reproduce music in “Wave files” instead of “MP3 files”. In fact, due to the pc audio boom, the software that can only be played Wave files is appearing one after another. “CMP2 = CMP + CPLAY” and “WAVE FILE PLAYER” are typical examples, and high-quality sound playback that distinguishes it from conventional playback software is on sale.

Well, I do not care … if you say it, pass this page. (^^;

Weaknesses of MP3 files → irreversible

MP3 files are a really good technology. By compressing the size of the file to 1/10, it maintains an excellent sound quality so that you will not notice the difference with the original “Wave file” if you listened vaguely. Then, as I mentioned earlier as a joke, it is not surprising that some people say: “That is enough for the quality of the sound!”
It is such a good technology.

However, these “MP3 files” also have a fatal weakness.
That is “irreversible”.

It is difficult to say “irreversible”, but the point is that once a “Wave file” is compressed in an “MP3 file” and it becomes, you can not restore the original “Wave” file. It is about nature.
This “never return” property is called “compression with loss”, and compression with said property is called “compression with loss”.

However, you may be told: “If you decode the MP3 file, it will return to the Wave file!”
Usually, the conversion of the original file into a compressed file is called “encoding” and, in reverse, the conversion of the compressed file to the original file is called “decoding”. · · · Trivia (^^ V
Certainly, MP3 files can be converted to WAVE files using the appropriate software.

However, keep in mind that the “Wave file” created when decoding the “MP3 file” is not the same as the original “Wave” file. This is because the deterioration of sound quality caused by the first compression is not recovered and becomes a WAVE file in a deteriorated state.
Specifically, the “MP3 files” eliminate the high tone information that is difficult to listen for the human ear in the compression process. Therefore, even if you decode the “MP3 file” compressed in this way, high-frequency cut information will not be recovered.
Therefore, if you do something stupid as Wave-> MP3-> Wave-> MP3-> Wave …, the sound quality will deteriorate and you will end up in a “is not what you heard”.