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MP3 VS FLAC. How do you hear the difference?

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MP3 VS FLAC. How do you hear the difference?

FLAC vs MP3

Along with vinyl records and CDs, our music library is increasingly replenished with MP3 and Flac music files. Many consider these two formats to be irreconcilable enemies, while others are sure that the difference between them is small. Are?

FLAC vs. MP3

About formats.
A little history. The MP3 format (MPEG-1/2 / 2.5 Layer 3) appeared in 1994. Do you remember those days? There was no talk of gigabytes, hundreds of megabytes cost a lot of money and many still remembered the legendary phrase of Bill Gates: “640 KB of memory is enough for any computer”. And if the veracity of this phrase is still questioned, then as early as 94 no one doubted that music would be distributed over the Internet, and the files would be stored on a computer. Okay, keeping your entire music library on one hard drive and being able to take it with you wherever you go is a great idea. However, at that time the main carrier of “digital music” was the CD.

A standard CD contains 650 megabytes or 74 minutes of music at a bit rate of 1411.2 kbps. In order to preserve a dozen albums in pristine quality in the year 94, it was required to have a very solid quantity! Yes, and a personal computer cost a lot then, and the main task of the MP3 that appeared was the ability to transmit sound through channels with little bandwidth. At that time, transferring an entire CD over the Internet required tens of hours at best. Therefore, the developers were faced with the task of reducing the size of the audio file to the maximum, avoiding to a minimum the losses during the compression of the signal. However, the encoding technologies were not yet perfect, and the processors were not that fast, so it was decided to apply the psychoacoustic method, in which only part of the audio information is lost. For example, all “quiet” sounds above 17 kHz and all bass below 40 Hz. The developers have established various levels of compression for such files, taking the digital stream as the basis for measuring the quality: the more information is transmitted per second of time, the higher the sound quality, but also the larger the file size. The maximum bit rate in MP3 is considered to be 320 kbps, in which the sound is balanced and the quality is as close to the original as possible.

And this is the “closest” and tormented to good sound lovers so far. The fact is that listening to music on high-quality equipment allows you to fully feel the difference between the original recording and its MP3 version, even at 320 kbps.

In all honesty, we admit that you can listen to music even at 64 kbps. If you just want to hear your favorite tune, then no obstacle is terrible. You can even play the nearest musical instrument yourself, if you have the skill, or listen through the speaker phone. However, if you want to enjoy a work in which all the inherent nuances and emotions, its interpretation by the sound engineer and the way the performers play, will be preserved, then MP3 (as, indeed, any other format of lossy compression) will. It will not be a joy, as the playback is excellent.Cd recorded and edited on a mediocre device.

The developers of the Flac format thought about how to reproduce high-quality compressed audio in high-quality Hi-Fi. In fact, FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec – “free lossless audio codec”) appeared only 6 years after MP3. However, encoding technologies have come a long way during this time, making it possible to create codecs that compress the audio signal without loss. Of course, it wasn’t possible to make the file smaller than MP3, but users now have an order of magnitude more spacious storage, so a couple hundred megabytes per album is a mere trifle. It is not?

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What are the differences between MP3, FLAC and other audio formats? Part 2

What are the differences between MP3, FLAC and other audio formats? Part 2

FLAC vs MP3

Lossless formats: FLAC, ALAC, APE

FLAC vs MP3

Free Lossless Audio Codec, Apple Lossless Audio Codec, and Monkey’s Audio are all formats that compress audio in the same way as anything compressed in the digital world: using algorithms. The difference between compressed files and FLAC files is that FLAC is specifically designed for audio and therefore has a higher compression ratio without loss of data. It usually sees about half the size of the WAV. In other words, a FLAC file for “CD” quality stereo sound runs at approximately 5MB per minute.

On the plus side, if you want to do some audio manipulation, you can convert back to WAV with no quality loss. If you are a music lover and listen to a lot of music with dynamic ranges, these are the formats for you. If you have a large set of speakers, cans, or headphones, these formats will display tones for display.

Lossy formats: MP3, AAC, WMA, Vorbis

Most of the formats you see in everyday use are “lossy”; a certain degree of sound quality is sacrificed for a significant increase in file size. Average “CD quality” MP3 runs at around 1MB per minute. A big difference compared to PCM, right? It’s called compression, but unlike lossless formats, you can’t get that quality back if you understand lossy formats. Different lossy formats use different storage algorithms, so they generally differ in file size for comparable quality. Lossy formats also use bit rate to indicate audio quality, which is typically viewed as “192 kbps” or “192 kbps.” The higher the number, the more data is pumped in, so more detail is preserved.

MP3: MPEG 1 Audio Layer 3, the most common lossy audio codec today. Despite a ton of patent issues, it’s still incredibly popular. Who doesn’t have MP3 files?
Vorbis – A free, open source and lossy format that is most commonly used in PC games like Unreal Tournament 3. FOSS fans like many Linux users are sure to see a lot of this format.
AAC – Advanced Audio Coding, a standardized format now used with MPEG4 video. It is actively supported due to its DRM compatibility (such as Apple’s FairPlay), its improvements over mp3, and because no license is required to transmit or distribute content in this format. Apple fans will probably have a lot at AAC.
WMA: Windows Media Audio, a lossy audio format from Microsoft. It was designed and used to avoid MP3 licensing issues, but due to major enhancements and DRM support and lossless implementation, it still exists. It was very popular before iTunes became the DRMed music champion.
Lossy formats are what you use for everything you listen to and store. They are designed to save space on your hard drive. The format you choose depends on the type of digital audio player you are using, how much space you have, what quality objections you have, and a bunch of variables. Computers will play anything these days, most audio players (except of course Apple) support various lossy formats and more and more FLAC and APE. Apple sticks to MP3, ALAC, and AAC.

Is the sound quality subjective?

This is absolutely true. Ultimately, your ears consume most of your belongings, but this is another reason to give serious thought to quality. When I started to build my digital music collection, I couldn’t understand the difference between 128Kbps MP3 and Audio CD. In my opinion, there was not a noticeable difference. However, over time, I realized that 256 kbps sounds a lot better, and after getting some really good (and expensive!) Headphones, I went back to the Audio CD! It also depends on the musical genre.

There are a lot of variables here guys, make no mistake about it. It was a while before I decided to use FLAC for music and 320kbps MP3 for the rest. The point I’m trying to emphasize is that you have to experiment to see what works best for you and your music, but remember that as your tastes, your perceptions, your gear, and the importance of quality change. will also be.

And it all gets even more complicated when it comes to not only music, but also voice tracks, sound effects, white and brown noise, etc. There is a whole world of sound, so don’t be discouraged! If you learn what you can and listen to yourself, you can use this information in your future audio projects. I leave you with some of the best advice I’ve ever received: “do what sounds good.”

What are the differences between MP3, FLAC and other audio formats?

What are the differences between MP3, FLAC and other audio formats?

FLAC vs MP3

Digital audio has been around for a long time, so many audio formats can certainly be found. Here are some of the most common, what sets them apart and what to use them for.

FLAC vs. MP3

Before talking about everyday audio formats, it is important to understand the basics, what it means to understand PCM. After that, we will tackle compressed formats.

PCM audio: where it all begins

Pulse code modulation was created in 1937 and is the closest approximation to analog sound. That is, the analog signal approaches at regular intervals. PCM has two properties: sample rate and bit depth. The sample rate measures the frequency (per second) that the amplitude of the signal is taken and the bit depth measures the possible digital values. In terms of audio formats, this is pretty much the base.

True sound in the real world is continuous. This is not the case in the digital world. In some ways this is more confusing for audio than video, so let’s take a look at the video for comparison. What we interpret as “movement” or think as “fluid” and in constant motion is actually a series of still images. Also, the amplitude of digital sound waves is not “smooth” or constantly changing. It changes based on certain criteria at predetermined intervals.

I know there are a lot of things here that might not be second nature unless you’re an engineer, a physicist, or an audiophile, so let’s make a little analogy.

Let’s say the water coming out of an open tap is your “analog” sound source. We can compare the temperature of the water with the amplitude of a sound wave; It is a property that must be measured in order to enjoy it properly. Sampling is the number of times per second that you place your finger in plain water. The more often you put your finger on it, the more “continuous” the temperature changes will be. If you put your finger in running water 44,100 times per second, it’s like keeping your finger there all the time, right? This is the basic idea behind sampling.

Bit depth is a bit trickier. Instead of using your finger, let’s say you actually used a thermometer. Basically it said “Hot” for anything above room temperature and “Cold” for anything below. No matter how many times you put it in the water, it won’t give you much useful information. Now if instead of two choices, let’s say a thermometer has 16 possible values that you can use to measure the temperature of the water. More useful, right? Bit depth works in the same way, as higher values allow more dynamic changes in the amplitude of the sound to be accurately displayed.

As mentioned above, PCM is the foundation of digital audio, along with its variants. PCM tries to simulate the waveform of glory uncompressed as much as possible. It’s special, it’s ready to get stuck in a DSP and more or less universally playable. Most other formats manipulate the audio using algorithms, so they need to be decoded during playback. PCM audio is considered “lossless”, it is not compressed and therefore takes up a lot of hard disk space.

Uncompressed packet: WAV, AIFF

Both WAV and AIFF are PCM-based lossless audio container formats with minor changes to the data store. PCM audio for most people comes in these formats, depending on whether you are using Windows or OS X, and they can be converted to each other without any degradation in quality. Both are also considered “lossless”, they are uncompressed and a stereo PCM (2ch) audio file sampled at 44.1 kHz (or 44,100 times per second) with 16 bits (“CD quality”) is approximately 10 MB for a minute. If you are recording

Why is WAV not as popular as MP3 or FLAC?

Why is WAV not as popular as MP3 or FLAC?

WAV vs. MP3

WAVE or WAV is a short form of Wave Audio File Format (less commonly known as Audio for Windows). This format is the standard for storing audio streams on a PC. It is the domain of the RIFF format for storing audio in “strings”, very similar to the 8SVX and AIFF formats used by the Amiga and Macintosh computers respectively. It is also the main format on Windows systems for storing normal uncompressed audio. Typically this is done by linear pulse code modulation.

WAV vs MP3

Both WAV and AIFF are compatible with Windows, Macintosh or Linux operating systems. The format also takes into account some of the differences in Intel processors, such as endian byte order. The RIFF format acts as a wrapper for various audio compression codecs.

Although a WAV file can contain compressed audio, its most common use is to store uncompressed audio in linear PCM format. The standard audio CD format, for example, is LPCM audio, with 2 channels, 44-100 Hz sample rate, and 16 bits per sample. Since the LPCM format stores uncompressed audio that is exactly the same as the original, it allows professional users and audio experts to use it for maximum audio quality. The WAV audio file can also be modified in almost any audio editor. The Wav format works with compressed audio on Windows systems through the Audio Compression Manager (ACM). Any ACM codec can be used to compress a WAV file. The ACM user interface can be accessed through a variety of programs, including the standard audio recording program on some versions of Windows.

Starting with Windows 2000, the WAVE_FORMAT_EXTENSIBLE header appeared, which allowed storing multichannel audio data, taking into account the location of the speakers, eliminating ambiguities in terms of sample types and container sizes in the standard WAV format. It also supported arbitrary extensions for the snippet format.

There are also many inconsistencies in the WAV format: for example, 8-bit data is unsigned, while 16-bit data is signed.

WAV files can contain embedded IFF “lists”, which can contain multiple sub-changes.

Metadata
Derived from the Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF), WAV files can have metadata (tags) in an INFO chunk. Additionally, Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) metadata can be embedded in WAV files.

Popularity
WAV files are large enough that this format is cumbersome to share over the Internet, and this greatly undermines its popularity. However, this format, as a general rule, is most often used to preserve the original appearance of high-quality files in cases where the amount of free disk space is not limited. It is also used in audio editing programs to save time when compressing and decompressing data.

More often, data is compressed using lossy formats such as Ogg Vorbis, MP3, ATRAC, AAC, Musepack, and WMA, which are used to store and share music (for example, between Internet users). The small file size and the ability to download them quickly are also a significant advantage, while this audio data takes up much less space. But lossy formats sacrifice quality for size, so their algorithms don’t preserve the original sound quality in every detail. But there are also lossless codecs like FLAC, Shorten, Monkey’s Audio, ATRAC Advanced Lossless, Apple Lossless, WMA Lossless, TTA, WavPack, but none of these codecs can be called generally accepted.

Wav and Mp3: comparison of these two formats.

Wav and Mp3: comparison of these two formats.

WAV vs MP3

The development of digital audio distribution has led to the fact that there are now several dozen audio file formats on the market. Each developer tried to create their own encoding method and encryption algorithms, and then make them popular. But now, in 2019, it has become clear: MP3 won the battle of music formats. And even if the developers don’t support it anymore, that’s fine. Anyway, music in files of this type can be played on any phone, player, computer, radio, TV, and even some models of smart watches.

MP3 VS WAV

However, when you buy high-quality audio equipment, for example, headphones and a sound card for a total of 1.5 salaries, the disadvantages of MP3 start to show. It seems that the technique is good, but anyway the music sounds a bit “flat” and boring. This is because MP3 cuts parts of the audio stream.

And then you want to choose a higher quality format. For example, a slightly less common WAV, which will help the technique to “open up”. But is this WAV good? Let’s compare two formats, WAV and MP3, and choose the correct one. How compressed and uncompressed music formats are different Since WAV is a sample of uncompressed music format and MP3 is a compressed format, it is worth understanding what compressed and uncompressed music formats are to understand the key difference. between the two.

We are not going to go deeper, we will also talk about sigma-delta modulation, just “let’s go over the top.” Uncompressed music formats were one of the first to emerge. They involve sequentially recording every sound captured by the microphone in the studio, every note, every attempt by the vocalist to hit eight octaves in a single song. As a result, the file is incredibly detailed as all the sounds are listed. There are only a couple of problems.

Due to the high level of detail of the audio file, it is huge. On average, a three-minute song in a WAV container “weighs” about 60 megabytes. As a result, it’s good for a gigabyte flash drive if it fits at least one artist’s album. And at a time when a 1GB hard drive was an unattainable luxury, it was at least unwise to waste precious hard drive space for songs. The second problem is that decoding such music requires a powerful and agile processor.

That is, the chip has to constantly take a digital signal and convert it to analog that goes to the speakers. At the same time, there are many digital signals; remember, every sound. Therefore, the performance of the chip must also be high. Thus, engineers and programmers were faced with the task of ensuring that a Robbie Williams fan could keep his entire discography (14 albums, 3 collections, countless singles, 8 DVDs) without having to buy a server. This is how compressed formats appeared, of which MP3 is an example. Compressed formats involve additional music transcoding. The audio stream is divided into separate frames, then they are pasted, the details are partially lost (for example, two loudness peaks are pasted into one), maybe, as in MP3, some frequency ranges are cut off … And as a result, the file is much smaller! On average, a three minute song in a high bit rate (320 kbps) MP3 file “weighs” around 10 megabytes.

In other words, a full EP (mini-album) in MP3 will fit the volume occupied by a song in WAV! And if you reduce the bitrate by removing even more frame-parts from the audio stream and significantly degrading the quality, then the entire discography of the long-suffering Robbie Williams may be “cluttered.” On the other hand, the loss of quality cannot be said to be too significant for the listener. MP3 320 kbps provides enough quality for listening to music, watching movies, etc. The listener ignores the “missing details” or “ponders” them to create a complete acoustic picture. In addition, the quality of the equipment also affects the quality of playback. On computers with a weak integrated sound card and Chinese speakers, MP3 64 kbps, MP3 320 kbps, WAV will sound equally bad. But just get a multi-channel audio system, an amplifier, a discrete sound card with a 192KHz DAC, and the sound in WAV flourishes. But MP3 will seem too flat and with little detail.

MP3 VS FLAC. Can you tell the difference?

MP3 VS FLAC. Can you tell the difference?

mp3 vs flac

MP3 vs FLAC

Pizza. Baked in a real wood oven, with a slight smell of haze, the unique flavor of two cheeses fused into one whole. This aromatic bread pancake is crisp on the edges. This incredibly fragrant filling simultaneously plays with various flavors and smells. This is a feast of flavor and satiety. Sometimes he wants pizza so badly that he takes ordinary bread from the store, slices it finely, puts finely chopped ham on top, and covers it with cheese. And put it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Of course, you can eat even with this, but there will not be the delight that is present when eating pizza prepared by the master.

No, no, we are not baking a signature pizza or opening an Italian restaurant. With this visual example, we show the difference between compressed and uncompressed audio formats.

About formats.
A little history. The MP3 format (MPEG-1/2 / 2.5 Layer 3) appeared in 1994. Do you remember those days? There was no talk of gigabytes, hundreds of megabytes cost a lot of money and many still remembered the legendary phrase of Bill Gates: “640 KB of memory is enough for any computer”. And if the reliability of this phrase is still questioned, then as early as 94 no one doubted that music would be distributed over the Internet and files would be stored on a computer. Okay, keeping your entire music library on one hard drive and being able to take it with you wherever you go is a great idea. However, at that time the main carrier of “digital music” was the CD.

A standard CD contains 650 megabytes or 74 minutes of music at a bit rate of 1411.2 kbps. To preserve a dozen albums in their original quality in ’94, it took a very substantial quantity! Yes, and a personal computer cost a lot then, and the main task of the MP3 that appeared was the ability to transmit sound through channels with little bandwidth. At that time, transferring an entire CD over the Internet required tens of hours at best. Therefore, the developers were faced with the task of reducing the size of the audio file to the maximum, avoiding to a minimum the losses during the compression of the signal. However, the encoding technologies were not yet perfect, and the processors were not that fast, so it was decided to apply the psychoacoustic method, in which only part of the audio information is lost. For example, all “quiet” sounds above 17 kHz and all bass below 40 Hz. The developers have established various levels of compression for these files, taking the digital stream as the basis for measuring the quality: the more information is transmitted per second of time, the higher the sound quality, but also the larger the file size. The maximum bit rate in MP3 is considered to be 320 kbps, in which the sound is balanced and the quality is as close to the original as possible.

In all honesty, we admit that you can listen to music even at 64 kbps. If you just want to hear your favorite tune, then no obstacle is terrible. You can even play the nearest musical instrument yourself, if you have the skill, or listen through the speaker phone. However, if you want to enjoy a work in which all the inherent nuances and emotions, its interpretation by the sound engineer and the way the performers play, will be preserved, then MP3 (as, indeed, any other format of lossy compression) will not be a pleasure, as well as the playback is excellent. CD recorded and edited on a mediocre device.

Both formats are quite widespread. Almost all operating systems can play them using standard or third-party players. МР3 is compatible with almost the entire line of sound reproduction devices, including those belonging to the High End class. With Flac (and its analogues), the situation is slightly different: some manufacturers still stubbornly ignore this compression method. Be that as it may, the simple music lover can always choose between these two formats. But, along with the choice, questions arise, but will you hear the difference between Flac and MP3? Let’s try to figure it out.

Mobile devices.
For music lovers who prefer to listen to music on mobile devices, there will be practically no difference. Modern smartphones, with rare exceptions, are not equipped with the highest quality audio path. Also, if you use normal in-ear headphones or a Bluetooth speaker. In both cases, the bandwidth of the audio path is not high, so all the recordings will be poor in micronance and dynamic recording. But! Manufacturers are gradually changing this situation. For example, the Korean company LG launched the launch of the V20 smartphone with a built-in Hi-Fi Quad DAC module, which has decoders to play all popular audio formats, including audiophiles and professionals. The smartphone comes with high-quality Bang & Olufsen headphones. On this device, the difference between MP3 and Flac sounds pretty good. In other cases, for a music lover, for those who want to listen to music from their phone, for now it is worth taking a closer look at a specialized external DAC and headphones. For example, FiiO’s line of portable headphone amps with built-in DACs are quite capable of capturing all the nuances of Flac recording when used in conjunction with good on-ear headphones. By the way, even “headphones” work, but not the cheap ones that are sold in all corners, but they are produced by major audio brands.

Alternative? If possible. This is not a multifunctional device, but a high-quality portable audio player. In such a device, as a rule, a high-quality digital-to-analog converter is installed and selected components are used in the audio section. And the entire structure is dedicated to one goal: high-quality sound reproduction. Therefore, other than strictly speaking a music player, there is nothing in the body to prevent you from distinguishing the Flac from the MP3.

Home Hi-Fi.
Everything here is much more prosaic. You can distinguish a high quality soundtrack from a poor quality one on any component of a modern audio system. Also, the more expensive the system, the more pronounced and unpleasant the sound artifacts inherent in lossy compressed compositions. And the brighter and more expressive the performance will be when playing files with lossless compression. If you can easily and immediately tell the difference between playing Flac and MP3, then your home system components are good. Another obstacle that prevents you from feeling it is the record player. The files can be played by directly connecting the hard drive with them to disc or multimedia players, as well as various receivers and amplifiers equipped with a built-in USB media player. As a general rule, in a low-quality device they save on everything therefore the base of the element is exposed to all kinds of interference from various operating units, and the digital-to-analog converter does not process the flow at the highest level, which allows many errors. All of this affects the final analog signal, which after all this can no longer be restored. Like covering your speakers with a towel or pillow. Who knows what the signal would be without it? So again we come to the conclusion that it will be impossible to distinguish between MP3 and Flac in such a system. Exit? Use only high-quality components in your home Hi-Fi systems, from the source and amplifier to acoustics and even cables. that after all this it is impossible to restore. Like covering your speakers with a towel or pillow. Who knows what the signal would be without it? So again we come to the conclusion that it will be impossible to distinguish between MP3 and Flac in such a system. Exit? Use only high-quality components in your home Hi-Fi systems, from the source and amplifier to acoustics and even cables. that after all this it is impossible to restore. Like covering your speakers with a towel or pillow. Who knows what the signal would be without it? So again we come to the conclusion that it will be impossible to distinguish between MP3 and Flac in such a system. Exit? Use only high-quality components in your home Hi-Fi systems, from the source and amplifier to acoustics and even cables.

The fact that almost all music is now stored at home as files that you can listen to on your home system or take it with you and listen to while traveling, on vacation, in class, or elsewhere is great. This is progress to take into account. However, we must not forget that we enjoy music in the first place. In addition to good pizza. And we do not recommend that you deny yourself these pleasures. They are an indicator of the quality of life and a source of our positive mood and positive emotions.

WAV, FLAC and more: the best audio formats for your music

WAV vs FLAC

What audio format is best for music? Image: What audio format is best for music? Image: Unsplash
AAC is not the size of a battery, nor is FLAC an anti-aircraft weapon. With these and many other abbreviations, we find ourselves in the dense jungle of audio formats. In this guide, we’ll explain what these abbreviations mean, what each music file format is for, and which one is the best to use in your music collection.

WAV vs AIFF vs ALAC

Lossless uncompressed audio formats
In uncompressed audio formats, the analog source material was converted to a lossless digital format. Uncompressed and lossless means no information was lost during the transfer and you get the best possible sound quality, at the expense of storage space, of course.

PCM
PCM stands for Pulse-Code Modulation and represents a digital image of the raw audio signal. Since analog sound is in wave form, it must be “sampled” at certain intervals (pulses). This results in the sample rate (frequency in Hertz) and the bit rate (number of bits per sample). PCM is an uncompressed, lossless audio format that is closest to analog source.

Usage: Music Industry: Basis for Lossless Uncompressed Audio Formats

Wav
WAV (Waveform Audio File Format) is a standard developed by Microsoft and IBM in 1991 for various audio formats. This waveform audio file format is actually a file container that generally contains uncompressed audio signals in PCM format, allowing Windows and Mac systems to process them more easily.

The result is excellent sound quality, but also very high storage space requirements. Another disadvantage of the WAV format is that only rudimentary metadata (artist, album, song title) is available and can be saved. You cannot store an album cover, for example.

Use: Music CD, among others

TAD D1000mk2
The TAD D1000 MK2 can play SACD and thus reproduce high-resolution audio signals. | Image: TAD
AIFF
The AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) was developed by Apple in 1988 and is Apple’s equivalent to the WAV container. Similar to this, AIFF can contain different audio formats and is populated with the PCM format by default.

Use: Apple systems

Lossless compressed audio formats
Those who do not want to produce CDs or have an infinite amount of storage space can switch to high resolution audio formats. They are used for Super Audio CD (SACD) and streaming services like Tidal and, thanks to very good codecs, they provide lossless compression.

DSD
DSD (Direct Stream Digital) follows a similar principle to PCM, but works differently. The DSD codec uses fewer bits at a much higher sample rate to reduce the storage space required for a music file.

Usage: super audio CD

FLAC
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is considered a very good alternative to WAV. The format requires up to 50 percent less storage space and can store more metadata. This makes FLAC a popular format for the highest quality music downloads, but with the downside that it is not compatible with Apple’s iTunes.

Usage: Hi-Res Music Downloads for Standalone Apple Systems

A THE C
As is often the case, Apple has also developed its own alternative called ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec). FLAC is considered the more efficient of the two formats, but with ALAC Apple users can also enjoy a lossless audio format.

Usage: High-resolution music downloads for Apple systems

MQA
Unlike the other formats, MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) is not a real audio format, but a codec system consisting of an encoder and a decoder. Behind this is a complex piece of software that, according to the developer, should be able to reproduce the original master quality of the studio.

What are the differences between MP3, FLAC and other audio formats?

Digital audio has been around for a long time, so there will surely be a host of audio formats. Here are some of the most common, what sets them apart and what they should be used for.

FLAC vs MP3

Before talking about everyday audio formats, it’s important that you understand the basics, and that means you understand PCM. Then we will move to compressed formats.

FLAC vs MP3

PCM audio: where it all begins

Pulse code modulation was created in 1937 and is the best approximation to analog audio. That is, an analog waveform is approximated at regular intervals. PCM is characterized by two properties: sample rate and bit depth. The sample rate measures the frequency (in times per second) that the amplitude of the waveform is measured and the bit depth measures the possible digital values. In terms of audio formats, this is basically the basics.

Where the sound is continuous in the real world. This is not the case in the digital world. In some ways this is more confusing for audio than video, so let’s take a look at the video as a comparison. What we interpret as ‘movement’ or think of ‘flowing’ and being in constant motion is actually a series of still images. Also, the amplitude of sound waves in digital format is not “smooth” or constantly changing. It changes based on certain criteria at predefined intervals.

I know there are many things here that may not be second nature unless you are an engineer, physicist, or audiophile, so let’s take a closer look with an analogy. Let’s say the water flowing from an open tap is your “analog” audio source. We can compare the temperature of the water with the amplitude of an audio wave; It is a property that must be measured so that you can enjoy it properly. Sampling is the number of times per second that you dip your finger into running water. The more times you insert your finger, the more “continuous” the temperature changes will be. If you dip your finger into running water 44,100 times per second, it’s almost like staying under it all the time, right? That is the basic idea behind sampling.

As mentioned above, PCM is the foundation of digital audio along with its variants. PCM tries to model a waveform, to the most of its uncompressed glory. It’s special, it’s ready to be caught in a digital signal processor, and it’s more or less universally playable. Most other formats manipulate audio through algorithms, so they must be decoded during playback. PCM audio is considered “lossless”, it is not compressed and therefore takes up a lot of hard disk space.

Uncompressed packet: WAV, AIFF

Both WAV and AIFF are PCM-based lossless audio container formats, with some minor changes to data storage. PCM audio comes in these formats for most people, depending on whether you’re using Windows or OS X, and they can be converted to each other with no loss of quality. Both are also considered “lossless”, are uncompressed, and are a stereo (2ch) PCM audio file sampled at 44.1 kHz (or 44100 times per second) at 16 bits (“CD quality”) approximately 10 MB per minute. If you are recording at home with a view to mixing, this is what you will want to use as it is of the highest quality.

Lossless Formats

Lossless formats: FLAC, ALAC, APE The free lossless audio codec, Apple’s lossless audio codec, and Monkey’s audio are all formats that compress audio, the same way everything compresses in the digital world: using algorithms. The difference between compressed files and FLAC files is that FLAC is specifically designed for audio, so it has better compression rates without data loss. Usually you will see about half the size of WAVs. In other words, a “CD quality” stereo sound FLAC file runs at about 5MB per minute.

The downside is that if you want to manipulate the audio, you can convert it to WAV.
no loss of quality

. If you are an audiophile and listen to a lot of music with dynamic range, these formats are for you. If you have a large set of speakers, cans, or earplugs, these sizes will cast the tones to show them off. Loss formats: MP3, AAC, WMA, Vorbis Image through

Lossy Formats

Most of the formats you see in everyday use are “lossy”; some degree of audio quality is sacrificed for a significant increase in file size. An average “CD quality” MP3 runs about 1MB per minute. Big difference from PCM, right? This is called compression, but unlike lossless formats, if you remove it in lossy formats, you won’t really be able to get that quality back. Different lossy formats use different algorithms to store data, so they generally vary in file size for comparable quality. Lossy formats also use bitrate to refer to audio quality, which is generally seen as “192 kbit / s” or “192 kbps.” Higher numbers mean more data is being pumped in, so there is more retention of details. Here are some details of the most popular formats: MP3: MPEG 1 Audio Layer 3, the most common lossy audio codec. Despite a ton of patent issues, it’s still incredibly popular. Who doesn’t lie about MP3s?

Vorbis – A free and open source lossy format most commonly used in PC games like Unreal Tournament 3. FOSS fans, like many Linux users, are sure to see a lot of this format.

AAC – Advanced Audio Coding, a standardized format now used with MPEG4 video. It is highly supported due to its compatibility with DRM (eg Apple’s FairPlay), its improvements over MP3, and because no license is required to stream or distribute content in this format. Apple fans probably have enough on AAC.
WMA: Windows Media Audio, Microsoft’s lossy audio format. It was developed and used to avoid licensing issues with the MP3 format, but due to major enhancements and DRM support, as well as lossless implementation, it still exists. It was very popular before iTunes became the champion of DRMed music.
Loss formats are what you use for all the things you listen to and save. They are designed to save hard drive space. The format you choose will depend on the digital audio player you use, the amount of space you have, the size of a high-quality nitpicker, and many excessive variables. Today computers will play anything, most audio players (except Apple, of course) will create multiple lossy formats, and more and more do FLAC and APE. Apple keeps MP3, ALAC and AAC.

Isn’t the audio quality subjective?

It absolutely is. Ultimately, it’s the ears that consume the most of these things, but that’s all the more reason to think about quality seriously. When I started building my digital music collection, I couldn’t really tell the difference between 128 kbit MP3s and audio CDs. In my ears there was no noticeable difference. However, over time, I realized that 256 kbit sounded much better, and after getting some really nice (and expensive!) Headphones, I went back to audio CDs full time! It also depends on the genre of music.

There are TONS of variables here folks, make no mistake about it. It was a while before I decided to use FLAC for some music and 320kbps MP3 for the rest. The point I’m trying to make is that you have to experiment to see what works best for you and your music, but keep in mind that as your tastes change, your perceptions, your gear, and the importance of quality will change as well. And all of this gets even more complicated when you’re not just talking about music, but also voice tracks, sound effects, white and brown noise, etc. There’s a whole world of sounds out there, so don’t be discouraged! If you learn what you can do and listen to yourself, you can use this information to leverage your future audio projects. I leave you with the best advice I’ve ever received: “Do what sounds good.”

FLAC versus MP3: Does it make sense to use a “lossless” audio codec?

Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) is an audio format that is unknown to the public, but is particularly loved by the most demanding audiophiles: unlike MP3, AAC and their partners, FLAC is lossless, which means that it compresses audio with no loss of information. The advantage is the superior quality and the certainty that a 1: 1 copy of the original can only be made from the files. The disadvantage is that the tracks “weigh” significantly more. Is it a winning engagement or not?

Let’s go to the conclusions

If you have original, rare and / or valuable audio recordings that you want to keep indefinitely for years (even if the original media wear out), FLAC is the optimal choice.

But if you only make it a matter of quality, think twice about it: it might not be worth it.

Never convert from MP3 to FLAC – it would take up extra space for free.

FLAC is … an audio codec

Let’s start with FLAC being an audio codec: that is, it is used to compress music or other sound sequences so that they take up less space than storing the same information directly.

To get an idea of how basic this is, keep in mind that an hour of uncompressed audio (no video) takes 620MB.

FLAC is … “free”

Then there is the word “free” which should be interpreted as “free” and “free”. FLAC is distributed in open source mode (GPL license). This means that its specifications can be used by anyone without paying any commission.

In contrast, there are MP3s that must be used within software and device manufacturers by Thomson Consumer Electronics and the Fraunhofer Society.

FLAC is … lossless

The third aspect concerns the type of compression used. While MP3 and AAC reduce the weight of the file by permanently eliminating frequencies and nuances that are generally unrecognizable to the human ear, FLAC retains every last bit present in the source and then applies only a number of specific optimizations, before the file is saved result in reducing the size on the hard drive. When the file is opened, however, the process is reversed and FLAC returns the original audio perfectly.

The procedure is similar in many ways to that of compressing in zip format: when the file is unpacked, we get the perfectly preserved initial file again. The difference is that FLAC was specially developed for working with audio and significantly reduced the size of the source file.

Lossless = quality + flexibility

Audiophiles complain that the “cuts” in the MP3 codec are too heavy and that the quality is unacceptably affected. In contrast, the performance at FLAC corresponds 100% to the original “master”.

Added to this is the aspect of optimal data storage: FLAC supporters point out that a “ripped” CD in this format can later be recreated from the files themselves and that a bit-by-bit result is achieved that corresponds to the original. However, the same procedure used for MP3 extraction would produce a different, lower quality disc.

The disadvantages: size and compatibility

The disadvantage is that FLAC files in megabytes are much heavier than compressing them with MP3. Although the actual efficiency depends on the sound characteristics of the respective source, an average reduction of 40-50% can be expected: For example, an hour of audio ranges from approximately 600 MB of the uncompressed format to 300 MB in the optimal case

With MP3, compression is much more intensive – the same hour of compressed audio at 160 kbps (or very high quality anyway) is expected to be around 70 MB.

Then there is the compatibility problem: MP3 is natively compatible with any Smart TV, radio, PC, smartphone or media player that is still in circulation. FLAC, on the other hand, can only be played natively on Android, Linux and Windows 10. On the other platforms, if possible, you need to download a dedicated player or convert songs in advance.

Impossible to detect the difference between MP3 and FLAC

New comparative study carried out by experts debunks the myth that the FLAC sound (Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) or Codec free lossless audio compression, is considerably better than that obtained in MP3 or AAC files.

According to Wikipedia, FLAC is a format of the Ogg project to encode audio without loss of quality; that is, the initial file can be completely recomposed, although with the disadvantage that the resulting file takes up much more space than would be obtained by applying lossy compression.

Other formats, such as MP3 or ACC (Advanced Audio Coding), irreversibly lose part of the original information when compressing the file, in exchange for a great saving in file size.

The site Trusted Reviews has published an analysis called “Sounds Good to Me”, the conclusion of which is that there is no considerable difference in sound in FLAC and MP3, at least for the average user’s auditory perception.

In their study, Trusted Reviews made the assumption that there is a difference, and that people with developed hearing abilities could hear the difference between a 192 kbps MP3 file and a FLAC file, both obtained from the same original CD.

Only one user notices the difference between Mp3 and FLAC

The previous assumption was not confirmed in the facts, since among the seven people who participated in the analysis there was only one who detected the difference between FLAC and MP3. In many cases, MP3 at a rate of 192 kpbs had a higher score than FLAC.

This result was further strengthened when comparing 320 kbps MP3 files with FLAC files, since half answered correctly, and half were wrong. The percentage of participants who preferred MP3 was even higher.

The trial used an iBasso D3 Python USB DAC and Beyer Dynamic DT770 Pro headphones.

It should be noted that studies of this type have a certain margin of error. According to experts in comparisons such as the one carried out by Trusted Reviews, there are psychological factors, such as many users quickly forgetting their perception of what they have just heard, so the order in which the test is carried out is highly relevant. Non-expert users are also influenced by their mood and, in fact, by the music they listen to.