Format War: Your Favorite Lossless Format

FLAC, because in a comparison done some time ago (on HA, I think) it was found to be the best lossless codec overall - good compression, low CPU usage, fairly robust......

Another nice thing about FLAC is that you can put it in an OGG container.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Eleo

But the audio quality of a 320kbps mp3 is audibly identical to a lossless file; ie no normal human can hear the removed frequencies. Thus I can think of no reason why you would want to place lossless audio on a portable device when mp3s accomplish the same ends and save disk space.

Actually, there are plenty of instances where a lossy encoding will sound very different from the original. To put it really simply, these are cases where the encoder screws up.

Search HydrogenAudio and you'll find a list of "problem samples" which are known to give encoders trouble.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Eleo

"Plenty of instances", or "a small chance that"?

A very real chance.

Originally Posted by Kaiten

If I recall correctly, LAME (and the mp3 format itself) has trouble handling audio data above 16kHz. 320kbps is a waste of space for me, VBR or Lossless.

Correct.

Quote:

And since Monkey's Audio is slowly picking up again (with Linux decoders working), I see a bright future for it. All I want now is native ReplayGain and better seeking, and I'll never need to see FLAC on my HDD ever again.

Never gonna happen. That's how APE squeezes the extra 1 or 2% out of its encodings: by completely neglecting to have the kind of structure that makes fast seeking possible.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.