the result is NOT the same as playing the WAV or AIFF file. the result is the same as playing the WAV or AIFF file, a FLAC file converted on the fly (as when listening to the file via foobar2000) there can often be a loss in sound quality, i.e. Currently that's not the case.ĭon't forget to mention that an ALAC file converted on the fly (as when listening to the file via iTunes) with no loss in sound quality, i.e. But before I ever consider all the work that entails, the files I work from will have to be a majority of 24-bit/196 khz sourced, or all that effort is wasted. Unless Apple gets on-board with the times, I will eventuall migrate to the higher resolution format. encode it at 24-bit 196khz but it won't sound any better than the 16-bit 44.1 khz source file it came from.īottom line: I beleive FLAC is the wave of the future, but I am currently Apple based (MAC + iPod). While you can take a standard CD and encode it FLAC, but you won't get any higher resolution than where you started from. FLAC only matters if the source files are orginally higher resolution than the CD "standard" of 16 bit/44.1 khz and you have both the application and the playback system that handle FLAC.įLAC is DVD audio/SACD/Blu-ray quality, but the soucre files have to have been high resolution to start with. Shame on Apple.Īlmost all the new high resolution download services offer both FLAC and ALAC as an option. So I'm keeping an open mind for the future.įLAC can handle resolutions from 16 bit at 44.1 khz & 96 khz, 20 bits 44.1 (HDHC) & 96khz, all the way to 24 bits 196 khz, (SACD, DVD audio & Blu-Ray) it is compatible with almost every hi-end format except for iTunes. I have been using it this way for many years, and I've been happy, but new higher resolution formats (FLAC) are here and are much more widly accepted. If the sytem path you currently own will accept the iTunes app and that is all you intend to use it for, you are good-to-go. Converting between the two is also pretty straightforward so this isn't the $64k question it once was.Īpple losless is proprietory (but not limited) to Apple, ALAC is limited to 16 bits 44.1 khz. Otherwise I think most all replay environments support both and so it is probably moot. ITunes (vanilla) still doesn't support FLAC and I'm guessing that WMP (still) doesn't support ALAC. IIRC ALAC has some specific features to support Airplay streaming, but as far as substantive differences go that's about it.Īpple placed ALAC in the public domain under the Apache license a couple years ago (although not before a bunch of folks had spent a lot fo time and effort reverse engineering it), so now presumably all 3rd party devices are using encoders and decoders are based on the Apple source rather than the Hammerton/Brocious code (which still had some bugs in the hi rez code paths when I tuned out a few years ago). Both achieve a similar end by very similar means and there are absolutely no quality pros or cons that I am aware of. If you don’t want to compromise on audio quality, it’s clear that FLAC is the audio file format to use, and Elmedia Player can help you make the most of it.From a technical perspective there is really nothing to choose between FLAC and ALAC. As a consequence of FLAC’s superior performance, many digital music storefronts like Bandcamp offer file downloads to customers in the FLAC format. Additionally, FLAC supports tag information for album names, genres, lyrics, etc, that other lossless formats don’t. Although an FLAC song is around six times as large as an equivalent MP3, this is a trade-off that most audiophiles and music fans are happy to make to ensure they’re listening to music just as the artists intended. ![]() To provide users CD-quality audio fidelity with digital files, many lossless formats like Apple Lossless and Microsoft’s WAV were developed, but the open-source FLAC format is comfortably superior to these.įLAC’s compression allows for reduced file sizes for songs that are roughly half the size of the song data on a CD while still maintaining lossless sound quality. This is because the compression used by MP3 to reduce file sizes can distort the sounds of reverb, feedback, and other acoustic subtleties, which become particularly noticeable when files are played at high volumes or through sophisticated audio hardware. ![]() ![]() While MP3 might be the most popular format for digital audio, it certainly doesn’t provide the best sound quality.
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