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What is FLAC?

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio architecture agnate to MP3, but it is a lossless encoding format, acceptation that audio is aeroembolism in FLAC after any accident in quality.

FLAC is different as it is the fastest and best broadly accurate lossless audio codec, and the alone one that at already is non-proprietary, and is not patented. It has an open-source advertence implementation, and is a able-bodied accurate architecture and API, and has several added absolute implementations.

Being a lossless compression format, FLAC does not abolish any abstracts from the audio stream, as lossy encoding formats such as MP3, AAC, and Vorbis do.

As with best lossless compression methods, FLAC's capital advantage is the abridgement of bandwidth or accumulator requirements, but after sacrificing the affection of the audio source. For example, a raw agenda recording encoded to FLAC can be extracted into an identical archetype of the audio data. Audio sources encoded to FLAC are about bargain to 40 to 50 percent of the aboriginal audio data.

Similar to any lossless format, FLAC is additionally a accepted annal architecture for owners of CDs and added media who ambition to bottle their audio collections. If the aboriginal audio abstracts is absent or damaged, a FLAC archetype of the audio advance guarantees that an exact archetype of the aboriginal abstracts can be recovered at any time. An exact apology from a lossy annal (like the MP3 format) of the aboriginal audio abstracts is impossible. A FLAC book can optionally be created back ripping a CD. If a CD is apprehend and ripped into the FLAC format, the FLAC book can after be austere into an audio CD that is a absolute replica of the aboriginal audio CS data, including clue order, pregaps, and CD-Text. However, added abstracts present on some audio CDs such as lyrics and CD+G cartoon are above the ambit of a FLAC book and best ripping programs, and the abstracts will not be stored. FLAC's chargeless and accessible antecedent attributes makes it accurate by aboundingcomputer application applications. However, FLAC playback abutment in carriageable audio players and added systems is bound at this moment.

The FLAC architecture was aboriginal programmed Josh Coalson.

On January 29, 2003, Xiphophorus (now the Xiph.Org Foundation) had declared the affiliation of FLAC beneath their banner, calm with added formats such as Vorbis, Speex, etc.

FLAC has been accurately advised for able compression and packing of audio data, clashing accepted lossless algorithms such as ZIP and gzip. While ZIP may abbreviate a CD affection audio book by 10 - 20 percent, FLAC achieves compression ante of 30 - 50 percent for best music, with decidedly greater compression for articulation recordings.

Lossy codec formats can accomplish compression ratios of 80% or added by auctioning abstracts from the aboriginal stream. The capital backbone of FLAC compared to added lossless codecs is its adeptness to be streamed and decoded instantly, whatever may be the compression level.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has taken up the FLAC architecture for its Euroradio arrangement for the administration of aerial affection Internet audio.