Lossless comparison: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:28, 1 April 2014

The lossless comparison page aims to gather information about lossless codecs available so users can make an informed decision as to what lossless codec to choose for their needs.

Introduction

Given the enormous amount of lossless audio compressor choices available, it is a very difficult task to choose the one most suited for each person's needs.

Several people only take into consideration compression performance when choosing a codec. But as the following table and article shows, there are several other features worth taking into consideration when making that choice.

For example, users wanting good multiplatform compatibility and robustness (e.g., people sharing live recordings) would favour WavPack or FLAC. Another user, looking for the very highest compression available, would go with OptimFROG. Someone wanting portable support would use FLAC or ALAC, and so on.

En fin, this is not a matter worth getting too worked up about. If you later find out the codec you chose isn't the best for your needs, you can just transcompress to another format, without risk of losing quality.

Note: for latest comparison of lossless compression, scroll down to the Links section of this page.

Comparison Table

Features	FLAC	WavPack	TAK	Monkey's	OptimFROG	ALAC	WMA
Encoding speed^[A]	very fast	very fast	very fast	fast	slow	fast	fast
Decoding speed^[A]	very fast	fast	very fast	slow	very slow	fast	average
Compression^[A]	57.0%	57.1%	56.0%	55.1%	54.6%	57.8%	58.4%
Flexibility^[B]	very good	very good	very good	very good	very good	bad	bad

Error handling^[C]	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	no	yes
Seeking	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Tagging	Vorbis tags	ID3/APE	APEv2 (exp.)	ID3/APE	ID3/APE	iTunes	ASF
Hardware support	very good	limited	no	limited	no	good	limited
Software support	very good	good	average	good	average	average	good
Hybrid/lossy	LossyWAV	yes	LossyWAV	no	yes	no	LossyWAV
ReplayGain	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	sort of	no
RIFF chunks	yes	yes		yes	yes		no
Streaming	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	yes	yes
Pipe support	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Open source	yes	yes	no	yes	no	yes	no
Multichannel	yes	yes	yes	no	no	yes	yes
High resolution	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
OS support	All	All	Win/Linux Wine	All	Win/Mac/Linux	All	Win/Mac

(table continued below)

Features	Shorten	LA	TTA	MPEG-4 ALS	MPEG-4 SLS	Real Lossless
Encoding speed*	very fast	very slow	fast	average	slow	slow
Decoding speed*	fast	very slow	average	fast	slow	very fast
Compression*	62.3%	53.3%	56.6%	56.6%	?	~56%
Flexibility**	bad	average	bad	very good	bad	bad

Error handling	no	no	yes	yes	yes
Seeking	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Tagging	no	ID3v1	ID3	yes	yes	proprietary
Hardware support	limited	no	limited	no	no	no
Software support	very good	bad	average	bad	bad	bad
Hybrid/lossy	no	no	no	LossyWAV	yes	no
ReplayGain	no	no	yes	yes	yes	no
RIFF chunks	yes	yes	no
Streaming	no		no	yes	yes	yes
Pipe support	yes	yes	no			no
Open source	yes	no	yes	yes	yes	no
Multichannel	no	no	yes	yes	yes	no
High resolution	no	no	yes	yes	yes	no
OS support	All	Win/Linux	All	All	All	Win/Mac/Linux

^A The Compression ratio is calculated with the division of compressed size by uncompressed size * 100. So, lower is better. Encoding speed, Decoding speed and Compression ratio are based on each encoder's default settings and are taken from the most recent lossless codec comparison mentioned at the links section of this page. Encoding speed is very fast if > 150x, fast if >75x, average if >40x, slow if >20x, very slow if <20x. Decoding speed is similar but thresholds are doubled, i.e., very fast if >300x, fast if >150x etc. Thresholds for compression are at 56% and 58%

^B Flexibility refers to the amount of encoding choices offered to the users (Fast/low compression, Slow/high compression and everything inbetween)

^C Error handling means that a codec can detect a corruption in a file and warn the user about it, but still decode most of the file, only leaving a small gap of silence where the error was detected. Corruption in this sense means bits that are flipped, not removed

These are the most popular lossless codecs, in alphabetical order:

Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC)

http://www.apple.com/itunes/import.html

ALAC is a codec developed by Apple for usage in iPod and AirPort Express.

ALAC pros

Very fast decoding
Open source (encoding and decoding via FFmpeg and CUETools, decoding only via a standalone decoder)
Hardware support (iPod, AirPort Express)
Streaming support
Tagging support (QT tags)
Excellent hardware-software-lossy format integration with iTunes/iPod.
Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions

ALAC cons

Limited software support
No error detection/robustness
No hybrid/lossy mode

ALAC Other features

Fits in the MP4 container
Can be used with the AirPort Express gadget

Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)

https://xiph.org/flac/

FLAC is a lossless codec developed by Josh Coalson. It's part of the Xiph multimedia portfolio, along with Ogg, Vorbis, Speex and Theora.

FLAC pros

Open source
Very fast decoding
Fast encoding
Hardware support (Karma, Phatbox, etc.)
Very good software support
Error robustness
Streaming support
Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
Tagging support (FLAC tags)
Supports RIFF chunks
Pipe support
ReplayGain compatible

FLAC cons

No hybrid/lossy mode
No support in iTunes (or other Apple products)

FLAC Other features

Supports embedded CUE sheets (with limitations)
Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
Fits the Ogg and Matroska containers

LosslessAudio (LA)

http://www.lossless-audio.com/

LA is a lossless codec developed by Michael Bevin.

LA pros

Very high compression
Tagging support (ID3v1)
Supports RIFF chunks
Pipe support

LA cons

Closed source
Very slow encoding and decoding
Doesn't support multichannel audio and high resolutions
No hardware support
No hybrid/lossy mode
Bad software support
Doesn't support ReplayGain

It's important to mention that the LA foobar plugin is buggy and doesn't produce lossless streams!

Lossless Predictive Audio Coder (LPAC)

LPAC website

Lossless Predictive Audio Coder (LPAC) is a lossless codec developed by Tilman Liebchen. Development of it has been halted in favour of development of MPEG-4 ALS.

LPAC pros

Reasonable compression ratios
High resolution audio support
Supports RIFF chunks

LPAC cons

Closed source
No error robustness
Slow seeking
No tagging
No multichannel support
No hybrid/lossy mode
No hardware support
Doesn't support ReplayGain

Monkey's Audio (APE)

http://www.monkeysaudio.com/

Monkey's Audio is a very efficient lossless compressor developed by Matt Ashland.

APE pros

High efficiency
Good software support
Simple and user friendly. Official GUI provided.
Java version (multiplatform)
Tagging support (ID3v1, APE tags)
High resolution audio support
Supports RIFF chunks (only in the GUI encoder)
Pipe support (only in a special version)

APE cons

Problematic license (source provided, no modification or redistribution rights)
No multichannel support
No error robustness
No hybrid/lossy mode
Limited hardware support (Rockbox, some Cowon players); poor battery life due to complicated decoding MP3 player benchmarks
Higher compression levels are extremely CPU intensive
Doesn't support ReplayGain

APE Other features

Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
Supports APL image link files (similar to CUE sheets)

MPEG-4 SLS

MPEG-4 SLS allows audio encoding from lossless scalable to AAC.

SLS pros

Transcoding to standard AAC or any higher lossy bitrate at the speed of copying a file
Scalable decoding from lossless, to any bitrate down to the AAC core track
Best lossless compression available when you count the AAC track (~5% gain over any other lossless compression + AAC)
High resolution audio support
Multi channel audio support
Open source (MPEG-4 Reference code)
Embedded in standard MP4 files, so supports same tagging and ReplayGain features as AAC does.

SLS cons

No usable software available yet
Pure lossless compression not the best there is
Seems to be slow in encoding and decoding, but we have to wait for released software

SLS Other features

Transform based lossless codec with optional LC AAC core track

OptimFROG (OFR)

http://www.losslessaudio.org/

OptimFROG is a lossless format developed by Florin Ghido to become the champion in audio compression.

OFR pros

Very high compression
Good software support
Error robustness
Streaming support
Supports high resolutions
Hybrid/lossy mode
Tagging support (ID3, APE tags)
Supports RIFF chunks
ReplayGain compatible

OFR cons

Closed source
No multichannel audio support
No hardware support
Quite slow decoding

OFR Other features

Supports 32bit float streams
Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking

RealAudio Lossless (RAL)

http://www.realnetworks.com/products/codecs/realaudio.html

RealAudio lossless is the lossless codec developed by Real Networks for their multimedia portfolio

RAL pros

Very fast decoding
Streaming support
Tagging support (proprietary)

RAL cons

Closed source
No multichannel and high resolution audio support
Little software support (Real Player)
No hardware support
Compression efficiency not on par with other lossless codecs
No hybrid/lossy mode
No pipe support
Doesn't support ReplayGain

Shorten (SHN)

http://www.etree.org/shnutils/shorten/

Shorten is a very old and featureless lossless codec developed by Tony Robinson at SoftSound.

SHN pros

Open source
Fast decoding
Very good software support
Supports RIFF chunks
Pipe support

SHN cons

Quite inefficient
No multichannel or high resolution audio support
No hybrid/lossy mode
No error robustness
Not streamable
No hardware support
No native tagging
Doesn't support ReplayGain

True Audio (TTA)

http://www.true-audio.com/

TTA is a new lossless codec developed by a team of russian programmers.

TTA pros

Open source
Good efficiency
Hardware support (obscure DVD player)
Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
Tagging support (ID3)
ReplayGain compatible
Error robustness

TTA cons

No streaming support
No hybrid/lossy mode
Doesn't support RIFF chunks
No pipe support

TTA Other features

Fits the Matroska container

WavPack (WV)

http://www.wavpack.com/

WavPack is a fast and featureful lossless codec developed by David Bryant.

WV pros

Open source
Very fast decoding
Very fast encoding
Good efficiency
Error robustness
Streaming support
Hardware support (RockBox)
Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
Hybrid/lossy mode
Tagging support (ID3v1, APE tags)
Supports RIFF chunks
Ability to create self extracting files for Win32 platform
Pipe support
Good software support
ReplayGain compatible

WV cons

Limited hardware player support

WV Other features

Supports 32bit float streams
Supports embedded CUE sheets
Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
Can encode in both symmetrical and asymmetrical modes.
Fits the Matroska container

Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMAL)

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/codecs/audio.aspx

WMA Lossless is the lossless codec developed by Microsoft to be featured in their Windows Media codec portfolio.

WMAL pros

Streaming support
Very good software support
Hardware support (All Microsoft Zunes though older models may need firmware updates, also supported by some non-Microsoft devices like the Gigabeat V and S line from Toshiba.
Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions.
Tagging support (proprietary)
Pipe support

WMAL cons

Closed source
No hybrid/lossy mode
Doesn't support RIFF chunks
Doesn't support ReplayGain

WMAL Other features

Fits the ASF container

Oddball Formats

There are several old lossless formats that aren't being featured in the article above. Reasons are: lack of widespread support, lack of features, bad efficiency and, most importantly, it seems no one is really interested in them.

Most of those would have disappeared by now, but they are being preserved for posterity at rjamorim's

Advanced Digital Audio (ADA)  

Bonk  

Marian's a-Pac  

AudioZip  

Dakx WAV  

Entis Lab MIO  

LiteWave  

Pegasus SPS 

RK Audio (RKAU)  

Sonarc  

VocPack  

WavArc  

WaveZip/MUSICompress

External links

Other lossless compressions comparisons

Sorted based on last update date.

Martijn van Beurden's comparison - tries to compare all codecs and settings with a balanced pool of music (last updated 2013-08-10)
Synthetic Soul's comparison (last update 2007-07-28)
~~Johan De Bock's speed oriented comparison~~ - best choices speedwise are indicated in green, mostly electronic music (last updated 2006-07-22)
~~Hans Heijden's~~ -- used as reference to build the table (last updated 2006-07-07)
Josef Pohm's comparison, hosted by Synthetic Soul (last update 2006-05-29)
Bobulous' lossless audio comparison — a look at six lossless formats in terms of speed and file size (last updated 2006-05-22)
~~Jhan De Bock's size oriented comparison~~ - aimed only at the maximum compression setting for each codec (based on a somewhat limited set of samples, however) (last updated 2006-05-19)
~~Gruboolez'~~ -- comparing only classical music (last updated 2005-02-27)
Speek's (last updated 2005-02-07)

More on lossless compressions

The Lossless Audio Blog, retrieved from archive.org - by windmiller, is a reliable and complete source of news about lossless compression.
Go to the Hydrogenaudio thread to discuss this article.

[A]

[B]

[C]

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 | width="95px" style="background: #00FFFF" | WMA
 |-
-|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Encoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|^}}
+|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Encoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
 | style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
 | style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 | style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
 |-
-|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Decoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|^}}
+|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Decoding speed{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
 | style="background: #00FF00" | very fast
 | style="background: #CCFFCC" | fast
@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
 | style="background: #FFFFFF" | average
 |-
-|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Compression{{ref label|speed|A|^}}
+|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Compression{{ref label|speed|A|A}}
 | style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.0%
 | style="background: #CCFFCC" | 57.1%
@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 | style="background: #FF9900" | 58.4%
 |-
-|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Flexibility{{ref label|flex|B|^}}
+|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Flexibility{{ref label|flex|B|B}}
 | style="background: #00FF00" | very good
 | style="background: #00FF00" | very good
@@ Line 63: / Line 63: @@
 |style="background: #FFFFFF" | &nbsp;
 |-
-|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Error handling{{ref label|error|C|^}}
+|align="left" style="background: #FFFF99" | Error handling{{ref label|error|C|C}}
 | style="background: #00FF00" | yes
 | style="background: #00FF00" | yes