Lossless comparison

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 post 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.

Comparison Table

Features	Template:Turquoise ALAC	Template:Turquoise FLAC	Template:Turquoise Monkey's	Template:Turquoise OptimFROG	Template:Turquoise RealLossless	Template:Turquoise Shorten
Encoding speed	average	fast	fast	slow	average	very fast
Decoding speed	very fast	very fast	fast	slow	fast	very fast
Compression*	58,50%	58,70%	55,50%	54,70%		63,50%
Flexibility**	bad	very good	very good	very good	bad	bad
Error handling		yes	yes	yes		no
Seeking	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Tagging	QT tags	FLAC tags	ID3/APE	ID3/APE	Proprietary	no
Hardware support	yes	yes	no	no	no	no
Software support	bad	very good	good	average	bad	very good
Hybrid/lossy	no	no	no	yes	no	no
ReplayGain	sort of	yes	no	no	no	no
RIFF chunks		no	yes	yes		yes
Streaming	yes	yes		yes	yes	no
Pipe support	no	yes	yes	yes	no	yes
Open source	Yes (decoding)	yes	yes	no	no	yes
Multichannel	no	yes	no	no	no	no
High resolution	no	yes	yes	yes	no	no
OS support	Win/Mac	All	All	Win/Linux	Win/Mac/Linux	All
Features	Template:Turquoise WavPack	Template:Turquoise WMA	Template:Turquoise LA	Template:Turquoise TTA	Template:Turquoise LPAC
Encoding speed	very fast	average	slow	very fast	average
Decoding speed	very fast	average	slow	very fast	very fast
Compression*	58%	56,30%	53,50%	57,10%	57,20%
Flexibility**	very good	bad	average	bad	bad
Error handling	yes	yes		no	no
Seeking	yes	yes	yes	yes	slow
Tagging	ID3/APE	Proprietary	ID3v1	ID3	no
Hardware support	no	no	no	yes	no
Software support	good	good	bad	average	average
Hybrid/lossy	yes	no	no	no	no
ReplayGain	yes	no	no	yes	no
RIFF chunks	yes	no	yes	no	yes
Streaming	yes	yes		no	no
Pipe support	yes	yes	yes	no
Open source	yes	no	no	yes	no
Multichannel	yes	yes	no	yes	no
High resolution	yes	yes	no	yes	yes
OS support	All	Win/Mac	Win/Linux	All	Win/Linux/Sol

* Encoding speed, Decoding speed and Compression ratio are based on each encoder's default settings.

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

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

==ALAC - Apple Lossless Audio Codec== 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 (decoding only)
• Hardware support (iPod, AirPort Express)
• Streaming support
• Tagging support (QT tags)
• Excellent hardware-software-lossy format integration with iTunes/iPod.

ALAC CONS

• Closed source (encoding)
• Few software support (iTunes)
• Doesn't support multichannel audio and high resolutions
• Compression efficiency not on par with other lossless codecs
• No hybrid/lossy mode

ALAC Other features

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

==FLAC - Free Lossless Audio Codec== http://flac.sourceforge.net/

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

FLAC PROS

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

FLAC CONS

• Relatively slow encoding
• No hybrid/lossy mode
• Doesn't support RIFF chunks

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!

==LPAC== http://www.nue.tu-berlin.de/wer/liebchen/lpac.html

Lossless Predictive Audio Coder (LPAC) is a lossless codec developed by Tilman Liebchen. Development of it has been halted in favour of development of MPEG4 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== http://www.monkeysaudio.com/

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

APE PROS

• Open source
• High efficiency
• Good software support
• Error robustness
• 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

• No multichannel support
• No hybrid/lossy mode
• No hardware support
• Doesn't support ReplayGain

APE Other features

• Supports embedded APL sheets (similar to CUE sheets)

==OptimFROG== http://losslessaudiocompression.com/

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== 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

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== 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://tta.corecodec.org/

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 (ID3v2)
• ReplayGain compatible

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== http://www.wavpack.com/

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

WV PROS

• Open source
• Very fast decoding
• Good efficiency
• Error robustness
• Streaming support
• 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

• No hardware support

WV Other features

• Supports embedded CUE sheets
• Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
• Can encode in both symmetrical and assymmetrical modes.

==Windows Media Audio Lossless== 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
• Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions.
• Tagging support (proprietary)
• Pipe support

WMAL CONS

• Closed source
• No hybrid/lossy mode
• No hardware support (but it's likely to appear sooner or later)
• Doesn't support RIFF chunks
• Doesn't support ReplayGain

WMAL Other features

• Fits the ASF container

Links

Some links to lossless format compression comparisions:

Hans Heijden's (used as reference to build the table)

Speek's

Guruboolez's - comparing only classical music.

Go to the Hydrogenaudio thread to discuss this article.