Lossless Audio
Lossless Audio (La) is a lossless audio codec developed 2002 to 2004 by Michael Bevin, for the Windows and Linux/x86 platforms.
La is available as closed-source freeware with a graphical front-end and plugins for Winamp/XMMS and foobar2000; its foobar2000 plugin truncates the end of files and should be avoided. The developer has left this issue unfixed since 2004, indicating that La could be considered abandonware.
La might have been the highest compressing lossless encoder, though in some comparisons rivaled by OptimFrog at its highest and even slower settings (and also Sac, an ultra-slow experimental compressor never used for playback). Both encoding and decoding are CPU-intensive. It is limited to 16 bit input. Whether this is a limitation to the format or to the current encoder is unknown but - hardly relevant, with the software being closed-source and unmaintained and no format specification being available.
Additional Reading
- Official website
- Lossless Codec Comparison originally by Rjamorim, with links to comparison tests.
- HA forum thread describing how to decode LA files with foobar2000 using la.exe instead of the buggy plugin
| Audio codecs: type/usage | for end-users to encode | on physical media etc. | legacy formats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lossless | (Uncompr. LPCM) • ALAC • FLAC • Monkey's Audio • MPEG-4 ALS • OptimFROG • TAK • TTA • WavPack | MLP/Dolby TrueHD | La • LPAC/LTAC • RealAudio Lossless • RK Audio • Shorten • WMA Lossless • (others) |
| Lossy | (ADPCM formats) • AAC • AC-3 • MP2 • MP3 • Musepack • Opus • Vorbis | AC-3 • DTS • (Bluetooth codecs) | ATRAC • QDesign • Real Audio • RK Audio (lossy modes) • Speex • VQF • WMA |
| Hybrid lossless&lossy | OptimFROG DualStream • WavPack | DTS-HD MA • MPEG-4 SLS | ATRAC Advanced Lossless • mp3HD |