Re: Is FLAC really lossless? / Do compression settings make a difference?
Reply #30 – 2018-09-14 12:50:54
Okay, I just had to create an account in case someone like me wants to find out if FLAC is truly lossless and ends up in this crazy thread. None of the commands recommended to the OP have any relevance to whether or not the FLAC files are going to have the same quality as the original .wav or .aif files. They will merely show whether or not the different compression settings for the FLAC files contain the same amount of information when output. To find out if your original files and FLAC files are identical in quality (which they should always be), all you have to do is import the two files on separate tracks in any DAW (even Audacity, which is free),, and invert the phase on one. When you play the play the file, you should hear absolutely nothing. This is the only sure fire way to be positive you are getting exactly the same thing with the FLAC file as you are the .wav or .aif files. Phase inversion will cancel the audio signal out completely. This is how noise cancellation headphones work. If you've placed both files at the exact beginning of the project, leave all the volume and panning controls alone, and do nothing but invert one file, silence will tell you that you've got a perfect copy of your original. Anything you hear is different in one file or the other. Just be careful if you use Audacity not to do anything with your original files. Changes you make with it are permanent. It's a destructive editor, meaning that it actually applies the changes you make in the program to the file you placed in it. This is absurd and meaningless. First of all, there is not going to be any difference between the original file and the flac file, because flac is in fact a lossless format. And if you really need to see proof of that, you can simply decode a flac file and compare it to the original:$ flac -o flacfile.flac original.wav $ flac -o decoded.wav -d flacfile.flac $ $ sha256sum original.wav decoded.wav ccae65206b1b5320a7e19cc90c3b8ac8bb73d335be013e884bae7dcca3343c9d original.wav ccae65206b1b5320a7e19cc90c3b8ac8bb73d335be013e884bae7dcca3343c9d decoded.wav $