Skip to main content

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: The oldest lossless codec? (Read 4410 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

The oldest lossless codec?

I was just curious, what was the first lossless format used to store music in files? Was it WavPack in 1998? How did it all start? Since I first encountered lossless in mid 2006 (FLAC or APE cannot remember), I had for sure missed the initial wave...


Re: The oldest lossless codec?

Reply #2
Wow, 1993... That is way ahead of time.

Re: The oldest lossless codec?

Reply #3
Comparison of audio coding formats.

ATRAC - 1991

I remember Shorten and OptimFROG as earliest for me in early 2000s. Didn't realise Shorten was so old.



Re: The oldest lossless codec?

Reply #6
Shorten was the oldest one in circulation for dedicated audio files I've ever seen.
I've seen people sharing PCM audio files packed with Zip or other lossless data compressors earlier though, which *technically* is also "lossless audio compression".

Re: The oldest lossless codec?

Reply #7
There are 32 and 64 bit compiles at Rarewares if anyone is interested in playing with it. :)

Re: The oldest lossless codec?

Reply #8
Several good data compressors other than zip included "multimedia" (delta, sound, picture) compression with decent ratio, but I don't know any that came before Shorten.


Re: The oldest lossless codec?

Reply #10
Interesting that since Shorten there wasn't any revolutionary change in lossless compression of audio.
http://www.audiograaf.nl/losslesstest/Lossless%20audio%20codec%20comparison%20-%20revision%204.pdf

It's not surprise that now FLAC is pretty standard and as for the rest of  newer lossless formats it's pretty "too little too late"

Rice coding is 50 years old at this point, so barring some unlikely fundamental mathematical breakthroughs, all codecs are going to be stuck on the same compression/performance curve. 

Re: The oldest lossless codec?

Reply #11
Wouldn't be (L)PCM be the or at least one of the oldest audio codec.

Re: The oldest lossless codec?

Reply #12
I remember something like wavzip or zipwav, late 90's. Also, Monkey's Audio.
Error 404; signature server not available.

 

Re: The oldest lossless codec?

Reply #13
Monkey's Audio does not predate Shorten.