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Poll

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Apple Lossless
[ 36 ] (5%)
FLAC
[ 377 ] (52.7%)
La
[ 4 ] (0.6%)
Monkey's Audio
[ 130 ] (18.2%)
OptimFROG
[ 7 ] (1%)
Shorten
[ 0 ] (0%)
TTA
[ 8 ] (1.1%)
WavPack
[ 106 ] (14.8%)
WMA Lossless
[ 14 ] (2%)
other (please specify)/I'm not into lossless at all
[ 33 ] (4.6%)

Total Members Voted: 950

Topic: What's your lossless codec of choice? (Read 129300 times) previous topic - next topic
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What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #75 –
What does the -SS setting do? I haven't heard of that one in FLAC before 

What's the apparent cut of point of benefits in FLAC (i.e. what's the level at which compression gains become very minimal/non-existent, while decode times seem to rise)

Thought it was around 2-, -3. But the dot points on an earlier graph weren't numbered, so I couldn't tell
<==== Hydrogen Audio Bomb

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #76 –
Quote
What does the -SS setting do? I haven't heard of that one in FLAC before  

What's the apparent cut of point of benefits in FLAC (i.e. what's the level at which compression gains become very minimal/non-existent, while decode times seem to rise)

Thought it was around 2-, -3. But the dot points on an earlier graph weren't numbered, so I couldn't tell
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You can figure out for yourself what the cutoff point is. Look at my previous graphs on this thread, for example, or look at [a href="http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=26859]this thread[/url] for my complete test. All my graphs' x-axis is encoding ratio (less is better) and y-axis is decoding speed (more is better).

As for "-SS", I'm sure you can figure it out too.
"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!" - Vroomfondel, H2G2

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #77 –
I use FLAC (good support and decompression times, my iAUDIO M3 also supports it now). However I voted La, because in every test (at least the ones I've seen) it has the best compression ratio's over any other lossless codec.

Hence theoretically making it the best for archiving purposes. Since lossless can be relatively easily transcoded I could turn it into a FLAC or lossy file for my DAP.

On the overall scale however, it's hard to disagree that FLAC is one of the best formats around
<==== Hydrogen Audio Bomb

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #78 –
Quote
However I voted La, because in every test (at least the ones I've seen) it has the best compression ratio's over any other lossless codec.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=256854"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

www.foobar2000.net/lossless

OptimFROG has a --bestnew mode, which is not always tested (much slower than LA -high). Apparently, this extra mode compress better than LA (at least with most classical CD).
Wavpack Hybrid: one encoder for all scenarios
WavPack -c4.5hx6 (44100Hz & 48000Hz) ≈ 390 kbps + correction file
WavPack -c4hx6 (96000Hz) ≈ 768 kbps + correction file
WavPack -h (SACD & DSD) ≈ 2400 kbps at 2.8224 MHz

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #79 –
WavPack 4.2 beta 3 using -hxm or -hb320xcm (hybrid). Native plugin support for Nero!
IBM T42 2378-FZU
Audigy 2 ZS Notebook
Shure E4 Earphones
foobar2000 0.9 b8

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #80 –
flac..... compression: 6

I like the format because it offers lossless-quality 

seriously: I decided for it, because most people use it and the differences to the 20 other lossless formats are rather small, it de-/encodes fast, offers fair compression and offers all the important features like fingerprinting, good tagging, etc.

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #81 –
I use FLAC, Monkey Audio and Wavpack
Monkey Audio is speedy in encoding and has higher compression ratio and is the most popular one.

FLAC is fast in decoding, which i think is more important than encoding speed, especially when you convert lossless files to uncompressed or lossy ones.

Both FLAC and Wavpack are opensource. Wavpack archieves good encoding speed and high compression ratio at the same time, but only available on win32 platform(any Linux version ?) . Input must be raw pcm, it seems...

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #82 –
Quote
Monkey Audio is (...) the most popular one.
A questionable opinion, if you look at the results of this very poll.

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #83 –
Quote
A questionable opinion, if you look at the results of this very poll.[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=259398"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


It's unwise to extrapolate the results of most polls held at HA.

If the polls here were representative, MPC would be the most popular format by far and nearly noone would be using WMA.

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #84 –
FLAC.  For me it's all about hardware compatibility.

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #85 –
Flac for me, used to be shn but i definitly like the quick decoding with flac

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #86 –
Quote
Momentarily I am using Monkey's Audio standard.

Good file size and perfect internal cuesheet support with foobar2000 are what won me over.

Although I am currently thinking about switching to wavpack.  It seems a very nice compromise between compression ratio and decoding speed for me.  Also internal cue sheet support works just as well with foobar2000 thanks to Case.  Furthermore I just somehow apperciate all the work Briant has put into this and was very impressed by the new 4.0 release.
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with his latest [a href="http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=27571&view=findpost&p=251282]beta[/url], you dont even need wapet for wavpack to support internal cue sheet now.  wavpack is great.  definately the best lossless for me.

edit: clarification
a windows-free, linux user since 1/31/06.

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #87 –
I originally voted Monkey's Audio but now I'm switching to WavPack (the process is quite painless with foobar).

Slightly worse compression but much faster decoding and seeking.

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #88 –
At the moment, my lossless codec of choice is WavPack.

I converted 20 gb of my FLACs into WavPack, and I got over a gigabyte of space back. 

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #89 –
I've been using APE, becuz of hte compression ratio. On my CPU (3.2Ghz P4) i dont see any differences in APE/FLAC on decode and i think the encode time for both are somewhat the same. APE(high)/FLAC(8) tho FLAC is a lil longer.

However after reading some more, i've come to maybe consider FLAC for its corruption tollerance stuff ...

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #90 –
FLAC. Nothing but FLAC. I've got the Monkey's Audio codec installed on dBpowerAMP, but only for one reason: so that if I acquire any file in Monkey's Audio, I can convert it to FLAC immediately.

Edit: I've just stumbled upon the thread starter's request to state reasons for one's preference. So:

Freedom and features. FLAC is free software, a good thing to propagate. It's the same reason why I use OpenOffice.org and its file formats, PNG rather than GIF, Vorbis and not MP3 etc. Regarding features, FLAC's frame-based encoding and, particularly, the resultant streamability of the files are big wins as far as I'm concerned.
FLAC – all your bit are belong to you

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #91 –
Wavpack for me, because it does not remove the RIFF sub-chunk data on the Wav files which makes it pretty convenient for musicians who want to backup the building blocks of their sound files, or samples and loops(which might be the main reason why Riff sub chunk data comes in really handy.)

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #92 –
I'm a FLAC-er, all the way. On my iPod, I just can't bring myself to use Apple Lossless; I feel guilty enough getting an iPod in the first place, with all the other sheeple. I'll be switched before I let myself get sucked into Apple any more than I already am, by using their proprietary lossless format.

What's more, the PhatBox by PhatNoise, a removable hard-drive-based car audio player, supports FLAC.

Plus, at some point, I want to get a streaming media server and the best ones support FLAC. Though Sonos, maker of some really cool audiophile-quality media serving products, supports Apple Lossless as well as FLAC. To my knowledge, Sonos offers the only products that, out of the box, support all Apple formats, Windows Media Audio, AND open-source formats FLAC and Vorbis. Sonos is at: http://www.sonos.com/?tref=logohome

Very, very tempting...

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #93 –
Quote
Wavpack for me, because it does not remove the RIFF sub-chunk data on the Wav files which makes it pretty convenient for musicians who want to backup the building blocks of their sound files, or samples and loops(which might be the main reason why Riff sub chunk data comes in really handy.)
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=332921"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


Same here. Though I won't be using RIFF chunks, why not have them instead of removing the data? Hence, my preference of Wavpack > FLAC

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #94 –
Flac all the way, Its open-source, incredibly fast, multi platform, supported on hardware devices. What more can you ask for in a codec.

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #95 –
I chose FLAC, because of the numerous platforms it as ported to, including hardware players. Also because it is free and takes little resources when decoding.

Not WavPack because you can't tell whether it's lossless or hybrid just by looking at the file extension. Others may not bother, but I do. Otherwise, it is a very promising codec packed with features and I guess it would come second for me.

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #96 –
Quote
I chose FLAC, because of the numerous platforms it as ported to, including hardware players. Also because it is free and takes little resources when decoding.

Not WavPack because you can't tell whether it's lossless or hybrid just by looking at the file extension. Others may not bother, but I do. Otherwise, it is a very promising codec packed with features and I guess it would come second for me.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=370704"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]



Wow that's a poor argument against Wavpack considering that plugins report the compression type. Besides, how on earth do you end up in lossy mode unless you specify a bitrate ?

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #97 –
I have to say FLAC. As far as I know there really isnt any one uber dominant lossless codec, so I had might as well support the one that is open source. Others are probably open source, but heh, I prefer FLAC.
And if you believe theres not a chance to die...

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #98 –
It used to be FLAC, but I need to be able to embed a cuesheet into an image (including title tags) in one step, so it is WavPack all the way for me now.
foobar2000 + EAC + Burrrn = Happiness
 

What's your lossless codec of choice?

Reply #99 –
Monkey's Audio @ Insane compression level for me. I use lossless audio for archival purposes, not for playback, so compression percentage performance is paramount to me.
EAC>1)fb2k>LAME3.99 -V 0 --vbr-new>WMP12 2)MAC-Extra High