FLAC 1.1.4, smaller, faster, better Options

[jcoalson]

ston3y[=' date='Apr 30 2007, 15:57' post='489198']

are you saying that if you metaflac --import-picture-from several large pictures, that it will rewrite the file for each picture addition? it's written to only rewrite the file once after all ops have been processed.

No, I meant that to avoid such long command lines I would like to add every image separately (in a batch file) - after adding sufficient padding first. But even with several times the amount of padding needed (e.g. after adding it while encoding with flac.exe - which seems to allow bigger paddings) metaflac still rewrites the file even when there is more than enough padding left.

there are corner cases where this can happen, e.g. where the padding block would have to be shrunk below the minimum block size (4 bytes). to really tell what's going on I would have to see the 'metaflac --list' output before and after.

Josh

[=]ston3y[=]

there are corner cases where this can happen, e.g. where the padding block would have to be shrunk below the minimum block size (4 bytes). to really tell what's going on I would have to see the 'metaflac --list' output before and after.

Josh

No problem - but the text files with the output are quite big, so I compressed them with 7-zip.
I will send you a PM with the link as soon as the upload is complete.

[=]ston3y[=]

It's interesting that after adding over 33 MB of padding (with flac.exe) "metaflac --list" shows no padding block at all, although the padding obviously wasn't used entirely (judging by the increase in size when embedding the images with metaflac). Also when examining the flac file with an hex editor there are still about 32 megabytes of zeros in the flac file...

When filtering seektable and picture blocks (metaflac --list --except-block-type=SEEKTABLE,PICTURE) the list output gets quite short:

CODE

METADATA block #0
  type: 0 (STREAMINFO)
  is last: false
  length: 34
  minimum blocksize: 4096 samples
  maximum blocksize: 4096 samples
  minimum framesize: 0 bytes
  maximum framesize: 0 bytes
  sample_rate: 44100 Hz
  channels: 2
  bits-per-sample: 16
  total samples: 126655200
  MD5 signature: 00000000000000000000000000000000
METADATA block #2
  type: 4 (VORBIS_COMMENT)
  is last: false
  length: 40
  vendor string: reference libFLAC 1.1.4 20070213
  comments: 0

Since the streaminfo block looked the same before embedding the pictures, it seems to me that flac.exe already screwed up this file when creating it with this large padding. Here the output after encoding without extra padding:

CODE

METADATA block #0
  type: 0 (STREAMINFO)
  is last: false
  length: 34
  minimum blocksize: 4096 samples
  maximum blocksize: 4096 samples
  minimum framesize: 1326 bytes
  maximum framesize: 13798 bytes
  sample_rate: 44100 Hz
  channels: 2
  bits-per-sample: 16
  total samples: 126655200
  MD5 signature: 8ed6a82d92937bab05a3e693ccedfc1f
METADATA block #2
  type: 4 (VORBIS_COMMENT)
  is last: false
  length: 40
  vendor string: reference libFLAC 1.1.4 20070213
  comments: 0
METADATA block #3
  type: 1 (PADDING)
  is last: true
  length: 65536

[jcoalson]

On a different note, the author of the Windows FLAC Tester program, would he allow that program to be included with the Windows installer? I have found that to be a great tool to test my flacs after I back them up to a different drive, etc.

yes, I added it to the latest installer (flac-1.1.4b.exe)

[=]ston3y[=]

I just tried the new installer flac-1.1.4b.exe out of curiosity (actually I already had 1.1.4 anyway) and it worked just fine. Except: When you had flac installed previously it uninstalles the old version and deletes the complete folder along with all files in it. Even if those files where not created during the last installation of flac.


There were several rather extensive batch scripts I'm just working on in this folder...


...but fortunately I made a backup right before starting the new (un)installer.

[jcoalson]

that is a property of mike's old uninstalller I think. the new one I wrote only deletes files that it installed and only removes the c:\program files\FLAC (or whatever) dir if it is empty.

so from now on it will be safer that way.

Josh

[=]ston3y[=]

the new one I wrote only deletes files that it installed and only removes the c:\program files\FLAC (or whatever) dir if it is empty.

Great, that's much better! Will try it as soon as 1.1.5 is ready.

[Sina]

Good work.
But very slow encoding speed.

[[JAZ]]

Can you define "very slow" ???

Especifically in the context of one of the fast lossless encoders. ( http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?ti...less_comparison , and note that the speed of FLAC has improved since that table)

This post has been edited by [JAZ]: May 26 2007, 11:15

[Sina]

FLAC Setting: Preset 8


WavPack Setting: V high with Max comp mode:



The True Audio:

[gottkaiser]

@Sina
You should check out this sites:
Synthetic Soul lossless comparison
FLAC comparison


FLAC -0 is one of the (if not the) fastest loosless encoders!

This post has been edited by gottkaiser: May 26 2007, 12:52