Which is the best lossless codec?, Discussion thread Options

[rjamorim]

Given the enormous amount of lossless audio compressor choices available, it is a very difficult task to choose the one most suited for each person's needs.

Several people only take into consideration compression performance when choosing a codec. But as the following table and post shows, there are several other features worth taking into consideration when making that choice.

For example, users wanting good multiplatform compatibility and robustness (E.G, people sharing live recordings) would favour WavPack or FLAC. Another user, looking for the very highest compression available, would go with OptimFrog. Someone wanting portable support would use FLAC or ALAC, and so on.

En fin, this is not a matter worth getting too worked up about. If you later find out the codec you chose isn't the best for your needs, you can just transcompress to another format, without risk of losing quality.



* Encoding speed, Decoding speed and Compression ratio are based on each encoder's default settings.
** Flexibility refers to the amount of encoding choices offered to the users (Fast/low compression, Slow/high compression and everything inbetween)



These are the most popular lossless codecs, in alphabetical order:

ALAC - Apple Lossless Audio Codec

ALAC is a codec developed by Apple for usage in iPod and AirPort Express.

PROS
- Very fast decoding
- Open source (decoding only)
- Hardware support (iPod, AirPort Express)
- Streaming support
- Tagging support (QT tags)
- Excellent hardware-software-lossy format integration with iTunes/iPod.

CONS
- Closed source (encoding)
- Few software support (iTunes)
- Doesn't support multichannel audio and high resolutions
- Compression efficiency not on par with other lossless codecs
- No hybrid/lossy mode

Other features
- Fits in the MP4 container
- Can be used with the AirPort Express gadget


FLAC - Free Lossless Audio Codec

FLAC is a lossless codec developed by Josh Coalson. It's part of the Xiph multimedia portfolio, along with Vorbis and Theora.

PROS
- Open source
- Very fast decoding
- Hardware support (Karma, Phatbox, etc.)
- Very good software support
- Error robustness
- Streaming support
- Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
- Tagging support (FLAC tags)
- Pipe support

CONS
- Compression efficiency not on par with other lossless codecs
- No hybrid/lossy mode
- Doesn't support RIFF chunks


Other features
- Supports embedded CUE sheets (with limitations)
- Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
- Fits the OGG and Matroska containers
- ReplayGain compatible


LosslessAudio - LA

LA is a lossless codec developed by Michael Bevin.

PROS
- Very high compression
- Tagging support (ID3v1)
- Supports RIFF chunks
- Pipe support

CONS
- Closed source
- Very slow encoding and decoding
- No hardware support
- No hybrid/lossy mode
- Bad software support

It's important to mention that the LA foobar plugin is buggy and doesn't produce lossless streams!


LPAC

Lossless Predictive Audio Coder (LPAC) is a lossless codec developed by Tilman Liebchen. Development of it has been halted in favour of development of MPEG4 ALS.

PROS
- Reasonable compression ratios
- High resolution audio support
- Supports RIFF chunks

CONS
- Closed source
- No error robustness
- Slow seeking
- No tagging
- No multichannel support
- No hybrid/lossy mode
- No hardware support


Monkey's Audio

Monkey's Audio is a very efficient lossless compressor developed my Matt Ashland.

PROS
- Open source
- High efficiency
- Good software support
- Error robustness
- Java version (multiplatform)
- Tagging support (ID3v1, APE)
- High resolution audio support
- Supports RIFF chunks (only in the GUI encoder)
- Pipe support (only in a special version)

CONS
- No multichannel support
- No hybrid/lossy mode
- No hardware support

Other features
- Supports embedded APL sheets (similar to CUE sheets)


OptimFROG

OptimFROG is a lossless format developed by Florin Ghido to become the champion in audio compression.

PROS
- Very high compression
- Good software support
- Error robustness
- Streaming support
- Supports high resolutions
- Hybrid/lossy mode
- Tagging support (ID3, APE)
- Supports RIFF chunks

CONS
- Closed source
- No multichannel audio support
- No hardware support
- Quite slow decoding

Other features
- Supports 32bit float streams
- Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
- ReplayGain compatible


RealAudio Lossless

RealAudio lossless is the lossless codec developed by Real Networks for their multimedia portfolio

PROS
- Very fast decoding
- Streaming support

CONS
- Closed source
- No multichannel and high resolution audio support
- Few software support (Real Player)
- No hardware support
- Compression efficiency not on par with other lossless codecs
- No hybrid/lossy mode
- No pipe support


Shorten

Shorten is a very old and featureless lossless codec developed by Tony Robinson at SoftSound.

PROS
- Open source
- Fast decoding
- Very good software support
- Supports RIFF chunks
- Pipe support

CONS
- Quite inefficient
- No multichannel or high resolution audio support
- No hybrid/lossy mode
- No error robustness
- Not streamable
- No hardware support
- No native tagging


True Audio (TTA)

TTA is a new lossless codec developed by a team of russian programmers.

PROS
- Open source
- Good efficiency (not as good as Monkey's or OptimFrog, but not as bad as SHN or ALAC)
- Hardware support (obscure DVD player)
- Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
- Tagging support (ID3v2)

CONS
- No streaming support
- No hybrid/lossy mode
- Doesn't support RIFF chunks
- No pipe support

Other features
- Fits the Matroska container
- ReplayGain compatible


WavPack

WavPack is a fast and featureful lossless codec developed by David Bryant.

PROS
- Open source
- Very fast decoding
- Good efficiency (not as good as Monkey's or OptimFrog, but not as bad as SHN or ALAC)
- Error robustness
- Streaming support
- Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions
- Hybrid/lossy mode
- Tagging support (ID3v1, APE)
- Supports RIFF chunks
- Hability to create self extracting files for Win32 platform
- Pipe support
- Good software support

CONS
- No hardware support

Other features
- Supports embedded CUE sheets
- Includes MD5 hashes for quick integrity checking
- Can encode in both symmetrical and assymmetrical modes.
- ReplayGain compatible


Windows Media Audio Lossless

WMA Lossless is the lossless codec developed by Microsoft to be featured in their Windows Media codec portfolio.

PROS
- Streaming support
- Very good software support
- Supports multichannel audio and high resolutions.
- Tagging support (proprietary)
- Pipe support

CONS
- Closed source
- No hybrid/lossy mode
- No hardware support (but it's likely to appear sooner or later)
- Doesn't support RIFF chunks

Other features
- Fits the ASF container


Some links to lossless format compression comparisions:
Hans Heijden's
Speek's
Guruboolez's - comparing only classical music.


Big thanks to every forum member that contributed to this comparision with information about codecs, feature comparisions, benchmarks, etc.

I welcome user comments and corrections on the entries.

This post has been edited by rjamorim: Apr 13 2005, 16:28

[kotrtim]

1. LOWER COMPRESSION BUT HIGHER CPU USAGE
2. NO COMPRESSION MODE TO SELECT

EDIT : But compared with Monkey's Audio, WMA still use more power.

WMA = 34.0MB = ~13% CPU Usage
Monkey's Audio - High = 33.7MB = ~7% CPU Usage

This post has been edited by kotrtim: Nov 26 2004, 06:17

[witt]

Monkey's Audio
- No multichannel or high resolution audio support

Monkey's Audio supoports 24bit/192KHz. No multichannel support.

WavPack
- Fits the Matroska container

What app can it mux?
mkvtoolnix (still) doesn't support WavPack.

[kurtnoise]

WavPack
- Fits the Matroska container

Wavpack isn't support by Matroska container yet......but it's on todo list.

I noticed also a mistake for TTA (in the PROS & CONS part) :no streaming support. And TTA supports ID3v2 tags system.


Some notes about LPAC : http://www.nue.tu-berlin.de/wer/liebchen/lpac.html

lossless format developped by Tilman Liebchen. LPAC is derived to LTAC format (Lossless Transform Audio Codec). Liebchen has modified the algorithm scheme to increase performances of this one in order to create LPAC. The first versions are released at the end of 90's. Today, the last version available on official web site is dated from 2002. No updates since nowadays because LPAC has been retained as reference for the MPEG-4 ALS by the MPEG Comittee. So, Liebchen has stopped the development now. Once standardization will be operational, he'll create some tools for the conversions (LPAC files to MPEG-4 ALS files).

Features :
- OS supports : Windows, Linux and Solaris.
- mono and/or stereo Wav files compression with 8 to 24 bits depth.
- No limitation for the Sampling Rate.
- 6 different modes for the compression : fastest to most compressible.
- "Random Access" and Joint-Stereo options.
- Ratios Compression seem to be reasonable, but rather high in general.
- Speed Encoding : more slower than WavPack or TTA.
- Speed Decoding : fast.
- For the playback : only plugins for WA and fb2k.
- software support : good
- Tagging : ID3v2
- Replaygain : no
- Hardware support : no
- Error handling : no
- Flexibility : bad
- Seeking : yes but very bad
- Hybrid/Lossy : no
- Streaming : no
- OpenSource : no
- Multichannel : no
- High Resolution : yes



PS : i can translate some parts of my sticky concerning theses different lossless formats if someone it's interested...(yes, it's in french...)

[SebastianG]

LPAC

Features :
- <...>
- "Random Access" and Joint-Stereo options.
- <...>
- Seeking : yes but very bad

What's your definition of "seeking: very bad" ?
Since the format supports "random access" ... seeking should not be that bad.
You just have to enable the "random access" feature.


SebastianG

edit: shortened quotation

This post has been edited by SebastianG: Dec 10 2004, 15:39