OptimFROG version 4.910b [2011-02-10] Options

[madoka@ex-sounds]

I was really surprised

New release* (stable beta) for OptimFROG Lossless, DualStream, and IEEE Float, SFX module, and SDK:
OptimFROG_All_Windows_x86_4910b.zip (691 kB)
Updated input plug-in for foobar2000 v1.1.x, with cue sheet support (source code included):
foo_input_ofr_130.zip (250 kB)
* Release for all the other supported platforms within two weeks.

URL: http://losslessaudio.org/

Change Log:

What is new in this version (4.910b):
- fully backward compatible with previous versions
- slightly better compression for highnew, extranew, bestnew modes, and also for --maximumcompression
- parsing WAV files with invalid data chunk size in WAV header using --incorrectheader (for foobar2000 and other command line format converters using pipes who cannot compute the WAV file length in advance and generate a 4 GB header instead)
- many internal source code improvements

- [other] updated foobar2000 input plug-in for foobar2000 1.1.x
- [other] updated OptimFROG SDK to version 1.300 (included here)

[RazorBoy143]

Checked the CPU usage while OptimFROG tracks were playing within foobar2000:

1) Fast
2) Normal
3) High
4) Extra

CPU usage was either barely even there or non-existent with these settings. On balance, very efficient with compression & speed. But the last three?

5) HighNew
6) ExtraNew
7) BestNew

With the HighNew setting, I found that, on my system, CPU usage for foobar2000 rose to around 20% - 25%. By the time I got to the BestNew setting, It got into a range of 50% - 70% and above. Compression times? For HighNew, it took 15 minutes for an 11 track album, and increased to 30 minutes using the BestNew setting. That's why I wasn't surprised when I had gapless playback problems, either.


In terms of file size, using the Extra setting would be the same you'd get by using TAK 4 Max, but it'd double your compression time. So, speed-wise, I found I was better off using OptimFROG's High setting. Same compression time, and it only cost me 1MB more in total album size. It also saved 3MB more space compared to Monkey's Audio at the High setting while achieving the same compression speed. Reliability? It's up there with FLAC, TAK, WavPack, and definitely is a great alternative to Monkey's Audio if one wanted to switch over to OptimFROG.