what are RIFF chunks? FLAC dosent support it/them and im not sure if this is something i should be concerned about

if you're talking about what is said in the lossless comparison table, it just means that FLAC does not store the non-audio data in WAVE files that some audio applications add. it will give a warning if it ever encounters any so you will know.

Josh

If you don't know what RIFF chunks are, you can be 99% sure you don't need to be concerned about them.

As Josh already explained, they only matter to people that use a handful of audio applications that make use of them.

or if you want to be sure to get a bit identical copy of the original input file

I am guessing that the lossless codecs that can store RIFF chunks do not store their order, ie:

Some Special Riff Chunk
Audio Data Chunk

might comeout (when decoded from lossless):

Audio Data Chunk
Some Special Riff Chunk

As far as I know, WavPack restores the file in the exact same order.

Indeed it does. The WAV files are a bit-for-bit copy of the original, which is why I use that to archive Broadcast WAVE files, which contains a lot of information in some RIFF chunks.

Unless you need to preserve those chunks you won't need to worry here. Broadcast WAV files and WAV files that have information like this are usualy only used in the professional audio world.

It would be interesting if someone made a standard of including ID3 tag-like info in WAV files.

I guess you're talking about "bext" and "cart" chunks? I've a version of WaveGain in test at the moment that copies these two chunks, bit for bit, to the 'WaveGained' file.

Where can I get this test version? I'm very interested in using it to normalize my music files for the automation system on my home internet radio station!

-Cornelius