FLAC - Free Lossless Audio Codec
Author: Josh Coalson
Description: An open source codec for lossless audio compression and decompression
Keywords: lossless,audio,codec,encoder,decoder,compression,compressor,archive,archiving,backup

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status
FLAC 1.1.1 has been released. There is a new changelog with a complete list of changes/fixes/improvements, but the main ones include: almost 2x decoding speedup on Macintosh, better Ogg FLAC support, and several new options to `flac` and `metaflac`. Available now on the download page. Also, the mailing lists have been migrated to Xiph.org. This should cut down on the abuse and response time. If you abandoned the lists because of spam problems, now is the time to sign back up: announce flac flac-dev There are some new hardware players out that support FLAC, the Hifidelio, a wireless home stereo component, and the iAUDIO M3 portable HDD digital audio player (firmware). The Furthur Network, a legal-live music sharing P2P network, now supports FLAC. Several sets from the Bonnaroo Music Festival are available in FLAC, including Dave Matthews & Friends and String Cheese Incident, with more to follow as the soundboard recordings are approved by the bands. DigitalSoundboard.net has begun offering 24-bit recordings in FLAC format. We've just discovered that the Roku Soundbridge now supports FLAC. A Java native FLAC decoder is now available through the jFLAC project. Metallica is offering soundboard recordings of live shows in FLAC format. last updated 2004-Oct-01
what is FLAC?
FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. Grossly oversimplified, FLAC is similar to MP3, but lossless, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality. This is similar to how Zip works, except with FLAC you will get much better compression because it is designed specifically for audio, and you can play back compressed FLAC files in your favorite player (or your car or home stereo, see supported devices) just like you would an MP3 file. FLAC is freely available and supported on most operating systems, including Windows, "unix" (Linux, *BSD, Solaris, OS X, IRIX), BeOS, OS/2, and Amiga. There are build systems for autotools, MSVC, Watcom C, and Project Builder. See the features page for a complete list of features, or the comparison page to see how FLAC compares with other lossless codecs. The FLAC project consists of: the stream format reference encoders and decoders in library form `flac`, a command-line program to encode and decode FLAC files `metaflac`, a command-line metadata editor for FLAC files input plugins for various music players When we say that FLAC is "Free" it means more than just that it is available at no cost. It means that the specification of the format is fully open to the public to be used for any purpose (the FLAC project reserves the right to set the FLAC specification and certify compliance), and that neither the FLAC format nor any of the implemented encoding/decoding methods are covered by any known patent. It also means that all the source code is available under open-source licenses. It is the first truly open and free lossless audio format. (For more information, see the license page.)
download
Visit the download page for links to the source code or pre-built binaries.
documentation
The documentation is available online as well as in the distributions. The general installation and usage documentation for `flac` and the plugins is here. For a detailed description of the FLAC format and reference encoder see the FLAC format page.
id registration
If you have an application that uses FLAC and would like it to be able to tag FLAC files with custom metadata, visit the registration page to register an ID for your application.
news
01-Oct-2004 : Version 1.1.1 released
27-Jul-2004 : The Furthur network now supports FLAC
21-Jun-2004 : Bonnaroo soundboard recordings available in FLAC
03-Mar-2004 : Metallica offers live shows in FLAC
03-Feb-2004 : Charlie Hunter makes select albums available in FLAC
19-Nov-2003 : PhatNoise's new Home Digital Media Player supports FLAC
18-Nov-2003 : Slim's new 'Squeezebox' supports FLAC
11-Nov-2003 : Primus offers live shows in FLAC
13-Oct-2003 : Magnatune catalog available in FLAC
11-Aug-2003 : New Rio Karma supports FLAC
23-Jun-2003 : livephish.com offers FLAC shows
09-Feb-2003 : ReQuest adds FLAC support
29-Jan-2003 : FLAC joins Xiph.org!
26-Jan-2003 : Version 1.1.0 released
(all news)

Copyright (c) 2000,2001,2002,2003,2004 Josh Coalson