FLAC

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{|
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{{FormatInfo
|[[File Formats]]
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|formattype=electronic
| >
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|subcat=Audio and Music
|[[Electronic File Formats]]
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|extensions={{ext|flac}}
| >
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|mimetypes={{mimetype|audio/x-flac}},{{mimetype|audio/flac}}
|[[Audio]]
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|pronom={{PRONOM|fmt/279}}
| >
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|wikidata={{wikidata|Q27881556}}
|[[FLAC]]
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}}
|}
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'''FLAC''' is a Free Lossless Audio Codec. It can encode audio with a PCM bit resolution up to 32 bits per sample and sampling rates up to 640 kHz. FLAC-encoded audio is usually found either in a native container (which has the extension <code>.flac</code>), or in an [[Ogg]] container (when it's known as OggFLAC).
 
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== Description ==
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FLAC is a file format and codec for losslessly compressed audio. It can store audio with a PCM bit resolution up to 32 bits per sample and sampling rates up to 640 kHz.
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The format is open and royalty-free. The reference implementation is cross-platform and dual-licensed, command-line utilities (e.g. encoder, decoder and metadata editor) use GNU GPL and code libraries use BSD.
 
The format is open and royalty-free. The reference implementation is cross-platform and dual-licensed, command-line utilities (e.g. encoder, decoder and metadata editor) use GNU GPL and code libraries use BSD.
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* data integrity
 
* data integrity
 
* error resistant (bit faults are contained within a frame, typically a fraction of a second)
 
* error resistant (bit faults are contained within a frame, typically a fraction of a second)
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== Identification ==
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When FLAC is used as a file format, it begins with the ASCII signature "{{magic|fLaC}}".
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In rare cases, this signature may appear following an ID3v2 segment; see [[ID3#Identification]].
  
 
== Playback ==
 
== Playback ==
 
=== Hardware ===
 
=== Hardware ===
* Squeezebox
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* Transporter
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Many home stereo and portable hardware music players support the FLAC format. See the [http://flac.sourceforge.net/links.html FLAC links] page for an up-to-date list.
* Sonos
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=== Software ===
 
=== Software ===
* Amarok - cross-platform, open source
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* foobar2000 - Windows, non-commercial
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A number of popular audio players support the FLAC format, including:
* VLC - cross-platform, open source
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* Winamp - Windows, commercial
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* [http://amarok.kde.org/ Amarok] (cross-platform, open source)
* MediaMonkey - Windows, commercial
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* [http://www.foobar2000.org/ foobar2000] (Windows, non-commercial)
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* [http://www.mediamonkey.com/ MediaMonkey] (Windows, commercial)
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* [http://www.getsongbird.com/ Songbird] (cross-platform, open source)
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* [http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html VLC] (cross-platform, open source)
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* [http://www.winamp.com/ Winamp] (Windows, commercial)
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FLAC is also natively supported by Mozilla's Firefox browser, starting from Firefox 51. For more software products which support FLAC, see the [http://flac.sourceforge.net/links.html FLAC links page]
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== Specifications ==
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* [https://xiph.org/flac/format.html FLAC Format Specification]
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== Sample files ==
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* {{DexvertSamples|audio/flac}}
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* http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/flac/ (some are in .ogg format (OggFLAC format))
  
 
== Links ==
 
== Links ==
* [http://flac.sourceforge.net/ Home of FLAC project]
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* [https://xiph.org/flac/ Home of FLAC project]
* [http://flac.sourceforge.net/format.html FLAC format description]
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* [https://xiph.org/flac/format.html FLAC format description]
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* [https://xiph.org/flac/faq.html FLAC FAQ] (hey, that rhymes!)
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* [http://www.dustbury.com/archives/17227 Commentary about Audi car not playing high-bitrate FLACs]
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* [http://dericed.com/2013/flac-in-the-archives/ FLAC in the archives]
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* [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Supported_media_formats Mozilla Firefox supported media formats list]
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* [http://www.ghacks.net/2016/08/30/firefox-51-flac-audio-codec-support/ Firefox 51: FLAC Audio Codec Support]

Latest revision as of 04:09, 28 December 2023

File Format
Name FLAC
Ontology
Extension(s) .flac
MIME Type(s) audio/x-flac,audio/flac
PRONOM fmt/279
Wikidata ID Q27881556

FLAC is a Free Lossless Audio Codec. It can encode audio with a PCM bit resolution up to 32 bits per sample and sampling rates up to 640 kHz. FLAC-encoded audio is usually found either in a native container (which has the extension .flac), or in an Ogg container (when it's known as OggFLAC).

The format is open and royalty-free. The reference implementation is cross-platform and dual-licensed, command-line utilities (e.g. encoder, decoder and metadata editor) use GNU GPL and code libraries use BSD.

FLAC is suitable for archiving for many reasons:

  • open format
  • support for metadata tagging
  • lossless (no generation loss if you need to convert to another format)
  • disk size effective (audio is typically reduced to 50-60% of original size)
  • data integrity
  • error resistant (bit faults are contained within a frame, typically a fraction of a second)

Contents

[edit] Identification

When FLAC is used as a file format, it begins with the ASCII signature "fLaC".

In rare cases, this signature may appear following an ID3v2 segment; see ID3#Identification.

[edit] Playback

[edit] Hardware

Many home stereo and portable hardware music players support the FLAC format. See the FLAC links page for an up-to-date list.

[edit] Software

A number of popular audio players support the FLAC format, including:

FLAC is also natively supported by Mozilla's Firefox browser, starting from Firefox 51. For more software products which support FLAC, see the FLAC links page

[edit] Specifications

[edit] Sample files

[edit] Links

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