how big are flac files?

[dpopiz]

I've never seen a flac file. could you give a few examples of how big your files are?

- audio length
- sampling rate
- bitrate
- file size

 

[rh71]

I can tell you they're comparable to WAV sizes. I think it was like 40-60MB+ each on avg.

 

[dpopiz]

holy moly that can't be

what's the point if they're as big as wavs?

 

[Pepsi90919]

they shave off about 10-15 megs on average, at least monkey's audio does

bitrates range from 800kb/sec to 1200kb/sec

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: dpopiz
holy moly that can't be

what's the point if they're as big as wavs?

their quality is supposed to be much better of course. The only FLAC files I've heard though, are MetallicA concerts... so the quality doesn't really shine.

 

[kag]

Originally posted by: dpopiz
holy moly that can't be

what's the point if they're as big as wavs?

The point is that it's a lossless compression format.

 

[pulse8]

Originally posted by: kag

Originally posted by: dpopiz
holy moly that can't be

what's the point if they're as big as wavs?

The point is that it's a lossless compression format.

If they are the same size of the WAV, then they aren't compressed. Also, nothing will sound better than an uncompressed WAV.

Anyway, I have a 5 minute and 43 second file and it's 34.2MB.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: pulse8

If they are the same size of the WAV, then they aren't compressed. Also, nothing will sound better than an uncompressed WAV.

Anyway, I have a 5 minute and 43 second file and it's 34.2MB.

If they shave 10-15MB off a WAV, they are compressed. And if they're lossless, they will sound just as good as a WAV.

 

[NuclearFusi0n]

They usually are around 60 to 75 percent the size of the wav, while still retaining 100% of the quality.

 

[Sid59]

Originally posted by: NuclearFusi0n
They usually are around 60 to 75 percent the size of the wav, while still retaining 100% of the quality.

75% is a bit hight.

i keep the figures around 50-60%

 

[dc]

depends on what type of music it is, some music compress much better than other types. so far i've been getting ~70-80%. not much of savings, but better than nothing i guess.

 

[DaveSimmons]

In other terms, out of 800 or so rock CDs I've ripped to FLAC the average space per CD was about 300 MB. Pretty reasonable for lossless given a cheap 160 GB will store about 500 CDs.

For most CDs it probably won't sound any better than 320 kbps MP3, but with lossless you can enocde to different formats and bitrates as needed without the extra drop in quality from re-encoding lossy compressed files.

 

[NuclearFusi0n]

296 3 Doors Down - Better Life, The
361 Alanis Morissette - Under Rug Swept
511 Anabolic Frolic - Happy2bHardcore Chapter 4
543 Anabolic Frolic - Happy2bHardcore Chapter 5
544 Anabolic Frolic - Happy2bHardcore Chapter 7
486 ATB - Movin' Melodies
572 ATB - Two Worlds
477 Audioslave - Audioslave
291 Bad Religion - New America, The
274 Bad Religion - Process of Belief, The
360 Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
188 Boards of Canada - Twoism
392 BT - Movement In Still Life
1042 BT - Rare & Remixed
268 Coldplay - Parachutes
352 Coldplay - Rush of Blood to the Head, A
392 Crystal Method, The - Vegas
452 Cypress Hill - Skull & Bones
332 Deftones - Deftones
356 Deftones - White Pony
445 DJ Tiësto - In My Memory
212 DJ Tiësto - In My Memory Remixes
525 DJ Tiësto - In Search of Sunrise 3
517 DJ Tiësto - Live at Innercity - Amsterdam RAI
382 Eminem - Slim Shady LP, The
307 Evanescence - Fallen
277 Eve 6 - Eve 6
307 Eve 6 - Horrorscope
349 Everclear - So Much for the Afterglow
325 Everclear - Songs from an American Movie, Vol. One - Learning How to Smile
399 Filter - Amalgamut, The
298 Filter - Short Bus
394 Filter - Title of Record
322 Foo Fighters - Colour and the Shape, The
386 Foo Fighters - One by One
336 Foo Fighters - There is Nothing Left to Lose
417 Garbage - Beautiful Garbage
362 Garbage - Garbage
352 Garbage - Version 2.0
273 Green Day - Dookie
315 Green Day - Warning
282 Hoobastank - Hoobastank
332 Incubus - Make Yourself
460 Incubus - Morning View
243 Joel McNeely - Star Wars - Shadows of the Empire
932 John Digweed - Bedrock
424 Kruder & Dorfmeister - Conversions (A K & D Selection)
277 Linkin Park - Meteora
481 Linkin Park - Reanimation
331 Lit - Atomic
326 Lit - Place in the Sun, A
407 Live - Distance to Here, The
332 Live - Mental Jewelry
398 Live - Throwing Copper
358 Living End, The - Living End, The
558 Metallica - Load
434 Moby - 18
368 Moby - Play
440 Nelly - Country Grammar
400 N.E.R.D. - In Search Of
278 Nickelback - Silver Side Up
275 Nickelback - State, The
279 Nirvana - In Utero
281 Nirvana - Nevermind
329 Nirvana - Unplugged In New York
420 No Doubt - Return of Saturn
425 No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom
307 Offspring, The - Americana
287 Offspring, The - Conspiracy of One
279 Offspring, The - Ignition
304 Offspring, The - Ixnay on the Hombre
297 Offspring, The - Smash
990 Paul Oakenfold - Global Underground 002 - New York
504 Paul Oakenfold - Voyage Into Trance, A
987 Paul van Dyk - Out There and Back
1016 Paul van Dyk - Politics of Dancing, The
1574 Paul van Dyk - Vorsprung Dyk Technik
243 Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon, The
384 Pink Floyd - Division Bell, The
261 Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
467 Propellerheads - Decksanddrumsandrockandroll
463 Queen - Classic Queen
369 Queen - Greatest Hits
283 Radiohead - Amnesiac
295 Radiohead - Kid A
361 Radiohead - OK Computer
326 Rage Against the Machine - Battle of Los Angeles, The
320 Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire
487 Rage Against the Machine - Renegades
494 Red Hot Chili Peppers - By the Way
404 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
251 Requiem for a Dream
466 Sandra Collins - Tranceport 3
488 Sarah McLachlan - Remixed
509 Sasha and John Digweed - Northern Exposure
284 Social Distortion - Social Distortion
411 Sublime - Sublime
289 System of a Down - System of a Down
322 System of a Down - Toxicity
475 Tool - Ænima
463 Tool - Lateralus
417 Tool - Undertow
448 Various Artists - Matrix, The
425 Various Artists - Spawn

Megabytes per album. some of them may be inflated because I rip the data track as an ISO. Those albums are Alanis Morissette - Under Rug Swept, Linkin Park - Reanimation, Garbage - Beautiful Garbage, and Incubus - Morning View.

That should give you a decent idea of FLAC's compression ratio. These were all compressed using -8, the highest compression setting IIRC.

 

[NuclearFusi0n]

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