Command Line – FLAC

Many music listeners content themselves with the MP3 format. However, for dedicated audiophiles, the preferred digital format is the Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) [1]. FLAC files are supported by most hardware and music players, as well as editors like Audacity. However, creating FLAC files or even ripping to FLAC on Linux requires installation of the flac package for converting to and from FLAC. The package is available for most distributions but is not always installed by default.

Developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation [2], which also provides the reference implementation for the OGG formats [3], FLAC is preferred by music lovers for numerous reasons. To start with, it is licensed under the New BSD license [4], unencumbered by patents, and does not support digital rights management. In fact, the codec's website specifically states that "there is no intention to add any copy prevention methods." Also, being free-licensed, it is easy to convert to other formats and does not require vendor lock-in for users to continue to have access to a file's data.

Just as important are the features of FLAC files. If you compare the same track in MP3 (.mp3) and FLAC (.flac) formats, you will notice that the FLAC file can be as much as 250 percent larger. The main reason for this difference is that, while both formats compress audio information, MP3 is a lossy format [5], whereas FLAC is lossless [6]. In other words, when compressing audio information, MP3 discards content and replaces it with approximations that are acceptable to the ear, and FLAC does not. A lossy format might be preferable when transmitted over limited bandwidth or acceptable when played in a noisy environment, such as on a busy street, but if your priority is the faithfulness of sound reproduction, then a lossless format like FLAC offers better playback. A decade ago, lossy formats were popular because storage was limited on handheld music players. Today, with the availability of 250GB microSD cards and players with high-end digital-to-analog converters (DACs) [7], lossless formats like FLAC are becoming more popular than ever. Independent music labels, for instance, routinely offer FLAC downloads per fanbase requests.

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