[FFmpeg-user] flac format

[Carl Eugen Hoyos]

Hi!

Am 01.09.2017 um 15:21 schrieb Cley Faye <cleyfaye at gmail.com>:

>> 
>> If you convert the WAV to an other format you will have an approximation
>> of the original data with the limitations of the codec of choice.


This is (generally) correct.


>> FLAC claims to be lossless and offering about 50% storage savings.

No.
To the best of our knowledge, flac is lossless.
(There may even be proof, I don't know.)

>> Storage is inexpensive why change the format and lose the original?
> 
> For the record, FLAC is lossless: going wav -> flac -> wav recreate the
> exact same file, byte by byte.

No.
Going wav -> flac -> wav, you can get the exact same audio information.
There are two traps though: The second wav file may not contain the same meta information as the first file (this depends on the used software and is something you can't necessarily control) and using FFmpeg you may have to choose the right encoder for the second conversion: .wav defaults to 16 bit pcm (here), if your original file was 24 bit or float, you have to specify the relevant encoder to get the exact audio information.

Carl Eugen