If we don't have access to an original, we always check the downloads are genuine before passing them on. Of course lossy compression algorithms try to discard info that an average human can't hear, but if your ears are sensible and well trained, you will appreciate the high quality of FLAC lossless compression.Īll albums posted here are in lossless format (usually FLAC, APE or WAV), ripped directly from silver CDs where possible. An MP3 file would take a lot less space (about one tenth of the corresponding WAV file) but to get this compression rate MP3, like other lossy compression algorithms, such like Ogg Vorbis or WMA, throws away part of the sound information.
This means that if you rip an Audio CD track to a FLAC file, that file will retain the same quality of the original (CD quality), like a WAV file, but it will take less space, usually about one third of the corresponding WAV file. FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec, and it is an audio compression format like MP3, but while MP3 uses a 'lossy' compression, which basically discard audio information that humans can't hear, FLAC uses a lossless compression, which will not change the quality of the compressed audio.
