Over FLAC-bestanden

FLAC (FLAC Audio · Audioformaat)

Uitgebracht 2001 Door Josh Coalson / Xiph.Org

FLAC Audio (.flac) is een standaard bestandsformaat dat door KaijuConverter wordt ondersteund voor gegevensuitwisseling, archivering en platformonafhankelijke conversie.

Categorie

Audio Files

Extensie

.flac

MIME-type

audio/flac

Bruikbaar als

Invoer Uitvoer

Het verhaal

HOE FLAC
IS ONTSTAAN.

2000

2001

2003

2005

FLAC — Free Lossless Audio Codec — was created by Josh Coalson in 2000 as an open-source challenger to Apple Lossless, Monkey’s Audio, and Shorten. It reached version 1.0 in July 2001 and joined the Xiph.Org Foundation in 2003. The math is clean: FLAC runs each audio channel through a linear predictor, then Rice-codes the residual. Decoding is fast, encoding is reasonably fast, and files are typically 50-70% of the raw WAV size.

For audiophiles and archivists FLAC is the standard. Bandcamp, Bandcamp-adjacent indie labels, the High Res Audio tier on Qobuz and Tidal, and every serious home ripping project defaults to FLAC. It does what it says on the tin: lossless, free, open, and simple enough that any platform from 2005 onwards can play it.

WEETJES &
TRIVIA.

FLAC typically shrinks a WAV file by 40-60% while being bit-exact — decoded audio is identical to the original.

The format supports up to 32-bit samples and 655 350 Hz sample rate — well beyond any human ear can hear.

Every commercial "hi-res lossless" streaming tier (Tidal, Qobuz, Apple Music Lossless) serves FLAC under the hood.

FLAC includes built-in MD5 checksums — a corrupted file can be detected without comparing to the source.

Unlike many open formats, FLAC has had Microsoft and Apple native support for years: Windows 10+ and macOS Mojave+ play it out of the box.

STERKE PUNTEN &
BEPERKINGEN.

Sterke punten

Lossless — decoded audio is bit-exact identical to the source.
40-60% smaller than uncompressed WAV/AIFF.
Free, patent-free, open-source reference implementation.
Built-in error detection via MD5 checksums.
Streaming-friendly — seek tables let you jump to any timestamp instantly.

Beperkingen

File sizes still large compared to lossy codecs (5-10× bigger than AAC for same audio).
Not suitable for low-bandwidth scenarios like streaming on mobile data.
Older MP3 players and car stereos may not decode FLAC.
Slower to encode than lossy codecs.

Typische bestandsgroottes

3-min song (CD quality)

20-30 MB

Full album (10 tracks, CD)

250-400 MB

3-min song (hi-res 24-bit/96 kHz)

80-120 MB

Live concert recording (24-bit)

2-10 GB

Technische specificaties

MIME type: audio/flac
Extension: .flac
Standard: Open-source reference implementation (Xiph.Org)
Max bit depth: 32 bits per sample
Max sample rate: 655 350 Hz
Max channels: 8

CONVERTEER VANUIT
FLAC

flac mp3 flac wav flac aac flac m4a flac ogg flac opus flac wma flac aiff flac ac3 flac au flac amr flac aif flac gsm flac voc flac w64 flac sox flac snd flac wv flac spx flac mp2

CONVERTEER NAAR
FLAC

wav flac mp3 flac ape flac mka flac ogg flac opus flac alac flac aac flac m4a flac wma flac aiff flac ac3 flac au flac caf flac amr flac mp4 flac mov flac mkv flac avi flac webm flac flv flac wmv flac mpeg flac 3gp flac ogv flac vob flac m4v flac ts flac m2ts flac mts flac mpg flac asf flac dv flac f4v flac h264 flac h265 flac m2v flac mjpeg flac mxf flac rm flac rmvb flac divx flac nut flac y4m flac aif flac gsm flac voc flac w64 flac shn flac sox flac snd flac 8svx flac tta flac wv flac spx flac mp2 flac dsf flac dff flac swf flac dts flac mid flac ra flac tak flac

Veelvoorkomende toepassingen

Lossless music collection, audio archival, audiophile playback.