Free lossless audio codec(FLAC) and Apple lossless audio codec(ALAC) are both codecs used for lossless audio compression. The main difference between the two is that FLAC is open source format, while ALAC is proprietary to apple.
What is ALAC?
Apple inc created the ALAC audio coding format, which is utilized for lossless data compression of digital music. ALAC preferred file format is .m4a. With a maximum sample rate of 384KhZ, ALAC enables up to 8 audio channels at 16,20,24 and 32-bit depth. The ALAC format's compatibility with apple's most well-liked portable music player is one of its strongest points. There will never be any original data lost while compressing ALAC files. Similar to how to zip compression is used to compress text files.
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What is FLAC?
FLAC stands for free lossless audio codec. FLAC is an audio coding standard for lossless digital audio compression. It is also the name of the open-source software initiative that creates the FLAC toolkit. Since it is compressed into a lower file size without any quality loss or original audio data, it is referred to as lossless and is extremely similar to MP3 files, which are simpler to distinguish.
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FLAC Vs ALAC | Difference between FLAC and ALAC:
- FLAC stands for free lossless audio codec. While ALAC stands for apple lossless audio codec.
- FLAC and ALAC are both lossless and no difference in sound quality can be detected.
- FLAC is not supported. ALAC is the lossless audio codec for apple products.
- FLAC is open source while ALAC is not.
- FLAC extension of it is .flac, while the file extension of ALAC is .alac.