FLAC/WAV experts needed...

slag[] · 07-24-2005, 21:46

Alright, so I ripped a bunch of CDs to WAV.

I then encoded the WAV files to FLAC.

The result? BIGGER files! What the hell is going on? I encoded the WAV files at FLAC level 5 and they're bigger than the WAv files.

Here are a few questions:
1) Is there such a thing as compressed WAV? Perhaps my WAV files were compressed and at a higher rate than FLAC-5.
2) There is no such thing as a lossy WAV file, is there? The last thing I would want to be doing is encoding lossy files as lossless audio.

If the problem is just a difference in compression rates, I'll probably re-encode all my FLAC files at a higher level. Otherwise I'll just have to re-rip my cds.

slag[] · 07-24-2005, 21:49

Actually, re-examining the situation...

The larger WAV files resulted in a good compression rate (smaller FLAC than WAV) while the smaller WAV files did not produce as good of a compression rate (larger FLAC than WAV.)

Perhaps I should use a mix of WAV and FLAC then, but I'm too lazy to do that - I'll just lose a few megabytes here and there on the shorter songs - but the net gain in space is still pretty decent.

DRehm · 07-25-2005, 09:39

Weird. Could you estimate the break-even point in song length as well as filesize?

Tja · 07-25-2005, 10:41

with WAV there should be no compression. as a rough rule 10MB of WAV store 1 Minute of music. If your WAVs store more minutes per MB then I dare say some compression is involved. Check the settings of your ripping software - I assume it further processes the WAVs and compresses them ...

slag[] · 07-25-2005, 12:42

No, I'm pretty sure after taking another look that the oddity here is the FLAC compression rate.

I'll try and put out an estimate when I get home this evening, DRehm. I find this both interesting and odd. The FLAC compression algorithm must do better with larger files (which I guess isn't that surprising, since a similar effect can be seen with various archive types.)

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07-24-2005, 21:46	#1
slag[] Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 228	Alright, so I ripped a bunch of CDs to WAV. I then encoded the WAV files to FLAC. The result? BIGGER files! What the hell is going on? I encoded the WAV files at FLAC level 5 and they're bigger than the WAv files. Here are a few questions: 1) Is there such a thing as compressed WAV? Perhaps my WAV files were compressed and at a higher rate than FLAC-5. 2) There is no such thing as a lossy WAV file, is there? The last thing I would want to be doing is encoding lossy files as lossless audio. If the problem is just a difference in compression rates, I'll probably re-encode all my FLAC files at a higher level. Otherwise I'll just have to re-rip my cds.

07-24-2005, 21:49	#2
slag[] Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 228	Actually, re-examining the situation... The larger WAV files resulted in a good compression rate (smaller FLAC than WAV) while the smaller WAV files did not produce as good of a compression rate (larger FLAC than WAV.) Perhaps I should use a mix of WAV and FLAC then, but I'm too lazy to do that - I'll just lose a few megabytes here and there on the shorter songs - but the net gain in space is still pretty decent.

07-25-2005, 09:39	#3
DRehm Senior Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 210	Weird. Could you estimate the break-even point in song length as well as filesize?

07-25-2005, 10:41	#4
Tja Junior Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Vienna Posts: 22	with WAV there should be no compression. as a rough rule 10MB of WAV store 1 Minute of music. If your WAVs store more minutes per MB then I dare say some compression is involved. Check the settings of your ripping software - I assume it further processes the WAVs and compresses them ...

07-25-2005, 12:42	#5
slag[] Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 228	No, I'm pretty sure after taking another look that the oddity here is the FLAC compression rate. I'll try and put out an estimate when I get home this evening, DRehm. I find this both interesting and odd. The FLAC compression algorithm must do better with larger files (which I guess isn't that surprising, since a similar effect can be seen with various archive types.)