What is Lossy and Lossless Audio compression?
Data compression is one of the most important components of this world, fed daily by petabytes of data. As humans, we generate data every second. To walk, run, eat or drink, our devices monitor our data and generate tons of data and store them on the cloud. However, it is sometimes necessary to compress the data. Compression results in faster data transmission and less storage occupancy. There are two types of compression – Lossy compression and Lossless compression.
What is lossless audio compression?
Lossless compression compresses the file so that its original qualities are not lost at all. This compression technique borrows qualities from the ZIP algorithm in which redundant data is removed from the file and the integrity of the important data bits is kept intact.
Lossless compression processes the audio files so that the size is reduced by the quality is still intact. Lossy compression reduces the size of an original audio file up to ten times, but some audio data is lost during the process.
A normal human ear and brain can not differentiate the original audio quality from that compressed with lossless audio compression. As a result, it becomes a reliable source of compression of a file rather than other methods where the quality of the file is compromised.
Audio compression is very critical in the music industry. This helps with efficient audio production and streaming. Some of the most popular lossless audio compression formats are:
- FLAC
- WAV
- AT THE C
- WMA Lossless.
If you download a compressed audio file in a lossless format, you will still have the audio in a quality almost identical to that of a source.
It should be noted that the MP3 is not a lossless audio format.
POINT: Monkeys Audio is a free lossless compression software for your music files.
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