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FLAC or ALAC, which one to choose

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  • alexkorsun

    • Apr 2021
    • 2

    FLAC or ALAC, which one to choose

    Hello everyone
    This is my first time posting here. As non-technical personnel, I have a question.
    I am going to use dBpoweramp CD Ripper to digitalize my music CDs to audio. It is said that FLAC and ALAC with lossless compression provide the best sound effects. But I don’t know which one to choose.
    I read some articles on the Internet. This author says the size of FLAC is bigger than ALAC, but their quality is not much different (https://www.cisdem.com/resource/flac-to-alac.html). Is he right? I am considering ripping CDs to ALAC.
  • Spoon
    Administrator
    • Apr 2002
    • 44485

    #2
    Re: FLAC or ALAC, which one to choose

    The quality should be identical, they are both lossless formats.
    Spoon
    www.dbpoweramp.com

    Comment

    • mville
      dBpoweramp Guru

      • Dec 2008
      • 4021

      #3
      Re: FLAC or ALAC, which one to choose

      Originally posted by alexkorsun
      I read some articles on the Internet. This author says the size of FLAC is bigger than ALAC, but their quality is not much different (https://www.cisdem.com/resource/flac-to-alac.html). Is he right? I am considering ripping CDs to ALAC.
      The quality is the same. Personally, I would rip to flac, as it is more widely used.

      Comment

      • alexkorsun

        • Apr 2021
        • 2

        #4
        Re: FLAC or ALAC, which one to choose

        Thank you for your suggestion, I will think about it.

        Comment

        • BOOTP
          dBpoweramp Enthusiast

          • Feb 2020
          • 67

          #5
          Re: FLAC or ALAC, which one to choose

          I would definitely say go with FLAC.

          In terms of quality, it doesn't matter but ALAC does not have a built-in check (CRC) to verify the integrity of the audio - FLAC does.

          By using foobar2000 and FLAC, every so often I can check the integrity of my entire library by using Utilities --> Verify integrity in foobar2000. Some people use a 'Test Conversion' in dBpoweramp Batch Converter but foobar2000 is the way I do it, plus you can view the report of checksums.

          Comment

          • garym
            dBpoweramp Guru

            • Nov 2007
            • 5879

            #6
            Re: FLAC or ALAC, which one to choose

            For me, this is the key reason to use FLAC (and one that many do not seem to understand, until they have file corruption issues and then it is too late).

            Comment

            • camilasaunder89
              Banned
              • Jun 2024
              • 2

              #7
              I will recommend FLAC as it is more compatible with multiple platforms but on the other hand, its support is limited to 24-bit.

              Comment

              • garym
                dBpoweramp Guru

                • Nov 2007
                • 5879

                #8
                Originally posted by camilasaunder89
                I will recommend FLAC as it is more compatible with multiple platforms but on the other hand, its support is limited to 24-bit.
                Incorrect. In the last few years they have added 32bit support. Maybe even higher bit rate support recently. In any case, unless you are creating files and editing them in the studio for production, anything higher than 24 bit for playback use is crazy.

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