On mobile devices such as media players however, they seem to have limited themselves to a maximum of 8/1. On a terabyte hard disk one can store about 2.ĬDs in FLAC format for example, so the extra space FLAC takes up compared to MP3 or other lossy formats is really not a concern anymore with modern computer storage. So I can fit around 3 audio CDs per gigabyte of storage. On modern computers with massive hard disk storage I find that it is very nice to be able to store all of my music in FLAC format wherever possible to preserve the audio 1. Taking an MP3 or other lossy audio however, and converting it to FLAC is stupid because it does not improve the audio, instead it just decompresses the crappy quality MP3 audio once and then saves that copy in a FLAC file which takes up 8 times as much disk space or more with no benefit to the audio quality. You always have the original undoctored audio. So generally those who prefer FLAC such as myself, do so because we don't want lower quality versions of the audio that have suffered through irreversible data loss being encoded to MP3 or other lossy formats because you can never ever hear the original crisp clear digital audio such as what you would get from an audio CD or WAV files, however FLAC preserves the original so you can convert the FLAC files to MP3, OPUS, OGG Vorbis or other formats yourself if need be, but still have the originals to listen too if you desire, or to be able to convert the original FLAC to some other future lossy format down the line. Generally speaking, on the highest compression setting FLAC files will shrink the audio data down by 4. However since it doesn't throw away audio data algorithmically like MP3, OGG Vorbis, OPUS, AAC or other common lossy formats, it is not able to achieve the same dramatic level of compression those algorithms provide. That is the primary benefit of FLAC encoding, that it preserves the original 1. This means that it can compress audio to make it smaller than raw audio, but when decompressed the original unadulterated audio is preserved 1.
It is like an audio version of a ZIP file in that it takes the original uncompressed raw audio directly off of the CD or WAV file for example, and compresses it using algorithms that take advantage of mathematical properties of music but which do not discard any of the information present. FLAC on the other hand is non- lossy compression. Again though, to the casual listener of most music this is not usually consciously noticeable in the background.
It gets progressively worse also if you use special software to slow down the tempo and/or change the pitch to be able to figure out the music due to multiple levels of digital signal processing stacked on top of each other occurring on the audio. If the music is in the background and/or not at the focus of one's attention however then it isn't normally noticeable. It is much more noticeable with slow quiet music that has a wider dynamic range than it is with something like speed metal. Note that this is quite often something you do not notice unless you are purposesfully listening for it or listening carefully to the music.
For those who do not notice the difference, someone can explain how to listen carefully to certain audio and compare the uncompressed and MP3 encoded versions of a song and the person who previously didn't think they could tell the difference in almost all cases will be able to hear the difference after. This is not generally noticeable to the casual listener, but the careful listener can notice the degraded audio. This is known as lossy compression and while it is very good at preserving the overall general idea of the sound, it does discard data. The Nutty Bavarian sells all of the equipment and supplies needed to make money selling fresh roasted, cinnamon glazed nuts at your location.
To view release notes for earlier releases of ESXi 5.1.