FLAC vs ALAC

[wieczorek1990]

I have a personal MacOS since 2019 and had to use XLD to convert OverClocked Remix music from FLAC to ALAC to burn them to disc with Apple USB SuperDrive with Apple Music application.

So ALAC directory is another space on our discs but OCR already provides MP3 and FLAC, so why not provide 3 instead of 2?

It is also more work for the music producer but actually when scripted that is fine.

I think most advanced torrent users are accustomed to select what they want to download.

Discussion please.

Edited April 17, 2023 by wieczorek1990

[Liontamer]

I've not heard of ALAC having critical mass acceptance like FLAC. It may be worth a look provided that the importation process is straightforward enough once you have the files. For the time being -- and it doesn't meant it couldn't change later -- It feels like offering ALAC downloads is like catering to a segment of a segment of segment; people pushed for OGG 20 years ago, and it's a good format, but it's never hit ubiquitous acceptance the way MP3 format has, so I'd need to see ALAC do the same.

Anyone else around here explicitly prefer ALAC format for your Apple devices (e.g. for your Bandcamp purchases)?

[DarkeSword]

I agree that most advanced torrent users are accustomed to selecting what they want to download but I'd also suggest (and this is pure conjecture) that the average torrent user is just downloading everything. Like Larry said, OGG was a thing many years ago but ultimate it comes down to what file formats are ubiquitous amongst the larger listener base. I don't see any significant advantages to offering ALAC alongside FLAC aside from catering to the specific use case of iTunes/Music.app not supporting FLAC.

• MP3s are offered because MP3 is the ubiquitous, de facto standard when it comes to lossy compression.
• FLAC is offered for the same reason (ubiquity), and also because once someone has lossless files, they can do whatever they'd like, such as converting to other formats like OGG, AAC, or ALAC.

My personal feeling is that having the one lossy set (MP3) and one lossless set (FLAC) covers all of the bases for our distribution channels. If we start offering more encodes based on the idea that people can just deselect what they don't want, we're going down the rabbit hole of providing more and more sets. This is extra work for everyone for very little return, IMO.

[H36T]

Not the old school OGG files ???. Those were such a god send in a time where space was a premium 

[Woody mC]

My two cents from both the technical and economical perspective: If ALAC is effectively another lossless derivative from FLAC and hosting space (and/or, perhaps, conversion computing time) is a paid/limited resource, then keep the footprint small (read: do not provide pre-rendered/stored ALAC). As DarkeSword said, reaching out with a little finger WILL invite to grab the full hand. ALWAYS. (In my past 25 years as a SW dev, I *never* observed even a single exception to that rule.)

[Xaleph]

Could just combine the two.

Edited July 20, 2023 by Xaleph

[Drebin]

I have just been converting FLAC to ALAC which only takes a few seconds.

For anyone looking to convert to ALAC easily, check out Tunesify in the App Store.