FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec, an audio format similar to MP3, but lossless, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality. This is similar to how Zip works, except with FLAC you will get much better compression because it is designed specifically for audio, and you can play back compressed FLAC files in your favorite player (or your car or home stereo, see supported devices) just like you would an MP3 file.

FLAC stands out as the fastest and most widely supported lossless audio codec, and the only one that at once is non-proprietary, is unencumbered by patents, has an open-source reference implementation, has a well documented format and API, and has several other independent implementations.

See About FLAC for more, or Using FLAC for how to play FLAC files, rip CDs to FLAC, etc.

Linn Records now offers both Studio Master and CD Quality downloads in FLAC format.

The Windows installer for FLAC 1.1.4 is now available here.

We've just finished testing the Transporter, Slim Devices' top-end networked audio player. As with the Squeezebox, FLAC support for this fantastic device is excellent; see our review for more.

FLAC 1.1.4 released  Increased compression and dramatic speedups for both encoding and decoding are the big improvements in FLAC 1.1.4. There are also several new options and bugfixes. See the changelog entry for complete details.

Several new devices with FLAC support were announced at 2007 CES, including the EVA 8000 from Netgear; the awesome-looking Sooloos; Cowon's iAudio D2, A3, and Q5; the i-Station Mini DX; and the MediaREADY MC. Roxio also recently released Record Now 9 Music Lab Premier with FLAC support.

Pixel Magic has added FLAC support to its HD MediaBox.

Sonos, Inc. has sent us a complete Sonos Digital Music System for review. Aside from being just plain cool, FLAC support is excellent; see our writeup for details.

Pearl Jam is selling recordings of many of their live shows in FLAC format.

last updated 2007-Jun-12