Format
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec)
Summary
- Name
- FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec)
- Version
- 1.2.1
- Identifiers
-
- MIME: audio/flac
- PUID: fmt/279
- Format type
- Audio
- Description
- 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. The basic structure of a FLAC stream is: •The four byte string "fLaC" •The STREAMINFO metadata block •Zero or more other metadata blocks •One or more audio frames The first four bytes are to identify the FLAC stream. The metadata that follows contains all the information about the stream except for the audio data itself. After the metadata comes the encoded audio data.
- Release date
- 17 Sep 2007
- File extensions
-
flac - Submitted by
- The National Archives and Records Administration / The National Archives and Records Administration
Internal signatures
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec)
- Description
- BOF: 'fLaC' with optional byte (80|00) followed by '.."'
- Provenance
- Signature enhanced by Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen.
Byte sequences
- Min Frag Length
- Absolute from BOF
- Offset
- 0
- Max offset
- 4
- Byte Sequence
664C6143(80|00)000022- Endianness
- None
Changelog
-
V98
- Release date
- 27 October 2021
-
Updated
FLAC: Signature updated with an either or (80|00). Signature developed and samples provided by Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen.
-
V92
- Release date
- 20 September 2017
-
Updated
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) 1.2.1: Added MIME type.
-
V72
- Release date
- 12 November 2013
-
Updated
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec): Improved internal signature through PRONOM Research.
-
V38
- Release date
- 1 August 2010
-
Added format
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec): Outline entry added
-
Added signature
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec): Signature developed from FLAC documentation