Lossless compression is any compression format where all information in the imput stream is preversed in the output stream.

Audio Formats which use Lossless Compression

Lossless compression is less commonly utilized in computer audio file formats than lossy compression.

Audio file formats which use lossless compression include:

  • Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)
  • ALAC
  • Direct Stream Transfer (DST)
  • Monkey’s Audio APE
  • RealAudio Lossless
  • Shorten (SHN)
  • The True Audio (TTA)
  • WavPack lossless
  • WMA Lossless

Lossless Compression vs. Lossy Compression

The alternative to lossless compression is lossy compression.

Lossless compression yields smaller output files than lossless compression, but always at a loss of some sound quality.

It is infinitely debatable what level of lost sound quality is detectable by the human ear.