Skip to main content ↑ ↓

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: Howto find out FLAC file compression level (Read 8922 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Howto find out FLAC file compression level

Hello good folks of HA, its been a long long time since i've last came on here.  I just want to ask what maybe a silly question but i'll go ahead and ask.
How do i find out what level compression was used on a FLAC file. Ive tried to find out in Foobar but to no avail?

The reason i'm asking is because I downloaded from rarewares the FLAC v.1.3.1 win64 bundle 2014-11-28 ICL 14.0.4 compile - by John33. Subsequently I decided to transcode Skyrim OST which was done on FLAC 1.2.1 and the original size for the album was 2.16 GB, now i've transocded 53 songs using 1.3.1 x64 on level 8 and now the size has come out as 877MB as separate files and 869MB as a single flac file. The encoding only took 2m05s on foobar which suprised me a bit but since i've not done much on audio since i had a E4300 dual core years ago.

If you guys have any opinions i'd be grateful and its nice to be back at long last.
Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace. (Oscar Wilde)

Doktor Lorenz

Howto find out FLAC file compression level

Reply #1 –
I do not think this information is stored anywhere in FLAC.

Howto find out FLAC file compression level

Reply #2 –
Quote from: spoon on
I do not think this information is stored anywhere in FLAC.

Thanks for the quick reply. I was only asking because of the HUGE difference in file sizes from original flac files 1.2.1 to new 1.3.1 encoded files. Because its been years since i last did any transocding and that was back on a crappy E4300 and now i'm fortunate enough these days to have a 3930K so I don't know how quick is quick enough and also I was on a 32bit OS back then too.
Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace. (Oscar Wilde)

Doktor Lorenz

Howto find out FLAC file compression level

Reply #3 –
Total runtime 218 minutes?  All 16 bit, 48kHz?  Or 44.1kHz? 

2GB comes to about 1223 kbps, hardly compressed at all.  900MB is about 500kbps which is what you'd expect.  If compression level 8 is fast enough for you then there isn't any reason not to use it, although it typically only gains you a few percent over level 5.  You might try the -e option also.

Howto find out FLAC file compression level

Reply #4 –
That is indeed an unusually large difference in size. I doubt  that it has much to do with the version of Flac used to encode the files.

I would suggest re-encoding the original again with Flac 1.2.1 at various compression levels, but probably start with -0 and see if you can come close to replicating the original file sizes. There's also the possibility that the original was encoded with no compression. You could just decode it to WAV to figure this out. The WAV whould be just a bit smaller than the FLAC if that were the case.
 

Howto find out FLAC file compression level

Reply #5 –
Embedded artwork may have caused the difference.

Howto find out FLAC file compression level

Reply #6 –
According to this the soundtrack was released as a CD. The original 2.16 GB (assuming it's as shown by Windows or most programs, meaning 2.16 GiB) translates into 1418 kbps. That means the original files are somewhat larger than uncompressed PCM. This is most likely caused by use of insane "uncompressed" FLAC compression settings and embedded album art.
I wouldn't bother testing old FLAC 1.2.1 but I'd highly recommend using the official FLAC encoder. It is reportedly faster than the rarewares version (as mentioned starting from here).

Howto find out FLAC file compression level

Reply #7 –
To be honest i've got a a CPU with enough grunt so i don't think i'll notice too much difference between 5 and 8 but i'm gonna try encoding with 1.2.1 at 0 and see if i can replicate this. 
I'll always use -8 in the future now because it passes the acid test of that can i go downstairs and make a cup of tea and when i come back its done.  I've updated my audio codecs folder with latest (stable) versions so i'll always be using the latest now i'm getting back into it.  I think modern budget CPU's are quick enough for most people these days unless you wanna go crazy with encoding like video etc or gaming but i'm even bored of that right now


Edit: I've found the cause, it was indeed uncompressed audio wrapped in a Flac conatainer, which is rather stupid me thinks especially as the guy had to upload it as a torrent. Still I like it enough to buy it as i'm a bit of a skyrim fanatic.
I'll try the offical flac 1.3.1 over the rarewares one and see if it is indeed quicker, although to be honest being able to encode over 2GB in less than 2 mins is quite quick enough for me.
Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace. (Oscar Wilde)

Doktor Lorenz