what can be achieved with lossless compression?
Short answer: 60 to 70% of original file-size with pop, rock, techno and other loud, noisy music; 35% to 60% for quieter choral and orchestral pieces. My primary interest is in compression of 16 bit 44.1 kHz stereo audio files – as used in CDs. There are lossless compression systems for 24 bit and surround-sound systems. While I have a few links to these, they are not tested here. My tests are for programs which run on a Windows machine, though I have Linux machines as well, and some of these programs run under Linux too. I only found one Mac-only lossless compressor (ZAP) and have not tested it. In my 1998 tests I was not interested in speed, but in November 2000, in view of the fact that the compression ratios of the leading programs were fairly similar, I decided to test their speed as well, since this varies enormously. Five programs distinguished themselves with high compression ratios: • Dennis Lee’s Waveform Archiver (WavArc). • Tilman Liebchen’s LPAC. • Lin Xiao’s AudioZip. • M
