FLAC and Opus explained
FLAC compresses audio losslessly, typically to about half the size of WAV. Decompressed, it is bit-for-bit identical to the original — the compression is mathematical, not perceptual.
Opus is the current state of the art for lossy audio, and the codec behind most voice calls you make over the internet. It performs well across an unusually wide range, from 6 kbps speech to transparent music.
- Where FLAC files come from
- Hi-fi music libraries and archival rips of physical media.
- Where Opus is used
- Voice and video calls, modern podcast pipelines and WebRTC.