FLAC by Josh Coalson is a fairly new audio format that is cross-platform. FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. A codec is a way that an audio or audio/video file is encoded in order to compress down the size of the file for streaming or storage. The intention behind the FLAC codec and resulting FLAC-format audio files was to get data files are small as possible, while not sacrificing any of the sound quality. FLAC is now supported by Google Play, VLC media package, Android devices, and Apple devices with a FLAC-supported app (not compatible by default). This open source product is not protected by patents which makes it available for anyone to use to help distribute their recorded content.

Flac Key Features:

• Frequent updates to FLAC standard
• Higher quality than MP3 audio files
• Widest support
• Apps and mobile platforms adding support for FLAC
• Audio compression maximized without loss of audio quality