Why isn't the compression level added in a metadata block by the flac encoder itself (just like the encoder version)? In this way all programs that read the file can see what compression level was used. thx 2007/7/4, Scot Thompson <scot.thompson@cox.net>:> > This has been asked many times. The answer is no. I suggest saving the > compression level into a tag for future reference, but that won't help you > with files you get from unknown locations. > > ------------------------------ > *From:* flac-bounces@xiph.org [mailto:flac-bounces@xiph.org] *On Behalf Of > *Harry Sack > *Sent:* Wednesday, July 04, 2007 7:14 AM > *To:* flac@xiph.org > *Subject:* [Flac] FLAC: getting compression level using metaflac > > Hi FLAC list! > > I have a question (maybe a strange one) about getting the compression > level (0-8) using metaflac. > So I want to know for a given FLAC file what compression level was used to > compress that file. > I tried using the --list option but this doesn't give any information > about this. > > Is there a way to get the compression level of a given FLAC file using > metaflac or another tool? > > thx > > _______________________________________________ > Flac mailing list > Flac@xiph.org > http://lists.xiph.org/mailman/listinfo/flac > >-------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.xiph.org/pipermail/flac/attachments/20070705/dbef20fa/attachment.htm
What difference does it make? Harry Sack wrote:> Why isn't the compression level added in a metadata block by the flac > encoder itself (just like the encoder version)? In this way all programs > that read the file can see what compression level was used. > > thx > > 2007/7/4, Scot Thompson <scot.thompson@cox.net>: >> >> This has been asked many times. The answer is no. I suggest saving the >> compression level into a tag for future reference, but that won't help >> you >> with files you get from unknown locations. >> >> ------------------------------ >> *From:* flac-bounces@xiph.org [mailto:flac-bounces@xiph.org] *On >> Behalf Of >> *Harry Sack >> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 04, 2007 7:14 AM >> *To:* flac@xiph.org >> *Subject:* [Flac] FLAC: getting compression level using metaflac >> >> Hi FLAC list! >> >> I have a question (maybe a strange one) about getting the compression >> level (0-8) using metaflac. >> So I want to know for a given FLAC file what compression level was >> used to >> compress that file. >> I tried using the --list option but this doesn't give any information >> about this. >> >> Is there a way to get the compression level of a given FLAC file using >> metaflac or another tool? >> >> thx >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Flac mailing list >> Flac@xiph.org >> http://lists.xiph.org/mailman/listinfo/flac >> >> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Flac mailing list > Flac@xiph.org > http://lists.xiph.org/mailman/listinfo/flac
As compression level does not affect audio quality, the only thing that this can indicate to a user is how compact the data is. Average bitrate is a much better metric of this than compression level. On Thu, 2007-07-05 at 08:27 -0700, Mark Rudholm wrote:> What difference does it make? > > Harry Sack wrote: > > Why isn't the compression level added in a metadata block by the flac > > encoder itself (just like the encoder version)? In this way all programs > > that read the file can see what compression level was used. > > > > thx > > > > 2007/7/4, Scot Thompson <scot.thompson@cox.net>: > >> > >> This has been asked many times. The answer is no. I suggest saving the > >> compression level into a tag for future reference, but that won't help > >> you > >> with files you get from unknown locations. > >> > >> ------------------------------ > >> *From:* flac-bounces@xiph.org [mailto:flac-bounces@xiph.org] *On > >> Behalf Of > >> *Harry Sack > >> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 04, 2007 7:14 AM > >> *To:* flac@xiph.org > >> *Subject:* [Flac] FLAC: getting compression level using metaflac > >> > >> Hi FLAC list! > >> > >> I have a question (maybe a strange one) about getting the compression > >> level (0-8) using metaflac. > >> So I want to know for a given FLAC file what compression level was > >> used to > >> compress that file. > >> I tried using the --list option but this doesn't give any information > >> about this. > >> > >> Is there a way to get the compression level of a given FLAC file using > >> metaflac or another tool? > >> > >> thx > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Flac mailing list > >> Flac@xiph.org > >> http://lists.xiph.org/mailman/listinfo/flac > >> > >> > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Flac mailing list > > Flac@xiph.org > > http://lists.xiph.org/mailman/listinfo/flac > > _______________________________________________ > Flac mailing list > Flac@xiph.org > http://lists.xiph.org/mailman/listinfo/flac-- Alex Jones http://alex.weej.com/
Brian Willoughby
2007-Jul-05 10:03 UTC
[Flac] FLAC: getting compression level using metaflac
The compression level is really only just a convenient shortcut for humans to use when creating a flac file. The real values used during compression include Max LPC order, blocksize, Rice partition order (min,)max, exhaustive model search flag, and mid-side or Adaptive mid- side coding flags. As you can see, there are a lot of parameters and options, to the compression level just represents common combinations. You can't store the level in the metadata because you can create a tuned flac file without any compression level at all. Another thing to consider is that compression level 8 is not always the best for every file. Brian Willoughby Sound Consulting On Jul 5, 2007, at 02:41, Harry Sack wrote:> Why isn't the compression level added in a metadata block by the > flac encoder itself (just like the encoder version)? In this way > all programs that read the file can see what compression level was > used. > > thx > > 2007/7/4, Scot Thompson <scot.thompson@cox.net>: > This has been asked many times. The answer is no. I suggest > saving the compression level into a tag for future reference, but > that won't help you with files you get from unknown locations. > > From: flac-bounces@xiph.org [mailto:flac-bounces@xiph.org] On > Behalf Of Harry Sack > Sent: Wednesday, July 04, 2007 7:14 AM > To: flac@xiph.org > Subject: [Flac] FLAC: getting compression level using metaflac > > Hi FLAC list! > > I have a question (maybe a strange one) about getting the > compression level (0-8) using metaflac. > So I want to know for a given FLAC file what compression level was > used to compress that file. > I tried using the --list option but this doesn't give any > information about this. > > Is there a way to get the compression level of a given FLAC file > using metaflac or another tool? > > thx >-------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.xiph.org/pipermail/flac/attachments/20070705/1d7528e0/attachment.html
2007/7/5, Mark Rudholm <rudholm@hyperreal.org>:> > What difference does it make?It would give me an indication of the filesize, so I mean: can the file compressed more or not? Now you can't see anything at all: if you have a FLAC file from an unknown source, you can only guess if you can compress it more, because there is no indication of the compression level. (e.g. if it would say "compression level 5", I would know I can re-encode it using level 8 to make it smaller) Harry Sack wrote:> > Why isn't the compression level added in a metadata block by the flac > > encoder itself (just like the encoder version)? In this way all programs > > that read the file can see what compression level was used. > > > > thx > > > > 2007/7/4, Scot Thompson <scot.thompson@cox.net>: > >> > >> This has been asked many times. The answer is no. I suggest saving > the > >> compression level into a tag for future reference, but that won't help > >> you > >> with files you get from unknown locations. > >> > >> ------------------------------ > >> *From:* flac-bounces@xiph.org [mailto:flac-bounces@xiph.org] *On > >> Behalf Of > >> *Harry Sack > >> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 04, 2007 7:14 AM > >> *To:* flac@xiph.org > >> *Subject:* [Flac] FLAC: getting compression level using metaflac > >> > >> Hi FLAC list! > >> > >> I have a question (maybe a strange one) about getting the compression > >> level (0-8) using metaflac. > >> So I want to know for a given FLAC file what compression level was > >> used to > >> compress that file. > >> I tried using the --list option but this doesn't give any information > >> about this. > >> > >> Is there a way to get the compression level of a given FLAC file using > >> metaflac or another tool? > >> > >> thx > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Flac mailing list > >> Flac@xiph.org > >> http://lists.xiph.org/mailman/listinfo/flac > >> > >> > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Flac mailing list > > Flac@xiph.org > > http://lists.xiph.org/mailman/listinfo/flac > >-------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.xiph.org/pipermail/flac/attachments/20070705/8216a162/attachment-0001.htm
rappard@dds.nl
2007-Jul-05 23:42 UTC
[Flac] FLAC: getting compression level using metaflac
On Thu, 5 Jul 2007, Brian Willoughby wrote: [snip]> level at all. Another thing to consider is that compression level 8 is not > always the best for every file.Huh? Please explain. Apologies for (kind of) hijacking this thread. Martin