While there’s little argument that iPhones and iPads are attractive, well-designed gadgets, they do come with strict limitations when it comes to the type of audio files they will accept — Apple isn’t known for playing nice with files, except those the company sells you. It can be frustrating to drop thousands on high-end hardware, only to be limited by the Apple ecosystem. If you’re a fan of hi-res audio, you may be wondering how to get your iOS device to play nicely with a decidedly un-Apple high-resolution audio file that is among the most popular file formats: FLAC. Our handy guide will give you all the tools you need, letting you know exactly what FLAC files are, what their advantage is, and most importantly, how to play them on your iOS device. What are FLAC files, and what are their advantages? (Note: If you’re already generally familiar with FLAC files, feel free to skip to the next section.) FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. It’s a high-resolution audio file that has been compressed (usually from a larger WAV file) so it’s more manageable to store. The “lossless” compression of FLAC files means that, while they’re around half the size of a hi-res WAV file, none of the information has been discarded. Conversely, while an MP3 only takes up a few megabytes of space, it is a “lossy” file, and dumps up to 90 percent of the original file via compression when it’s created. Since FLAC files support higher sample and bit rates than… [Read full story]
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