Apple Lossless vs Aiff Encoder

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Level 1

7 points

Apple Lossless vs Aiff Encoder

When importing songs from CD's, what is the difference between Apple Lossless (under "advanced settings") and Aiff? When clicking on Apple Lossless, the other settings are "automatic". When clicking on Aiff Encoder, the settings are "custom" and you have a choice of settings. I assume 44.100kHz, 16 bit and stereo are the best settings? Is this the best sound I can get when importing or is Apple Lossless better? What are the "automatic " settings under Apple Lossless?

iMAC G5 20", Mac OS X (10.4.9), the usual stuff!

Posted on Feb 17, 2008 8:01 PM

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Answer 1

jere7my

Level 4

1,815 points

Feb 17, 2008 9:41 PM in response to Dylanmusic

AIFF and Apple Lossless are both non-lossy formats (meaning no audio data is lost). Apple Lossless is about half the size of straight CD audio; AIFF is exactly the same size as straight CD audio.

44.1kHz, 16 bit stereo are the best settings for 44.1kHz, 16 bit stereo recordings. 😉 If you import a stereo CD as AIFF mono, for instance, the file will be half as big, but you'll lose one of the audio channels, whereas mono is the correct setting for importing a mono CD.

Presumably, the automatic settings for Apple Lossless automatically create the smallest file that preserves all the audio data.

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