Editing FLAC (section)

== Comparison to other formats ==
FLAC is specifically designed for efficient packing of audio data, unlike general-purpose lossless algorithms such as [[DEFLATE]], which are used in [[ZIP file format|ZIP]] and [[gzip]]. While ZIP may reduce the size of a CD-quality audio file by 10–20%, FLAC is able to reduce the size of audio data by 40–50% by taking advantage of the characteristics of audio.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

The technical strengths of FLAC compared to other lossless formats lie in its ability to be streamed and decoded quickly, independent of compression level.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

Since FLAC is a lossless scheme, it is suitable as an archive format for owners of CDs and other media who wish to preserve their audio collections. If the original media are lost, damaged, or worn out, a FLAC copy of the audio tracks ensures that an exact duplicate of the original data can be recovered at any time. An exact restoration from a lossy copy (e.g., [[MP3]]) of the same data is impossible. FLAC's being lossless means it is highly suitable for [[transcoding]] e.g. to MP3, without the normally associated [[digital generation loss|transcoding quality loss]] between one lossy format and another. A [[Cue sheet (music software)|CUE file]] can optionally be created when [[ripping]] a CD. If a CD is read and ripped perfectly to FLAC files, the CUE file allows later burning of an audio CD that is identical in audio data to the original CD, including track order and [[pregap]], but excluding additional data such as lyrics and [[CD+G]] graphics.<ref name="flacfaq">{{cite web |title=FAQ |url=https://xiph.org/flac/faq.html |access-date=23 September 2014 |website=FLAC}}</ref> But depending on the burning program used, [[CD-Text]] may be recovered from the metadata stored in the CUE sheet and burned back to a new copy on blank CD-R media.