what is lossless audio

Lossless audio refers to a type of digital audio file that has been compressed using advanced data compression algorithms so that the audio track doesnt lose any detail in the compression process. Lossless audio formats are most often used for archiving or production purposes, while smaller lossy audio files are typically used on portable players and in other cases where storage space is limited or exact replication of the audio is unnecessary. Lossless audio is equal to CD-quality music, which means it has a resolution of at least 16 bits and a sample rate of 44.1kHz. Lossless audio formats include Audio Lossless Coding (MPEG-4 ALS), Direct Stream Transfer (DST), Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC), Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP), Monkeys Audio (Monkeys Audio APE), MPEG-4 SLS (HD-AAC), OptimFROG, Original Sound Quality (OSQ), RealPlayer (RealAudio Lossless), and Shorten (SHN) . While the difference between lossless and lossy audio is virtually indistinguishable, lossless audio is generally considered higher quality than lossy audio.