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[JesperDK]

I'm new here, and tried searching the forum for this first, but didn't quite find an answer to this. I also read the JRiver Wiki piece on lossless file formats: http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Lossless_Compression

I tried goofing around with a trial version and some FLAC files ripped from my CD collection. I seemed to get inconsistent meta data display in JRiver, i.e. JRiver perhaps isn't doing anything wrong, but there are many possible was to tag FLAC files. Furthermore FLAC development has died off, the last FLAC release appears to be 1.2.1 from 2007.

If I used Wave I'd be able to allow Windows Media Center to tag my files, and at least WMC is pretty easy to get consistent metadata from. On the flip side, pure Wave doesn't have any error detection, as mentioned in JRiver wiki article.

Monkey's Audio seems to be a small company; but they did roll a new release of Monkey's Audio in 2011, and the product seems mature.

Apple's lossless data format is open source now, and has wide player support. On the other hand I hate iTunes with a vengeance...

My goals are highest possible sound quality, and good long-term development support for the format. I don't care about file sizes or conversion speed.


My question is: Is there a consensus on the what's the "best" or "most frequently recommended" lossless file format for audiophile JRiver use? If you were starting to rip CDs today and hoping to keep your ripped collection around for 20+ years, which lossless data format would you use?

[Matt]

Since they're all lossless, the answer is that it doesn't really matter.  You can always switch without losing anything.

I wrote Monkey's Audio before starting at JRiver (12 years ago this summer!).  So you can expect excellent APE support in Media Center.

FLAC support in JRiver is also excellent.

ALAC is playback-only, at least for now.

I also like WavPack.  The developer is a really nice guy that has made consistent progress on the format for a long time.

[glynor]

FLAC and APE are probably the best supported in MC.  I use FLAC simply because it has wider support in other applications.

It is true that FLAC development seems to have largely ceased (other than ports to other platforms).  However, lossless is lossless, and the container format is fairly flexible, so I'm not sure what more needs to be done.

Monkey's Audio seems to be a small company; but they did roll a new release of Monkey's Audio in 2011, and the product seems mature.

The "small company" that develops APE is Matt Ashland.  You know... Matt.  It will always be well supported by Media Center, I'd say, unless Matt develops a blood-lust for his own format.

EDIT: Hah.  He beat me.