|
| | WavPack 4.41 final
Updated: 8 May 2007 | | 327KB | Downloads: 33309 |
| |
WavPack is a completely open audio compression format providing lossless, high-quality lossy, and a unique hybrid compression mode. Although the technology is loosely based on previous versions of WavPack, the new version 4 format has been designed from the ground up to offer unparalleled performance and functionality.
| | | |
In the default lossless mode WavPack acts just like a WinZip compressor for audio files. However, unlike MP3 or WMA encoding which can affect the sound quality, not a single bit of the original information is lost and so there's no chance of degradation. This makes lossless mode ideal for archiving audio material or any other situation where quality is paramount. The compression ratio depends on the source material, but generally is between 30% and 70%.
The hybrid mode provides all the advantages of lossless compression with an additional bonus. Instead of creating a single file, this mode creates both a relatively small, high-quality lossy file that can be used all by itself, and a "correction" file that (when combined with the lossy file) provides full lossless restoration. For some users this means never having to choose between lossless and lossy compression!
Features of WavPack :
- Compatible with virtually all PCM audio formats including 8, 16, and 24-bit ints; 32-bit floats; mono, stereo, and multichannel; sampling rates from 6 to 192 kHz (and non-standard rates)
- Multiplatform support including Windows, Linux, and OS X
- Instantly seekable and streaming capable (and gapless)
- ReplayGain (including WavPack file scanner and compatible plugins)
- Uses ID2v1 and APEv2 tags for metadata (including ReplayGain)
- Error-tolerant block format conducive to hardware decoding
- Optional "asymmetrical" mode for improved compression
- MD5 audio checksums for verification and identification
- Unique hybrid mode (provides high quality lossy + "correction" file
- Hybrid mode now operates as low as 2.25 bits/sample (or 196 kbps for CD audio)
- Free and open source with easy to use library interface and unrestrictive license (BSD)
- Intuitive command line interface (with wildcards and destination directory)
- Small, efficient executable (no large programs or dlls to install)
- Fully backward compatible to WavPack 1.0
- Self-extracting archives (Windows only)
- Complete piping support
Changes in WavPack 4.41 beta :
- I have been working on speed enhancements for WavPack and think I have made enough progress to justify a release. The improvement seems to vary quite a bit on different systems, but I couldn't find a system where this didn't make some improvement (even a few percent) and on some systems (like my old 1.7 GHz P4) it is significant. The improvements apply to both packing and unpacking stereo files. Note that this is still pure C; there is no hand-coded assembler.
This also includes the MMX code (via intrinsics) from Joachim Henke. Unfortunately, this only seems to provide an improvement for bitdepths over 16, so it's restricted to that for now (although it does make a nice improvement for 24-bit or IEEE float data). Regarding MMX support, is that ubiquitous enough now that programs simply use it without checking for it? Since WavPack now requires Windows 98, it is reasonable to assume that any computer running Windows 98 also has MMX?
- A bug has been fixed that sometimes caused a crash if a metadata source file specified on the command-line was not found, but otherwise this release only involves optimization. The output files should always be bit-identical to 4.40 regardless of the mode. This code hasn't been checked in to SVN and I haven't tested it on Linux, but that will come shortly.
Changes in WavPack 4.41 final :
• wavpack.exe (command-line encoder) - 4.41
- fixed: corrupt floating-point audio on big-endian machines
- improved: refuse to encode WAV files over 4 GB or with over 16 MB RIFF data
- improved: overall performance enhancements of 10% to 30% (depending on mode)
- added: MMX intrinsics for 24-bit (and higher) stereo encoding (thanks to Joachim Henke)
• wvunpack.exe (command-line decoder) - 4.41
- fixed: corrupt floating-point audio on big-endian machines
- fixed: restore files mistakenly encoded with huge RIFF chunks
- improved: attempt to mute errors when decoding corrupt legacy WavPack files
- improved: overall performance enhancements of 10% to 30% (depending on mode)
- added: --skip and --until commands to unpack specified range of audio data
- added: MMX intrinsics for 24-bit (and higher) stereo encoding (thanks to Joachim Henke)
• wvgain.exe (command-line ReplayGain scanner) - 4.41
- improved: overall performance enhancements of 10% to 30% (depending on mode)
- added: MMX intrinsics for 24-bit (and higher) stereo encoding (thanks to Joachim Henke)
• WavPack Winamp plugin 2.4:
- fixed: quietly skips deleted files in playlist
- improved: more robust handling of corrupt files
• Related downloads:
- WavPack frontend 2.0: You really need this graphical user interface for command-line encoder and decoder. If you get an error when you try to run the frontend, you need one of the following files (the error message indicates which one): Visual Basic 6 Runtime files, mscomctl.ocx or tabctl32.ocx.
- CoreWavPack: is a set of DirectShow filters to support the WavPack Audio Codec that allows playing WavPack files (.wv .wvc) in any DirectShow based media player.
- Ogg Vorbis: is a high-quality lossy audio codec which is free of intellectual property restrictions (like those surrounding MP3).
- FLAC: is similar to MP3, but lossless, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality.
|
|
