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choice of audio format for fanedits

spicediver

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Re. choice of audio format for fanedits - what are currently the most widely compatible lossless formats?

I'm encoding 2.0 stereo only. Was going to choose PCM or FLAC again - but with FLAC I was wondering if Apple devices will still be incompatible.
 

krausfadr

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In general Apple supports FLAC.
5.1 could be an issue but 2.0 is fine.
 

robulon

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I've recently had a viewer say that one of my edits encoded with 24-bit FLAC stereo audio was playing back out of sync for them. Is this something others have found with FLAC? Its obviously always been fine for me when testing it on the equipment I have to hand.
 

lapis molari

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Most of my edits are 5.1 channel AC3 at 640kbps; not lossless but fairly close and no compatibility issues.

When I kept the original 24-bit stereo, in my B&W edit of The Hot Spot, I used PCM precisely because I wasn't sure if FLAC would cause compatibility issues. Big file size, but the sound is sooo enjoyable. :cool:
 

robulon

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Thanks @lapis molari! Yeah I'd hoped that FLAC would provide that perfect sweet spot between PCM's massive size and AC3's compression. I'll see what PCM adds to overall file size and make a judgement. Maybe sticking to 640kbps AC3 is just safer overall.
 

krausfadr

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It would be difficult for most people to hear any difference between FLAC and AAC-LC VBR (600+ kbps) even on complex music. FLAC seems to work well on Plex. For best compatibility AAC-LC is the way to go. AC3 640 kbps is good too but AC3 doesn’t allow variable bitrate.
 

Eyepainter

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I've gone through plenty of audio choices. I started by giving my edits a DTS-HD passthru thanks to Handbrake, but when that option was updated out of existence, I went to AAC. So far, no complaints except from a few die-hard DTS fans.
 
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