ALAC
Technology & Computing abbreviation · File Format
| Stands for | Apple Lossless Audio Codec |
|---|---|
| Categories | Technology & Computing |
ALAC stands for Apple Lossless Audio Codec, a file format abbreviation.
Apple's lossless audio compression format, which reduces file size by roughly 40 to 60 percent with no loss of quality, used for lossless streaming in Apple Music and for iTunes library rips.
Example: Apple Music's lossless tier streams ALAC at up to 24-bit/192 kHz.
Usage notes
Apple introduced ALAC in 2004 and released it as open source under the Apache license in 2011. Files typically use the .m4a extension, the same as AAC, so the codec must be checked in file details. Apple Music added lossless streaming in 2021. ALAC and FLAC offer similar compression; Apple devices historically favored ALAC.
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