[peel] Re: Flac files

[Rob Brewer]

On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 2:21 PM, alanforduk <alan@...> wrote:
> I get it now, but it seems counter-intuitive for a smaller file to
> contain more information.

In this case it would be the same amount of information: the WAV file
contains the uncompressed audio data, while the FLAC contains exactly
the same information compressed in a lossless manner, yielding (almost
always) a smaller file.

But yes, it's counterintuitive - the same information in less space.
It takes advantage of repetition and predictability within the data to
construct a sort of shorthand. The penalty is that you have to expend
processing time on compressing and uncompressing the file.

-- 
Rob Brewer rob@... http://www.rbrwr.org
"Who would not rather be a rising ape than a falling angel?" -- Terry Pratchett