open-source FLAC audio encoder
About Flake
The Flake encoder project was started as a way for me to learn more about lossless audio encoding. I chose the FLAC format because it is open and well-documented. Although the FLAC reference encoder is also free and open-source, my goal was to implement the standard from scratch as an independent project. Flake is licensed under the GNU LGPL.
Once Flake progressed to a usable state, I submitted the encoder to be included as part of FFmpeg. It was included and improved upon by other FFmpeg developers. Since then, I have added more features to Flake and improved the encoding speed. I plan to add some of these features into FFmpeg as the encoder progresses.
There are both benefits and drawbacks to using Flake as a FLAC encoder alternative. In its current state, Flake gives, on average, slightly better compression than the FLAC reference encoder and is about twice as fast. However, it does not currently implement all the advanced features such as tagging, cuesheets, 24-bit audio, embedded pictures, and ogg encapsulation. I hope to add these to Flake in future releases.
