“Apple’s new iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus have hardware codec support for FLAC, a lossless audio format,” Christian Zibreg reports for iDownloadBlog. “iPhone 7 owners will be able to enjoy FLAC-encoded audio with iOS 11.”
“Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) brings the full quality of the original recording via lossless compression of digital audio at the expense of storage and bandwidth,” Zibreg reports. “The format cuts the file size to circa 50-60 percent of the original without degrading audio quality.”
“HomePod won’t initially support the FLAC audio format, according to the official technical specifications, but Apple could theoretically enable the feature via a future firmware update,” Zibreg reports. “iDB reported in the summer that FLAC playback would come to select devices as part of the iOS 11 software update, and now we know a bit more how that might play out.”
“My biggest gripe with iOS 11’s FLAC implementation has to do with the overall clunkiness because the Files app seems to be the only sanctioned system-wide solution for playing back FLAC audio (unless you use a third-party app such as Vox or Plex). If you use iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Box, Google Drive or any other cloud-storage service that has an appropriate iOS Document Provider extension, you can play your cloud-based FLAC audio from within the Files app,” Zibreg reports. “Sadly, FLACs are currently unsupported in iOS 11’s Music app.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Regardless, this is good news for audiophiles!
SEE ALSO:
Apple adds support for FLAC lossless audio in iOS 11 – June 6, 2017
Get it working in iTunes, and I’ll pay 50% more for my Apple Music account each month for it!
(Make it about the money, and maybe Apple will start to care!)
Almost from the beginning Apple has supported lossless compression: Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC). (((As a side note, all of the music on my phone and other Apple devices/computers are in ALAC.))) Now Apple is adding FLAC.
The unfortunate thing is that Apple has never sold music that is ALAC or FLAC compressed. This is one of the primary reasons I’ve never bought music through the iTunes store. As soon as Apple starts selling ALAC or FLAC based music, I’ll start buying music through the iTunes store.