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WavPack is a completely open audio compression format providing lossless,
high-quality lossy, and a unique hybrid compression mode. Although the
technology is loosely based on previous versions of WavPack, the new
version 4 format has been designed from the ground up to offer unparalleled
performance and functionality.
In the default lossless mode WavPack acts just like a WinZip compressor for
audio files. However, unlike MP3 or WMA encoding which can affect the
sound quality, not a single bit of the original information is lost, so
there's no chance of degradation. This makes lossless mode ideal for
archiving audio material or any other situation where quality is paramount.
The compression ratio depends on the source material, but generally is
between 30% and 70% (generally lower for typical popular music and
somewhat better for classical music and other sources with greater dynamic
range).
The hybrid mode provides all the advantages of lossless compression with
an additional bonus. Instead of creating a single file, this mode creates
both a relatively small, high-quality lossy file that can be used all by
itself, and a "correction" file that (when combined with the lossy file)
provides full lossless restoration. For some users this means never having
to choose between lossless and lossy compression!
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