Best way to losslessly compress LPCM?

[dimtim]

Hey so I have a LPCM wav file I extracted from a blu-ray movie I own and I'd like to compress it, but keep it almost lossless. Should I leave it in the same format? Are there any tools to compress PCM? What would you guys recommend? I'm looking for the equivalent of video compression of uncompressed to H.264 except in audio haha.

Thanks
Tim

[noemi7]

For lossless compression: FLAC, Monkey's Audio (APE). Check dBpowerAMP freeware and reliable converter.

[yoda313]

Just a word of advice - if you plan to reintegrate this into a video file later you will most likely have to reencode the audio. So in that case you may want to back up the original audio portion first to dvdr so that you have access to the original file for later editing.

Yes I know technically lossless compression techniques should be "just like" the original upon reconversion however it wouldn't hurt to have the ACTUAL original file around for later use. At the very least it would save you the hassle of reripping the movie again.

Now I will say this I don't know for a 100% certain there aren't video formats that directly accept lossless codecs. I'm sure there are variants for the avi container that I am unfamilar with. One thing though I'm sure those aren't as widely compatible as ac3, wav, or mp3.

Just something to consider.

[jman98]

Now I will say this I don't know for a 100% certain there aren't video formats that directly accept lossless codecs.

There are. They are called HD DVD (now defunct) and BluRay. However, there are no free tools available that can encode with such codecs, so you're stuck with LPCM.

With regards to noemi7's good suggestions, I'd advise using FLAC. There's significantly more support for it than APE on the internet.

[yoda313]

There are. They are called HD DVD (now defunct) and BluRay. However, there are no free tools available that can encode with such codecs, so you're stuck with LPCM.

Ok that makes sense. Since I've never authored bluray I don't know that stuff off the top of my head.

However my main target was in reference to compressed video formats similar to xvid or divx and etc... I don't know of any of those compressed formats that accept large lossless formats. And of those that do I don't know of any that are readily playable on standard divx type devices. Though I imagine the more complex ps3's and xbox 360's MAY be able to cope with that.

Again this is all on the supposition that the orginal poster may want to reincorporate the audio into video later. If this is strictly for audio than lossless codecs are fine.

[AlanHK]

Hey so I have a LPCM wav file I extracted from a blu-ray movie I own and I'd like to compress it, but keep it almost lossless. Should I leave it in the same format? Are there any tools to compress PCM? What would you guys recommend? I'm looking for the equivalent of video compression of uncompressed to H.264 except in audio haha.

What do you want to do with this? Just archive it?
Play it? On your PC, or what device?
If on an optical disc player, or iPod, or whatever you obviously have to use a format the player accepts.