Max Help

# Max Help: Glossary

- Formats |
- Ripping |
- Output |
- Glossary

average bitrate
  Denotes a lossy file with a variable bitrate that has a specified average.

compression ratio
  The ratio of the originial data to the compressed data. A 10 megabyte WAV file encoded to a 5 megabyte FLAC file would have a 2:1 compression ratio.

contant bitrate
  Denotes a lossy file with the same bitrate throughout the file. The main advantage is that the file size won't change and can be accurately predicted.

FLAC
  An acronym for Free Lossless Audio Codec, a GPL-licensed lossless audio format.

lossless
  Denotes a media format that maintains the quality of the original media file, sometimes utilizing compression techniques that can maintain quality and achieve a lower file size.

lossy
  Denotes a media format that degrades the quality of the original media file in order to achieve a lower file size.

MP3
  The most widespread lossy audio format.

variable bitrate
  Denotes a lossy file that has an optimal bitrate for each part of the file.