Hybrid Lossless Audio Compression
WavPack allows you to losslessly compress (and restore) both 16 and 24-bit audio files in the .WAV format.  Unlike "lossy" compression schemes (like MP3) that discard information, WavPack converts the audio data into a more compact form so that the restored files are digitally identical to the original source. It's somewhat like the file compression portion of WinZIP except that it's optimized for audio data. Like other lossless compression schemes the data reduction varies with the source, but it is generally between 25% and 50% for typical popular music and somewhat better than that for classical music and other sources with greater dynamic range.

WavPack also incorporates a unique "hybrid" mode that 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!
 

WavPack 3.97 Features:


WavPack News:

  • 5/31/2003: Two more great applications now include WavPack support! Cool Edit 2000 and Cool Edit Pro are probably the most popular Windows audio file editors and the new (open source) file filter for WavPack supports all the WavPack file types (up to 24-bit) and even supports saving the "extra information" (like cue and play lists, artist / title information, even EBU extensions) right in the WavPack file. Also, dBpowerAMP is a great all-in-one Windows package that offers an audio player, a audio file converter, an audio CD ripper and burner, and a utility that allows conversion to various formats (now including WavPack) directly from a soundcard's line input (this is very handy for ripping LPs or tapes!). Finally, the winamp plugin has been updated to handle APEv2 tags and support ReplayGain which can equalize the volume of all your audio files so you aren't always jumping for the volume control. Download everything at the bottom of the page (including updated sources).

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  • 2/18/2003: WavPack 3.97 is available for download and will probably be the last update before the version 4.0 introduction. The only functional  changes are a fix for proper operation with shntool (which now supports WavPack format files) and by using UPX the self-extraction overhead has been reduced to only 26k. In other news, the great new Windows audio player called foobar2000 now natively supports WavPack files.

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  • 12/13/2002: The real-mode DOS versions of WavPack have been updated to version 3.4 and now include all of the features of the current Windows versions except long filenames and self-extraction. Also, the winamp plugin has been updated to version 1.7 with a few minor bug fixes. Finally, if anyone would like to contribute to WavPack by creating plugins, porting it to other platforms, or incorporating it into other applications, this is now possible with the release of the source code under the BSD Software License. Downloads are at the bottom of the page.

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  • 10/22/2002: WavPack3.96 has improved compression in the default and "high" lossless modes (at about the same speed) and complete stdin and stdout support (for wav and raw audio files). In addition, a filename related bug has been fixed. The winamp plugin has been updated to handle the new files and has had a seeking bug fixed. Download the whole package below.

  • Download WavPack 3.97
    Windows frontend for WavPack

     WavPack User Documentation
     WavPack Technical Description

     Download WavPack 3.4
    (real DOS version)

    Download winamp plugin 1.8
    Download Cool Edit plugin 1.0

    Download Source Code
     

     Contact the author at david at wavpack dot com