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FLAC - FLAC sounds for every Amiga: a datatype
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WHAT IT IS
FLAC (the Free Lossless Audio Codec, xiph.org/flac) is the most
used format for music without any loss: about half the size of
plain 16-bit sound, every sample exactly as recorded. This
package teaches the Amiga to play it:
flac.datatype plays FLAC sounds in every program that plays
sounds through datatypes: MultiView, a double-
click on Workbench, file managers, AmigaGuide,
browsers
One build for every Amiga, from a 68000 up, with OS 3.0 or
later. About 14 KB.
FEATURES
- Every kind of FLAC file: 4 to 24 bits a sample, 1 to 8
channels, any rate, every encoder setting (block sizes 16 to
65,535, prediction up to order 32, fixed and variable block
sizes)
- Stereo on OS 3.5, 3.9 and 3.2 (sound.datatype 44 and later);
files with more channels play their first two, front left and
right
- Mono on OS 3.0 and 3.1, whose sound.datatype has no stereo:
all the channels are mixed into one
- 44.1 and 48 kHz files play at the right speed: Paula plays at
most about 28 kHz, so faster sound is averaged down to half (a
third, a quarter...) while it is decoded, instead of playing
slow
- Title and artist: the file's TITLE and ARTIST tags become the
sound's name and author
- Made for the 68000: the bit reader's inner loop is hand-
written 68000 assembly, and the predictor only ever multiplies
16 by 16 bits, 24-bit sound too. On the real A1200 (Emu68, OS
3.2) a minute of CD sound opens in 1.2 seconds
- Little memory: the file is read through a small window and
decoded straight into the 8-bit sound; only that is held.
Cover pictures and other metadata are skipped
- Save as 8SVX: MultiView's Save As writes an 8SVX with the
right rate and length in its header
- Safe with broken files: every frame is checked (CRC-8 and
CRC-16) before its samples count; a damaged frame is left out
and the next one found. The same samples as ffmpeg's decoder
on 612 test files, and 1,600 damaged ones came through
- Recognised by its first bytes ("fLaC"), whatever the file is
called, also behind ID3 tags, which some taggers write into
FLAC files
Not played: files that do not say their length (some streamed
recordings), files over 24 bits a sample, and Ogg FLAC (.oga).
On a plain 68000 or 68020 the whole sound is decoded before it
plays, which takes several times longer than it plays: make
22 kHz copies for such Amigas (see flac.doc), and keep long
songs for faster ones.
INSTALLATION
Classes/DataTypes/flac.datatype to SYS:Classes/DataTypes/
Devs/DataTypes/FLAC to DEVS:DataTypes/
Devs/DataTypes/FLAC-ID3 to DEVS:DataTypes/
Then restart the Amiga. The full manual is flac.doc.
SOURCE
https://github.com/creep-ltx/AmigaDatatypes (folder flac, MIT)
HISTORY
0.1b2 (21.10.2026) - big files no longer cut short; FLAC behind
ID3 tags
0.1b1 (17.10.2026) - the first version
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