Short:        FLAC sound datatype, stereo, 68000+
Author:       Tobias Karlsson
Uploader:     tobias karlsson piratkopia se (Tobias Karlsson)
Type:         util/dtype
Version:      0.1b2
Architecture: m68k-amigaos >= 3.0.0

================================================================
  FLAC - FLAC sounds for every Amiga: a datatype
================================================================


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