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WavPack is a completely open audio compression format providing lossless,
high-quality lossy, and a unique hybrid compression mode.  Although the
technology is loosely based on previous versions of WavPack, the new version
4 format has been designed from the ground up to offer unparalleled
performance and functionality.

In the default lossless mode WavPack acts just like a WinZip compressor for
audio files.  However, unlike MP3 or WMA encoding which can affect the sound
quality, not a single bit of the original information is lost, so there's no
chance of degradation.  This makes lossless mode ideal for archiving audio
material or any other situation where quality is paramount.  The compression
ratio depends on the source material, but generally is between 30% and 70%
(generally lower for typical popular music and somewhat better for classical
music and other sources with greater dynamic range).

The hybrid mode 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!

WWW: http://www.wavpack.com/