Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless is a lossless data lossless audio codec by Microsoft, released in early 2003.

It compresses an audio CD to a range of 206 to 411MB, at bit rates of 470 to 940 kbit/s. Mathematically equivalent to the original audio track, WMA Lossless provides the highest quality WMA format for ripping audio CDs. It uses the same .WMA file extension as other Windows Media Audio formats.

WMA codecs once were only lossy, but with the release of Windows Media Encoder 9 Series, Microsoft provided the option of lossless compression.

See also

• FLAC
• TTA
• WavPack
• Monkey's Audio

External links

• http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/codecs/audio.aspx - Homepage
• http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/wm9series.asp - Windows Media 9 Series reviewed
• http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home5/pg03053527/Tips/LosslessAudioCodecs_WMA_vs_APE.htm - Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless vs. Monkey's Audio
• http://www.compression-links.info/Lossless_Audio_Coding - List of resources on lossless audio coding

Audio codecs | Lossless compression algorithms | Microsoft