[Flac-dev] multi-channel / ambisonics

[smoerk]

when i encode i multi channel file, does flac encode every channel 
seperatly or does is look for similarities between channels?

the documentation says:

INTER-CHANNEL DECORRELATION
In the case of stereo input, once the data is blocked it is optionally 
passed through an inter-channel decorrelation stage. The left and right 
channels are converted to center and side channels through the following 
transformation: mid = (left + right) / 2, side = left - right. This is a 
lossless process, unlike joint stereo. For normal CD audio this can 
result in significant extra compression. flac has two options for this: 
-m always compresses both the left-right and mid-side versions of the 
block and takes the smallest frame, and -M, which adaptively switches 
between left-right and mid-side.


is this only relevant for stereo files or also for multi-channel (more 
than 2 channels)?

i wonder how well a 16 channel 3rd order ambisonics file could be 
compressed.