[Flac-users] Subset and non-Subset files

[Josh Coalson]

--- "David W. Tamkin" <dattier at panix.com> wrote:
> Josh explained,
> 
>  > search for "subset" on http://flac.sf.net/format.html
>  > (I'll make a link in the documentation to it).
> 
> That was over my head -- not the post, but the information at that
> URL.
>    Does it mean that a non-Subset FLAC file isn't streamable, that a
> decoder can't read successive parts of the FLAC file and generate
> successive parts of the WAV?

A non-subset file may not be streamable if it takes advantage
of certain aspects of the format.  for example, a code inside
the frame header may say "a non-subset blocksize is being
used, get the value from the STREAMINFO in the metadata".
Since this is at the beginning of a stream, a decoder may need
to seek if it starts decoding in the middle.  There are more
examples to be found on the format page.

If I had it all to do over again there would be no such thing
as non-subset because the advantages are outweighed by the
drawbacks, but FLAC was my first codec.

Josh


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