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Properties

Summary
Name	Apple Lossless Audio Codec
Version
Other names
Identifiers	PUID: fmt/596
Family
Classification	Audio
Disclosure
Description	Apple Lossless, also known as Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC), or Apple Lossless Encoder (ALE), is an audio codec developed by Apple Inc. for lossless data compression of digital music. Apple Lossless data is stored within an MP4 container with the filename extension .m4a.
Orientation
Byte order
Related file formats	Has priority over MPEG-4 Media File Has priority over Daisy Talking Book Navigation Control File (3) Has priority over M4A Audio
Technical Environment
Released
Supported until
Format Risk
Developed by	Apple Computer, Inc.
Supported by	Apple Computer, Inc.
Source	Digital Preservation Department / The National Archives
Source date	12 Nov 2013
Source description	v.123- Priority added over fmt/2094 M4A Audio. Submitted by Preservica.
Last updated	09 Jun 2026
Note	http://www.applelossless.com/ http://alac.macosforge.org/trac/browser/trunk/ALACMagicCookieDescription.txt http://alac.macosforge.org/trac/browser/trunk/codec/ALACAudioTypes.h?rev=2#