Lossless Audio Files: are digital audio recordings that are compressed without discarding any of the original audio data, ensuring that playback sounds identical to the original source.

• Examples:
  • FLAC
  • ALAC
  • WAV

Lossy Audio Files: are compressed audio formats that reduce file size by permanently discarding some audio data, resulting in a loss of audio quality compared to the original.

• Examples:
  • MP3
  • AAC
  • WMA

How normalization is different than compression:

• Normalization is different than compression because it adjusts data to bring it to a common scale or range, often within a specific boundary or distribution. Compression reduces the dynamic range of data, the difference between the loudest and quietest parts.