FormatDrop
Audio Format

TTA

True Audio

TTA (True Audio) is a free, open-source lossless audio codec developed in 2004 as an alternative to FLAC. It achieves slightly better compression ratios than FLAC at its default settings and encodes/decodes very quickly. TTA never gained widespread adoption — FLAC's ecosystem is vastly larger — but a small community of audiophiles and software developers maintain it.

What is TTA?

TTA uses a fixed-order linear predictor followed by Rice entropy coding — a design similar to FLAC but simpler. The predictor order is adaptive per-frame. TTA files have the .tta extension and support up to 32-bit depth at any sample rate. Metadata is stored as ID3v1 or APEv2 tags. The TTA specification is public and implementations exist for most platforms, though hardware support is minimal.

TTA pros and cons

Advantages

  • Slightly better compression than FLAC at default settings
  • Very fast encoding and decoding
  • Free, open-source, patent-free
  • Supports up to 32-bit depth at any sample rate
  • Bit-perfect lossless audio

Limitations

  • Minimal hardware support — almost no DAPs or Hi-Fi streamers support TTA
  • No streaming platform support
  • FLAC has overwhelmingly larger ecosystem
  • ID3v1/APEv2 tags vs FLAC's comprehensive Vorbis comments
  • CUE sheet support limited compared to FLAC

When should you convert TTA files?

Convert TTA to FLAC for universal lossless audio compatibility. The conversion is lossless (both are lossless codecs). Use FFmpeg: `ffmpeg -i input.tta -c:a flac output.flac`. Unless you specifically need TTA for an existing workflow, FLAC is the better long-term choice for all lossless archiving.

Convert TTA files

AUDIO-CONVERTER→

All FormatDrop conversions run entirely in your browser — no file upload, no server processing. Your files stay on your device.

TTA FAQ

Is TTA better than FLAC?
TTA achieves marginally better compression than FLAC at level 5 (about 5–10% smaller files in typical tests). Both decode to bit-perfect audio. In terms of ecosystem, tooling, hardware support, and community, FLAC is vastly better. The compression advantage of TTA doesn't justify the compatibility cost for most users.
What players support TTA audio?
foobar2000 (with foo_input_monkey or native support depending on version), VLC, Winamp, and MusicBee support TTA on Windows. On macOS/Linux, VLC and MPV play TTA. Hardware support is extremely limited — most dedicated audio players (FiiO, Astell&Kern, Fiio) do not support TTA.
How do I convert TTA to FLAC on the command line?
`ffmpeg -i input.tta -c:a flac output.flac`. For batch conversion: `for f in *.tta; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:a flac "${f%.tta}.flac"; done`. Both files contain identical audio — only the container and compression algorithm differ.

More formats

HEICWebPAVIFEPUBWebMOpusMP3WAVM4AFLACAACMP4AVIMKVMOVJPGPNGGIFSVGTIFFICOBMPEPSARWOGGWMVPPTXPagesPDFDOCXRAWHEVCH.264AIFFM4VWMA3GPDNGRTFPSDOGVTSFLVAIXLSXCSVZIPAPNGMIDIJPEG XLMPG/MPEGVOBM2TSAC3ALACDTSJP2HEIFAPECBZ3G2SRTDOCPPTXLSODTODSM3URAR7ZM4BAMRTXTMOBITARGZJSONXMLYAMLKEYMTSCR2NEFMXFTGACAFASSVTTDSFRMF4VWVASFRMVBORFRW2EAC-3