I have an MP4 concert file and would like to first convert it to an audio format and then split the file into separate tracks. I know the MP4 file isn’t lossless, but I don’t want to lose any more quality. What would be the best option for me?
Also, when working with WAV and/or FLAC files, if I did a copy and paste or shortened the clip, would I be losing any quality? I have dither turned off.
You’ll be fine. The “damage” is done during lossy compression. The MP4 has to be decoded to be played back, and it has to be decoded to convert to WAV or FLAC.
The idea is to avoid a 2nd lossy (or 3rd, etc.) encoding step. FYI - MP4 (AAC or M4A) was designed for minimal damage from multiple encodes, so it’s not as bad as re-encoding to MP3.
WAV and FLAC are both lossless so you can convert back-and-forth between those two formats all day and the underlying bytes don’t change. (Well… the bytes are changed when you compress to FLAC, but when you play decompress the FLAC, you get the original data back.)
Also, when working with WAV and/or FLAC files, if I did a copy and paste or shortened the clip, would I be losing any quality? I have dither turned off.
No. You could get a glitch if you cut or splice in the middle of a wave (instead of during silence or at a zero-crossing) but just “moving the data around” doesn’t hurt anything.