Josh Coalson

About Me

I am an engineer and have been developing software and hardware for several decades, at tiny startups to large tech companies, from board and ASIC design to embedded to web-scale services. In 2000 I invented FLAC and ran the open source project for 13 years, and continue to hack on audio- and music-related projects.

Sessions

  • A History of FLAC

    The Free Lossless Audio Codec
    16:00 - 16:20 UTC | Monday 10th November 2025 | Bristol 2
    Beginner

    In the 25 years since the first public release of FLAC, it has become a widely supported format for the storage, transmission, and playback of digital audio, but its story has never been told. This talk will trace FLAC's journey from conception to the present. We'll cover the initial motivation for the codec, the design goals and how they shaped the format, and factors that drove its success. We'll also see how online communities, network effects and early adopters like Phish, Metallica and the Beatles accelerated its usage, and take some lessons for how a small open source project can […]