Why is the file size different and the size on disk the same?

[joelha]

I've been trying out a couple of DFF to DSF file conversion programs only to arrive at a puzzling result.

 

In the case of one album, between the two different conversion programs, while the file sizes are different, the sizes on the disk are the same.

 

I tried this again with a different album arriving at the same result . . . different file sizes but the same size on disk.

 

It would seem, if anything, it would be the other way around . . . the same file size and different file sizes on disk.

 

The programs I'm using are DFF2DSF and XRecode. Given the speed of the conversions, it would appear that there was no intermediate PCM conversion.

 

Anyone have any idea why, in the case of each album, each program arrives at identical file sizes on disk but slightly different file sizes?

 

Thanks in advance for the help anyone can offer.

 

Joel

[kumakuma]

Perhaps the programs write different metadata (tags) to the files

 

How much of a difference are you talking about?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[joelha]

But if the tags are different, why exactly the same size on the hard disk?

 

File data in the image below.

 

Joel

[kumakuma]

The top number ("Size") is the actual size of the file. The second number ("Size on disk") is the number of "clusters" that the file takes up on the disc. 

 

https://www.watchingthenet.com/whats-the-difference-between-size-and-size-on-disk-in-folder-properties-windows.html

 

The files are so close in size that they fit into the same number of clusters.

 

 

[joelha]

Right, but on that basis, it appears that both sets of files are not the same size. 

 

Then the question becomes, which file conversion software offers a bit perfect conversion of DFF to DSF?

 

Joel

[kumakuma]

20 minutes ago, joelha said:

Right, but on that basis, it appears that both sets of files are not the same size. 

 

Then the question becomes, which file conversion software offers a bit perfect conversion of DFF to DSF?

 

Joel

 

The difference is so small that I would suspect differing metadata to be the culprit. Just a guess though.

 

You could try using a binary difference program like this to see what the data looks like:

 

https://www.guiffy.com/Binary-Diff-Tool.html 

[joelha]

Thanks kumakuma. 

 

Joel