This had been discussed in the past, and I remember Steven agreeing he might want to improve on this some day:
Currently in the File Converter settings for flac, it presents options called 'file archiving' and 'portable use'.
Those terms may be well suited for lossy formats (well not really true also, since you wouldn't want to 'archive' using mp3), but for lossless they don't really cover it.
It should be clear that whatever setting you choose for flac, it is always going to be 'archival quality'
The general consensus on flac is that the -5 setting is optimal. There is really no sensible reason to change it, and any gain in smaller file sizes is almost negligible, but for those who do want to play around with it, the descriptions should be a little more to the point.
I would suggest having the option for 3 presets for flac.
Something like:
- optimal balance size/cpu (default)
- smaller size over higer cpu
- larger size over lower cpu
The wording might be improved on, but I believe the general idea makes sense.
For other formats, some improvements probably also could be made.
I don't know much about alac, but I understand there is a lossy implementation, which should never be called 'archival quality', but there is also lossless alac, which would deserve to be called 'archival'.
Maybe others can chip in with some thoughts on those?