List of AAC encoders Options

[IgorC]

It will be useful to gather information about good AAC encoders for listening tests and future selection of an optimal encoder.

Obviously, the lists are not complete yet.

Competitive AAC encoders:
1. Apple
2. Nero
3. Coding Technologies (now Dolby)
4. Fraunhofer. Sorenson Squeeze and Magix application(?). Have they the updated and full functionality version of Fraunhofer encoder?

[Possibly] Obsolete or noncompetitive AAC encoders:
1. FAAC http://www.audiocoding.com/
2. Psytel
3. MPEG4ip Cisco. http://www.mpeg4ip.net/
4. 3GPP reference encoder. It was tested in Gabriel's 48 kbits HE-AAC test

AAC encoders with unknown quality
1. RealAudio 10. RealPlayer v12 (2009)
2. AVS audio converter
3. Lead AAC encoder
4. Divx (same as Mainconcept)
5. Microsoft Expression Encoder 2 SP 1


If anyone knows about any good AAC encoder post here.

This post has been edited by Synthetic Soul: Dec 8 2009, 10:08

[DigitalDictator]

Back in the day there was something called Liquid Audio (IIRC). They had an early AAC encoder which was slow and cumbersome. It wasn't free either. I searched for it and ended up with something called AVS Audio Converter. I have no idea whatsoever about quality or speed, nada. But it might be worth checking out.

[kornchild2002]

I was going to mention Liquid Audio. I remember that from really back in the day. My PC actually came with a copy of their software that allowed for unlimited CD ripping. The only thing is that the application would consume over 40% of my 256MHz processor (Pentium II mmx) and 50% of my 256MB of RAM. Not something I like especially considering that the software that came with my Rio 600 consumed far less.

Sony has an AAC encoder that they put in their PS3, I believe it is also in their Media Go software. I am not sure if the encoder was developed by Sony. The PS3 version wraps the AAC audio in a 3gp container. Something to think about. I could always encode a 30 second test file (I would have to burn an audio CD from the source lossless file) using my PS3 and upload it if you wanted to examine the encoder. There is also something called the LEAD AAC encoder. Lastly, I believe that there is an ffmpeg AAC encoder floating around somewhere.

I don't know if any of these encoders are actually good but they are something else to look at. The AAC encoder used by the PS3 has not been tested but I know that many, many, many, many people use it for their audio ripping needs (not that user community size is a measure of quality).

[Sylph]

Audio Transcoder used FAAC and now uses Nero.

P. S. Does Sorenson offer audio encoding?

This post has been edited by Sylph: Dec 7 2009, 09:37

[Larson]

There is also DivX AAC Encoder (beta 1 from august).

[Sylph]

MAGIX has an MP3 Maker application which uses Fraunhofer's AAC.

This post has been edited by Sylph: Dec 7 2009, 11:08

[Sebastian Mares]

Microsoft Expression Encoder 2 SP 1 and higher support H.264 and LC-AAC encoding. Don't know what encoder is behind that, though.

[Sylph]

There's also MainConcept AAC in Sound Forge, e.g.

[UVSM]

What AAC Encoder was used in Nokia Multimedia Player 6??? (There was LTP Profile only and CBR only)

[Dynamic]

What AAC Encoder was used in Nokia Multimedia Player 6??? (There was LTP Profile only and CBR only)

Do you mean to write LC profile? I don't think Long Term Prediction (LTP) has been implemented in encoders or decoders to date.

[IgorC]

Thanks to Everybody for answers. There's a lot of work to verify quality of encoders. But I think some of them can be discard at early stage.

Audio Transcoder used FAAC and now uses Nero.

Ok. It will be deleted from list of AAC encoders.

There is also DivX AAC Encoder (beta 1 from august)

There's also MainConcept AAC in Sound Forge, e.g.

Divx and Mainconcept have the same AAC encoder.

AAC encoders which were mentioned in this topic will be added to list of main post.

Lastly, I believe that there is an ffmpeg AAC encoder floating around somewhere.

IIRC some person called Kostya worked on it. The main target was higher than FAAC quality. Didn't find more information.

Apple iPhone® SDK is based on Fraunhofer code. That means Fraunhofer AAC encoder is potentially very competetive.

This post has been edited by IgorC: Dec 8 2009, 01:41

[Sylph]

Thanks to Everybody for answers. There's a lot of work to verify quality of encoders. But I think some of them can be discard at early stage.

This is a preparation for some kind of all-AAC listening test?

Divx and Mainconcept have the same AAC encoder.

I thought so too, given that MainConcept is the subsidiary of DivX, Inc., but the DivX Labs page (http://labs.divx.com/node/11682) seems to imply that's it's something new, as if there were two versions - I doubt Sony would implement a beta into their precious software.

This post has been edited by Sylph: Dec 8 2009, 10:58

[Sylph]

As for your question about the full functionality of MAGIX MP3 Maker, it offers bitrates up to 256 kbps stereo even though FhG can go up to 512. Same goes for AVS application: 256 is the maximum setting.

I don't know about Sorenson.

This post has been edited by Sylph: Dec 8 2009, 10:54

[kurtnoise]

Microsoft Expression Encoder 2 SP 1 and higher support H.264 and LC-AAC encoding. Don't know what encoder is behind that, though.

which is not free iirc...the only free way is to use the libraries from win7 but the AAC encoder is very limited (LC only - 128/160/192kbps as target bitrates).

[capma]

Screenshot from latest Sorensen Squeeze 6.

[IgorC]

As for your question about the full functionality of MAGIX MP3 Maker, it offers bitrates up to 256 kbps stereo even though FhG can go up to 512. Same goes for AVS application: 256 is the maximum setting.

Did you tried? How is it comparable to other AAC encoders?

[IgorC]

Screenshot from latest Sorensen Squeeze 6.

Is Coding Technologies AAC encoder is only option in Sorensen Squeeze 6?

This is a preparation for some kind of all-AAC listening test?

The initial idea is create a list of AAC encoders. Then at least it will be personal test from my part or a public test is an option too.

This post has been edited by IgorC: Dec 8 2009, 17:59

[capma]

Yes, its only options for AAC encoding.

[Sylph]

Did you tried? How is it comparable to other AAC encoders?

No. I have MAGIX, so if you need it for testing purposes, I could convert a file for you.

Is Coding Technologies AAC encoder is only option in Sorensen Squeeze 6?

So Dolby's (CT's) AAC is now present in: Winamp Pro, Easy CD-DA Extractor and Sorenson Squeeze.

Fraunhofer, as far as I know, only in MP3 Maker. It's probably the codec that's the most intriguing for AAC people on HA since it's nowhere to be found and the Gesellschaft doesn't give it away for testing. Only if you're a research scientist in some university or institute.

The initial idea is create a list of AAC encoders. Then at least it will be personal test from my part or a public test is an option too.

OK. This should be interesting. I'd love it if there were a newer public test for Apple, Nero, Dolby, Fraunhofer, Real and possibly AVS if it's confirmed it's a separate type.

[Sylph]

This is the settings window in MAGIX:

[agillis]

The VortexBox project is using ffmpg to convert the files to AAC and the mp4v2 project code to set the tags correctly. It seem to work very will and the quality is excellent.

[IgorC]

This is the settings window in MAGIX:

I downloaded the last demo version of MAGIX MP3 15 (ver 10.00) maker from official site. Quality isn't bad but only CBR and no miracle at low/middle bitrates.

This post has been edited by IgorC: Dec 11 2009, 05:26

[Mr VacBob]

IIRC some person called Kostya worked on it. The main target was higher than FAAC quality. Didn't find more information.

It was being developed further by Alex Converse/peloverde, but he stopped to work on the ffmpeg-native SBR decoder. I don't know how it progressed before that, but you can find the source in ffmpeg svn somewhere.

This post has been edited by Mr VacBob: Dec 11 2009, 06:40

[Sylph]

This is the settings window in MAGIX:

I downloaded the last demo version of MAGIX MP3 15 (ver 10.00) maker from official site. Quality isn't bad but only CBR and no miracle at low/middle bitrates.

If it were a miracle, a lot of people would be using it. You shouldn't have expected a miracle.

[C.R.Helmrich]

This is the settings
I downloaded the last demo version of MAGIX MP3 15 (ver 10.00) maker from official site. Quality isn't bad but only CBR and no miracle at low/middle bitrates.

Could you elaborate, please? Which bitrates do you mean by low/middle?

Thanks,

Chris