qtaacenc: a command-line QuickTime AAC encoder for Windows Options

[Steve Forte Rio]

Ok, I tried it again on test sample:

1. Generating (bit depth - 32 bit IEEE float, samplerate - 44.1 kHz) set of 1 kHz tones - -12 dBFS, -6 dBFS, 0 dbFS - in Sony SoundForge

2. Encoding with qtaacenc --tvbr 127 --high +6dB Gain in foobar2000

3. Decoding to 32-bit float (using foobar2000)

4. Analyzing peaks in SoundForge

Results:

What I've got for three tones is (+/- 0.1 dB):

-6 dBFS (-12+6, ok), 0 dBFS (-6+6, ok), 0 dB (?)

So, as we can see, the volume of third tone was reduced, and limiter in QuickTime is still enabled.

I must assure you that no clipping occurred, all encoding/decoding was performed using floating-point samples only And output audio file sounds like normal 1 kHz tones

This post has been edited by Steve Forte Rio: Apr 7 2010, 11:49

[ManekiNeko]

Hello! QuickTime 7.6.6 is now released. I wonder what changes it contains, and how they can affect the using of qtaacenc?

I just tried qtaacenc with the new Quicktime and the files are substantially bigger/higher bitrate

Using this command line: --tvbr 50 --highest --samplerate keep - %d (which I use for mobile) in Foobar

7.6.5/7.6.6 Bitrate comparison (7 tracks from Gary Numan Telekon from flac source)

1. 121/131
2. 106/115
3. 120/128
4. 119/131
5. 110/114
6. 107/113
7. 120/130

etc (the remaining 9 tracks follow the same trend)

The bitrate difference is random, but there is quite a difference in bitrate. I wonder if the 'tvbr' ranges have changed in this version.

[IgorC]

Maybe this bitrate variation is due to bug of lowpass.

[C.R.Helmrich]

You guys are confusing me. What exactly do you mean by lowpass? That the encoder downsamples to 32 kHz?

Chris

[lvqcl]

TWIMC: foo_dsp_lowpass

[IgorC]

You guys are confusing me. What exactly do you mean by lowpass? That the encoder downsamples to 32 kHz?

Chris

Not downsampling but this http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....st&p=698610

[Steve Forte Rio]

TWIMC: foo_dsp_lowpass

Great! Thank you so much

[Khanattila]

I have this problem, no one can help me?

This is the result in foobar2000:

1 out of 1 tracks converted with major problems.

Source: "F:\Audio - Video\Foobar\Ghost.wav"
An error occurred while writing to file (The encoder has terminated prematurely with code 0 (0x00000000); please re-check parameters) : "F:\Audio - Video\Foobar\Ghost.m4a"
Additional information:
Encoder stream format: 44100Hz / 2ch / 16bps
Command line: "D:\Program Files (x86)\qtaacenc-20100307\qtaacenc.exe" --tvbr 100 --highest - "Ghost.m4a"
Working folder: F:\Audio - Video\Foobar\

Conversion failed: The encoder has terminated prematurely with code 0 (0x00000000); please re-check parameters

Edit: now work

This post has been edited by Khanattila: Apr 13 2010, 15:55

[2E7AH]

I browsed whole thread and it seems strange that no one got this problem:
I installed latest QT and tried foobar converter, which produced an error
Then going on command line qtaacenc throws error about missing "qtcf.dll"
File is located QTSystem folder and needs to be copied in system32 (at least in my case)

Thanks for --he switch

[Steve Forte Rio]

I was really surprised when I found this:

http://sites.google.com/site/qaacpage/home

qaac is a command line AAC/ALAC encoder using QuickTime API, strongly influenced by http://tmkk.hp.infoseek.co.jp/qtaacenc/

nao, is it your project too?

[seVen]

Oh wonderful, i'm trying it now with FB2K for ALAC encodings and works perfectly, so i can avoid using ffmpeg.

This post has been edited by seVen: Apr 24 2010, 18:57

[Sixth Street]

What parameters are you using in foobar with qaac to output ALAC? I can't figure it out.

This post has been edited by Sixth Street: Apr 28 2010, 19:02

[lvqcl]

Parameters for ALAC encoding (for qaac.exe in foobar2000):

CODE

-A -s - -o %d

This post has been edited by lvqcl: Apr 28 2010, 20:04

[Steve Forte Rio]

This post has been edited by Steve Forte Rio: Apr 28 2010, 20:15

[Larson]

what about dbpoweramp setting? I tried this one but it didn't work,neither with - [outfile] at the end.

[jamesbaud]

I was really surprised when I found this:

http://sites.google.com/site/qaacpage/home

qaac is a command line AAC/ALAC encoder using QuickTime API, strongly influenced by http://tmkk.hp.infoseek.co.jp/qtaacenc/

nao, is it your project too?

What's the difference between the 2 versions? Why should I use one over the other?

[2E7AH]

input file formats, output file formats, multiple input files... so if you use foobar and want AAC, this thread's encoder is for you

[Sylph]

I was really surprised when I found this:

http://sites.google.com/site/qaacpage/home

qaac is a command line AAC/ALAC encoder using QuickTime API, strongly influenced by http://tmkk.hp.infoseek.co.jp/qtaacenc/

nao, is it your project too?

How does one use this one? Same as Nao's?

[superbu]

This is really a wonderful tool, nao. Thank you for doing this.

But can someone give me a command line to use this with EAC? I can't for the life of me seem to get it to work. If I use the same command line I use in Foobar, the QT encoder opens in a window, but nothing happens. If I try the command line that another poster in this thread asked about (--tvbr 256 --highest %s %d --artist "%a" --title "%t" --album "%g" --date "%y" --genre "%m" --track "%n"), it does create a file, but I can't play it. It's like the file is corrupt or something.

This post has been edited by superbu: May 10 2010, 23:45

[lvqcl]

Make sure that "Add ID3 tag" option is unchecked.

[Larson]

I've tried many things with dbpoweramp but i can't get qaac to work,with any command like which works under foobar. I also made sure to check the command settings:

Usage: qaac [options] infiles....

"-" as infile means stdin.

Main options:
-d <dirname> Output directory, default is cwd
-a, --abr <bitrate> AAC ABR mode / bitrate
-V, --tvbr <n> AAC True VBR mode / quality [0-127]
-v, --cvbr <bitrate> AAC Constrained VBR mode / bitrate
-c, --cbr <bitrate> AAC CBR mode / bitrate
--he HE AAC mode (Can't use TVBR)
-A, --alac ALAC encoding mode
-q, --quality <n> AAC encoding Quality [0-2]
-r, --rate <option> Sample rate option (AAC only)
Specify one of the followings:
keep: Try to preserve the original rate
auto: Let QuickTime choose the optimal one
<number>: Literal rate in Hz
-s, --silent Don't be verbose
-R, --raw Raw PCM input
-S, --stat Save bitrate statistics into file

Options for single input mode only:
-o <filename> Output filename

Options for Raw PCM input only:
--raw-channels <n> Number of channels, default 2
--raw-rate <n> Sample rate, default 44100
--raw-format <str> Sample format, default S16L
Sample format spec:
1st char: S(igned) | U(nsigned) | F(loat)
2nd part: Bitwidth
Last part: L(ittle Endian) | B(ig Endian)
Cases are ignored. u8b is OK.

Tagging options(single input only):
--title <string>
--artist <string>
--band <string>
--album <string>
--grouping <string>
--composer <string>
--comment <string>
--genre <string>
--date <string>
--track <number[/total]>
--disk <number[/total]>
--compilation

also which is the setting for faster,fast normal high and highest? -q 0/2 what does actually do? sorry for all of these questions

[nao]

Well, qaac is not my project. Please discuss it in the other thread...

[superbu]

Make sure that "Add ID3 tag" option is unchecked.

Ah! That works. Thanks.

[b66pak]

@nau can you add aac (mpeg4 adts) output to stdout?
_

[Larson]

Well, qaac is not my project. Please discuss it in the other thread...

you're right sorry nao i didn't mean to put your project behind; i personally appreciate your job more as you gave us a lot of support.

(i know it's off topic but with lastest XLD version i encounter a bug or what? example "1-04 X.flac becomes when converted 04 X.m4a and so on,it skips the compilation from the title thus getting file names with multiple cds disorganized; before it kept the structure normally, maybe i'm getting wrong something. Sorry for going out of theme but I didn't know where to post this)