It seems that FFmpeg now has a native WMA v1 & v2 encoder written by Michael Niedermayer. I tried it out and it works for me.

ffmpeg -i test.wav -acodec wmav2 -ab 128 test.wma

It looks like it's fairly preliminary at this stage (several "not implemented yet" comments), but I thought it was worth a mention here.

-Justin

does it better than normal wma? any program with gui that can encode that wma? i don't know how to encode via command line,i'm newbie here

WinLAME (I use) and Windows Media Encoder. The former is an open source frontend, while the latter is MS' official tool. WinLAME autodetects the location of the encoder, so there's no need to mess with that or any CLI options whatsoever. WME offers a LOT more settings, but batch encoding is a lot simpler in WinLAME.

No need to be ashamed of not being a CLI fan, most people who aren't under the far ends of the bell curve aren't either. Including myself. It's all very subjective, varying from person to person. I do a lot better with GUIs, but other people swear by CLI.

Weren't WMA V1&V2 the oldest WMA encoders?
It said on dbpoweramp webpage: "Windows Media Audio v2 was the first, then v4, v7, v8, v9, v9.1 (and v9 PRO), v9.2 and v10 PRO."

IMO, it would be better to use one of the recent versions. If you want a command-line encoder, there's one in Windows Media 8 Encoding Utility.

If I remember correctly the file format has been stable since v2. The later numbers are just version numbers of encoders. The pro variation on the other hand is another format.

Usually, V1 == WMA7 and V2 == VMA8. That's what I assume it is.

Hmm, a WMA encoder for Linux finally. Doubt if it'll get any serious use though...

I haven't listened to it, but I wouldn't expect it to. FFmpeg tends to first just implement what is barely necessary to create compliant streams, and only later maybe worry about tuning. Check their AC3 and Vorbis encoders as examples.



Indeed, WMA all the way up to the one that comes with Windows Media Player 10 is backwards compatible to WMAv2. WMA in WMP11 is mostly compatible too, but it also features a parametric encoding part similar to SBR that is not decodable on old decoders.
Edit: I don't know if MS has some version number for this new WMA, like WMAv11 or WMAv3.

Cool. I wonder how it stacks up against the MS wma2 encoders (as available with out_wma for winamp, the wma2 codec for dbpoweramp, and the divx audio acm codec).


I thought it was just WMA10+

I suspect that denomination was pretty much created at Sebastian Mares' listening test thread. It was never used in any Microsoft documentation, AFAIK.

http://www.google.com/search?q=WMA10%2B&am...50&filter=0

I use WMA Std as my ripping format, and to my knowledge the latest version thereof is 9.2.

I don't use Pro or Lossless so I won't speak about those.

I would be amazed if it did get use. Most linux users use MP3 and ogg.

I use the one from Microsoft, which I installed a while ago and set up for use in foobar2000 the day I read that tagging had been implemented. It is version 9.1 (I use Std setting) but fb2k 0.9.4.2 always says WMAv2 when looking at the properties of any files created. I don't really use WMA for anything. Was only playing around, doing experiments with my Rio Karma portable.

There are Mac users (and programmers) to consider, too. Due to the current quality, I don't expect it will get much general use either, but for compatibility with some portable players it could be useful...at high bitrates at least.

It might also be very useful in Linux streaming servers.

(cancelled)