flac VS qaac

The Xiph.org foundation maintains FLAC and they have a list of tools that might be helpful.

# MediaInfoLib - v22.12 [General] Count : 348 StreamCount : 1 StreamKind : General StreamKind/String : General StreamKindID : 0 AudioCount : 1 Audio_Format_List : FLAC Audio_Format_WithHint_List : FLAC Audio_Codec_List : FLAC CompleteName : F:\Music\Low\Long Division\01 - Violence.flac FolderName : F:\Music\Low\Long Division FileNameExtension : 01 - Violence.flac FileName : 01 - Violence FileExtension : flac Format : FLAC Format/String : FLAC Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec Format/Url : https://xiph.org/flac/ Format/Extensions : fla flac Format_Commercial : FLAC InternetMediaType : audio/x-flac FileSize : 116747380 FileSize/String : 111 MiB FileSize/String1 : 111 MiB FileSize/String2 : 111 MiB FileSize/String3 : 111 MiB FileSize/String4 : 111.3 MiB Duration : 353439 Duration/String : 5 min 53 s Duration/String1 : 5 min 53 s 439 ms Duration/String2 : 5 min 53 s Duration/String3 : 00:05:53.439 Duration/String5 : 00:05:53.439 OverallBitRate_Mode : VBR OverallBitRate_Mode/String : Variable OverallBitRate : 2642547 OverallBitRate/String : 2 643 kb/s StreamSize : 0 StreamSize/String : 0.00 Byte (0%) StreamSize/String1 : Byte0 StreamSize/String2 : 0.0 Byte StreamSize/String3 : 0.00 Byte StreamSize/String4 : 0.000 Byte StreamSize/String5 : 0.00 Byte (0%) StreamSize_Proportion : 0.00000 Title : Violence Album : Long Division Part : 1 Part/Position_Total : 1 Track : Violence Track/Position : 1 Track/Position_Total : 12 Performer : Mimi (percussion);Alan (guitar);Alan (vocals) Composer : Low Label : Vernon Yard Recordings Recorded_Date : 1995-05-23 File_Created_Date : UTC 2023-02-09 17:25:46.132 File_Created_Date_Local : 2023-02-09 13:25:46.132 File_Modified_Date : UTC 2023-02-09 18:48:35.639 File_Modified_Date_Local : 2023-02-09 14:48:35.639 ISRC : USCN39500075 Cover : Yes Cover_Type : Cover (front) Cover_Mime : image/jpeg RELEASETYPE : album CATALOGNUMBER : YARD CD14 MEDIA : CD MUSICBRAINZ_RELEASETRACKID : fc74c40a-bf1f-302e-9e66-6bcf00708774 RELEASECOUNTRY : US SCRIPT : Latn ARTISTS : Low BARCODE : 017046801423 RELEASESTATUS : official ASIN : B000000A3W MUSICBRAINZ_RELEASEGROUPID : 7e36dabb-93cc-3bee-b635-461a180d256f ORIGINALYEAR : 1995 ACOUSTID_ID : 4eb7d003-d6c4-457e-bbdc-20b1b0da4f17 ALBUMARTISTSORT : Low ORIGINALDATE : 1995-05-23 ARTISTSORT : Low Album/Composer : Low [Audio] Count : 286 StreamCount : 1 StreamKind : Audio StreamKind/String : Audio StreamKindID : 0 Format : FLAC Format/String : FLAC Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec Format/Url : https://xiph.org/flac/ Format_Commercial : FLAC InternetMediaType : audio/x-flac Duration : 353439 Duration/String : 5 min 53 s Duration/String1 : 5 min 53 s 439 ms Duration/String2 : 5 min 53 s Duration/String3 : 00:05:53.439 Duration/String5 : 00:05:53.439 BitRate_Mode : VBR BitRate_Mode/String : Variable BitRate : 2639740 BitRate/String : 2 640 kb/s Channel(s) : 2 Channel(s)/String : 2 channels ChannelPositions : Front: L R ChannelPositions/String2 : 2/0/0 ChannelLayout : L R SamplingRate : 96000 SamplingRate/String : 96.0 kHz SamplingCount : 33930144 BitDepth : 24 BitDepth/String : 24 bits Compression_Mode : Lossless Compression_Mode/String : Lossless StreamSize : 116623393 StreamSize/String : 111 MiB (100%) StreamSize/String1 : 111 MiB StreamSize/String2 : 111 MiB StreamSize/String3 : 111 MiB StreamSize/String4 : 111.2 MiB StreamSize/String5 : 111 MiB (100%) StreamSize_Proportion : 0.99894 Encoded_Library : Lavf58.29.100 Encoded_Library/String : Lavf58.29.100 MD5_Unencoded : 7BC9089FC9BAEA734D215903369176F4

I've flac.exe but it doesn't seem to work for me? https://github.com/xiph/flac

It already exists: https://github.com/xiph/flac/issues/96

you can find flac.exe & metaflac.exe here https://github.com/xiph/flac/releases/tag/1.4.2

I was reading that article, and geez, as a non-programmer I have to ask, why does libflac look like such a nightmare compared to flacloader? It's like night and day. Is this a "WireGuard makes OpenVPN look quite silly" moment?

https://github.com/xiph/flac/tree/master/src/libFLAC

https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/blob/master/Userland/...

Lastly, ALAC hasn't been updated by apple since 2016. FLAC is actively maintained by xiph.org and saw its last update this past October.

You need this one: https://xiph.org/flac/

Excessive licensing costs weren’t the only concern surrounding MQA though. MQA is touted as being DRM free, with audio streams able to be stored in the very popular, open source FLAC format. Only the lower resolution 16-bit audio is truly DRM free however. MQA’s authentication watermarking must be present in the file, and properly validated at playback, otherwise MQA decoders will refuse to unfold the audio to it’s full resolution. In this way, MQA acts as a sort of “soft-DRM”, that prevents recordings form being played at their maximum quality without both permission from the rights holder, and validation from MQA Ltd. All the issues surrounding MQA’s licensing and copy protection are explored in more detail in this article from 2017.

I've been looking around and am still figuring out the perfect solution but alac to flac is possible through a pipe. https://github.com/nu774/qaac/wiki/refalac-usage to convert to wav with specified folder is like this:

Second, you will want to install the foobar encoder pack and set up qaac (here's the qaac wiki). In short, apple's AAC/ALAC encoder in iTunes is the best around (better than Nero, Fraunhoefer, ffmpeg, etc) and ensures full compatibility with iPods. But fuck iTunes, you know, for being difficult. So qaac takes the encoder binaries from your installation of iTunes and sets it up as a standalone program which you can use however and wherever you want. So you set up qaac and then tell foobar to use qaac to do all your AAC/ALAC encodings and you get the benefits of apple's encoder without the nonsense of iTunes being uncooperative.

I use qaac as a CLI wrapper for the iTunes encoder. I don't use foobar, but I'm sure there's the option to set up using an external encoder. Every music manager I've ever used (except iTunes of course) has some way of setting up an external encoder via a command line.

I'm running an ABX test right now between that and a transcode made using qAAC, which is a windows port of Apple's AAC codec. Here is the spectogram of that, as proof.

AAC is still my go-to lossy codec for mobile purposes, although 256kbps is enough for me. it's also worth poiinting out that not all encoders are created equal - Apple's own encoder far superior to FAAC, for example, so Windows or Linux users outside the Apple ecosystem should use qaac instead, as it is a port.

On Github click "Releases" on right, or go here - https://github.com/nu774/qaac/releases

Qaac is the best AAC/ALAC solution as it uses apple's own libraries that are included with iTunes. iPods sometimes don't like files that were made with other encoders, so using apple's own libraries ensures the files will play. Setting it up might look intimidating if you aren't familiar with command line input though. Once set up, you can configure Media Monkey, EAC, etc to use qaac as an external encoder.

By the way, I found a thread from 9 months ago with the same problem, and someone suggested using qaac, which requires Apple software to be installed.

QAAC: https://github.com/nu774/qaac/releases/tag/v2.76

In any case, you'll need to provide the ALAC encoder since it isn't included with either MM or MB, and I'm pretty sure it's the same with the others on that list. Setting up qaac as an external encoder isn't hard, though you do need to follow instructions.