%general-entities; ]> $LastChangedBy$ $Date$ faac FAAC is an encoder for a lossy sound compression scheme specified in MPEG-2 Part 7 and MPEG-4 Part 3 standards and known as Advanced Audio Coding (AAC). Such encoder is useful for producing files that can be played back on iPod. Moreover, iPod does not understand other sound compression schemes in video files. Package Information Download (HTTP): Download (FTP): Download MD5 sum: &faac-md5sum; Download size: &faac-size; Estimated disk space required: &faac-buildsize; Estimated build time: &faac-time; FAAC Dependencies Optional libmp4v2 from mpeg4ip (untested, an internal version of the library is used if the external one is not found). User Notes: Install FAAC by running the following commands: ./bootstrap && sed -i -e '/obj-type/d' -e '/Long Term/d' frontend/main.c && ./configure --prefix=/usr && make This package does not come with a test suite. However, one can test its basic functionality with a sample WAV file. Encode the file: ./frontend/faac -o Front_Left.mp4 /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Left.wav Then, decode the result with and play back the decoded file: faad Front_Left.mp4 aplay Front_Left.wav aplay should identify the file as "Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Stereo", and you should hear the words "front left". Now, as the root user: make install ./bootstrap: This command runs GNU Autotools and produces the configure script and some other files that drive the further build. sed -i ...: This command removes documentation for the --obj-type parameter from the faac --long-help command output. This parameter is disabled in FAAC-&faac-version; anyway due to sound quality issues with object types other than Low Complexity. --enable-drm: This option is supposed to enable support for encoding files for Digital Radio Mondiale, but actually breaks the base functionality of the package (e.g., the resulting faac program produces files that cannot be decoded by , even if compiled with DRM support). Don't use it. The quality of FAAC is not up to par with the currently best AAC encoders available. Also, it supports only AAC, but not High Efficiency AAC (also known as aacPlus), which provides better quality at low bitrates by means of using the spectral band replication technology. There are the following alternative programs for producing AAC and HE-AAC streams: Nero AAC Codec: available only in the binary form, a command-line AAC and HE-AAC encoder for Linux is in the same archive as the Windows application. 3GPP Enhanced aacPlus general audio codec: available in the source form, can encode only HE-AAC up to 48 kbps out of the box, but the maximum bitrate can be changed by editing the tuning table in the FloatFR_sbrenclib/src/sbr_main.c file. Note, however, that iPod supports only Low Complexity AAC profile, which is the default in FAAC, but may not be the default in Nero AAC Encoder and is completely unavailable in the 3GPP encoder. Installed Program Installed Libraries faac libfaac.{so,a} and libmp4v2.{so,a} Short Descriptions faac is a command-line AAC encoder. faac libfaac.{so,a} this library contains functions for encoding AAC streams. libfaac.{so,a} libmp4v2.{so,a} this library contains functions for creating and manipulating MP4 files. libmp4v2.{so,a}