source: multimedia/libdriv/faac.xml@ d437f756

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
   "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../../general.ent">
  %general-entities;

  <!ENTITY faac-download-http "https://github.com/knik0/faac/archive/&faac-version;/faac-&faac-version;.tar.gz">
  <!ENTITY faac-download-ftp  " ">
  <!ENTITY faac-md5sum        "8d61e6d55088e599aa91532d5e6995b0">
  <!ENTITY faac-size          "240 KB">
  <!ENTITY faac-buildsize     "4.7 MB">
  <!ENTITY faac-time          "less than 0.1 SBU">
]>

<sect1 id="faac" xreflabel="FAAC-&faac-version;">
  <?dbhtml filename="faac.html"?>

  <sect1info>
    <othername>$LastChangedBy$</othername>
    <date>$Date$</date>
  </sect1info>

  <title>FAAC-&faac-version;</title>

  <indexterm zone="faac">
    <primary sortas="a-faac">faac</primary>
  </indexterm>

  <sect2 role="package">
    <title>Introduction to FAAC</title>

    <para>
      <application>FAAC</application> 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). This 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.
    </para>

    &lfs101_checked;

    <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Package Information</bridgehead>
    <itemizedlist spacing="compact">
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Download (HTTP): <ulink url="&faac-download-http;"/>
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Download (FTP): <ulink url="&faac-download-ftp;"/>
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Download MD5 sum: &faac-md5sum;
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Download size: &faac-size;
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Estimated disk space required: &faac-buildsize;
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Estimated build time: &faac-time;
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <para condition="html" role="usernotes">User Notes:
    <ulink url="&blfs-wiki;/faac"/></para>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="installation">
    <title>Installation of FAAC</title>

    <para>
      Install <application>FAAC</application> by running the
      following commands:
    </para>

<screen><userinput>./bootstrap                                &amp;&amp;
./configure --prefix=/usr --disable-static &amp;&amp;
make</userinput></screen>

    <para>
      This package does not come with a test suite. However, basic
      functionality can be tested by encoding a sample WAV file (the sample
      file is installed by the <xref linkend="alsa-utils"/> package:
    </para>

<screen remap="test"><userinput>./frontend/faac -o Front_Left.mp4 /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Left.wav</userinput></screen>

    <para>
      Then, decode the result using the <command>faad</command> program
      from the <xref linkend="faad2"/> package and play back the decoded file
      (requires the <command>aplay</command> program from the
      <xref linkend="alsa-utils"/> package:
    </para>

<screen remap="test"><userinput>faad Front_Left.mp4
aplay Front_Left.wav</userinput></screen>

    <para>
      <command>aplay</command> should identify the file as
      <quote>Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Stereo</quote>, and
      you should hear the words <quote>front left</quote>.
    </para>

    <para>
      Now, as the <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user:
    </para>

<screen role="root"><userinput>make install</userinput></screen>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="commands">
    <title>Command Explanations</title>

    <xi:include xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
      href="../../xincludes/static-libraries.xml"/>

    <!-- 1.28: This is still broken, it causes a segfault. -->
    <!--
    <para>
      <option>- -enable-drm</option>: This option is supposed to enable
      support for encoding files for
      <ulink url="http://www.drm.org/">Digital Radio Mondiale</ulink>, but
      actually breaks the base functionality of the package (e.g., the resulting
      <command>faac</command> program produces files that cannot be decoded
      by <xref linkend="faad2"/>, even if compiled with DRM support).
      Don't use it.
    </para>
    -->
    <!-- Since we say "Don't use it", let's not even list it. That would open up
    the possibility of a user seeing it and enabling it anyway. -->
  </sect2>

  <sect2>
    <title>Other AAC encoders</title>

    <para>
      The quality of <application>FAAC</application> is not up
      to par with the best AAC encoders currently available. Also, it only
      supports AAC and not High Efficiency AAC (also known as aacPlus), which
      provides better quality at low bitrates by means of using the
      <quote>spectral band replication</quote> technology. There are the
      following alternative programs for producing AAC and HE-AAC streams:
    </para>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          <ulink url="http://www.nero.com/eng/nero-aac-codec.html">Nero AAC
          Codec</ulink>:
          available only in the binary form, the command-line AAC and HE-AAC
          encoders for Linux are in the same archive as the Windows
          application.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          <ulink url="http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/html-info/26410.htm">3GPP
          Enhanced aacPlus general audio codec</ulink>:
          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
          <filename>FloatFR_sbrenclib/src/sbr_main.c</filename> file.
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <para>
      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.
    </para>

  </sect2>
  <sect2 role="content">
    <title>Contents</title>

    <segmentedlist>
      <segtitle>Installed Program</segtitle>
      <segtitle>Installed Libraries</segtitle>
      <segtitle>Installed Directories</segtitle>

      <seglistitem>
        <seg>faac</seg>
        <seg>libfaac.so and libmp4v2.so</seg>
        <seg>None</seg>
      </seglistitem>
    </segmentedlist>

    <variablelist>
      <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Short Descriptions</bridgehead>
      <?dbfo list-presentation="list"?>
      <?dbhtml list-presentation="table"?>

      <varlistentry id="faac-prog">
        <term><command>faac</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            is a command-line AAC encoder
          </para>
          <indexterm zone="faac faac-prog">
            <primary sortas="b-faac">faac</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="libfaac">
        <term><filename class="libraryfile">libfaac.so</filename></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            contains functions for encoding AAC streams
          </para>
          <indexterm zone="faac libfaac">
            <primary sortas="c-libfaac">libfaac.so</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="libmp4v2">
        <term><filename class="libraryfile">libmp4v2.so</filename></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            contains functions for creating and manipulating MP4 files
          </para>
          <indexterm zone="faac libmp4v2">
            <primary sortas="c-libmp4v2">libmp4v2.so</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

  </sect2>

</sect1>