Encoding in MP4/M4a/AAC format

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 19 Aug 2006, 01:40

These are new formats (actually same format, different names

) which we can use to encode the music. One of the main advantages over MP3 is that even at low bitrates, it offers excellent quality.

This means smaller files and simultaneously better music. I have uploaded the software which is used to convert from MP3/Wav to MP4 format. Using it is very simple that no instructions are needed, but still, instructions are available in the file.

Click here to download sng.zip

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 19 Aug 2006, 01:50

srkris
I tried. But it is not generating any output file (I clicked on change extension to M4A).I tried with both MP3 and WMA files.

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 19 Aug 2006, 02:16

It worked with wav file

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 19 Aug 2006, 02:23

It works nice for me! Just followed the instructions! My wave file was 7.2 meg the AAC file was 412KB. The sound quality is about same played on the realplayer!

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 19 Aug 2006, 02:28

cml,
it is not working with MP3 files, or it is going to some unknown destination:(

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 19 Aug 2006, 02:31

I dont have WAV files to hand to check. But yes, it is not working for me with MP3. And also wma(May be this is not an option).

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 19 Aug 2006, 02:37

Just checked. It works fine with WAV files. 93.6mb to 3.859mb and 4.96mb to 750 KB!!! But what about MP3

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 19 Aug 2006, 02:45

But I find a significant loss of quality with 750Kb file. The other one sounds alright.

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 19 Aug 2006, 02:49

Did other notice this. If you change the VBR setting to above 0.30, the encoding does not take place even with WAV files. Its either 0.30 or less that works.

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 19 Aug 2006, 02:57

drshrikaanth wrote:Did other notice this. If you change the VBR setting to above 0.30, the encoding does not take place even with WAV files. Its either 0.30 or less that works.

No, it did work at 0.4 for my file.
may be it is the size of the file.

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 19 Aug 2006, 03:12

Possibly. Need to check that out. What was the size of the file you tried on 0.4? Mine was 4.96 mb which is quite small.

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 19 Aug 2006, 03:21

Wav file size 23.3 mb converted to 1.29 at 0.4
I could go even higher 0.6

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 19 Aug 2006, 03:30

Yes. The 93.6mb works at 0.6 too. But why does a smaller file not get converted?

meena · Post by **meena** » 19 Aug 2006, 03:33

ha ha i think both of u must IM eachother

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 19 Aug 2006, 03:42

drshrikaanth wrote:Yes. The 93.6mb works at 0.6 too. But why does a smaller file not get converted?

Looking at the ratio of the original size to converted size....
are you not trying to get the small size to get anything bigger:)

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 19 Aug 2006, 03:44

Are we? I did not think so. What makes you suspect that? At 0.3 it yielde 750kb. How much bigger can it get with 0.6?

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 19 Aug 2006, 04:20

Ok ,
I tried it myself.
75.4 kb size converted to 19.3 kb at 0.63
It does not want to get any bigger...

ie, beyond 0.63 it does not work

May be at this point the quality is the same

Anyone with a logic here..

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 19 Aug 2006, 04:57

Suji: You have hit upon the limit of the encoder. I tried it on an mp3 and it works only until .63 Variable Bit Rate quality. First I thought it is a limit based on the samples in the file but there is an error message in the console window it puts up.

Suji Ram · Post by **Suji Ram** » 19 Aug 2006, 05:00

VK,
I am also not able to convert MP3. How did you try? Mine are Wav files.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 19 Aug 2006, 05:42

Nothing special... Just the default options. I tried it on MALINI-KEDAR..mp3 that Kji provided a few days back.

Double clicked on sng.exe, browsed to the mp3 file, seleced the 'change extension to .m4.' and clicked on encode. Rest were default selections

meena · Post by **meena** » 19 Aug 2006, 05:54

is this similar to dBpowerAMP?

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 19 Aug 2006, 11:22

Yes but dbpoweramp is not free software, and it doesnt convert to MP4

Rigapada · Post by **Rigapada** » 19 Aug 2006, 11:27

Dear friends,
Nero group launched the free AAC encoder and details are given in the following thread. The various settings to be used and their effects are also discussed there. This thread runs to 20pages but a must read for anybody trying to use that codec. The program posted by skris uses this codec.

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/ind ... opic=44275

Hydrogen Audio is the destination of all those interested in high quality compression of Audio files.

Please note: It is be possible to convert (Transcode) mp3 files to mp4 format, but the resultant files will have compression artifacts. It will be better to store ones archieve Audio files as Lossless files, and transcode to a lossy format like mp3 or mp4 as per the requirement. If one is having a file in a lossy format only like mp3, it is better to leave it as it is. Any transcoding will reduce the quality and introduce artifacts.

--Rigapada

Rigapada · Post by **Rigapada** » 19 Aug 2006, 11:33

Kindly refer to the following threads also for more help.

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/ind ... =46689&hl=
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/ind ... opic=44283

Vocalist · Post by **Vocalist** » 19 Aug 2006, 19:29

Thanks for that Rigapada.

shripathi_g · Post by **shripathi_g** » 20 Aug 2006, 01:07

Not sure if this is the right thread, but how do you convert vqf to mp3?

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 20 Aug 2006, 01:48

VQF (the quality of the old 5 CD collection) was terrible... I suggest you give up the thought of converting it to MP3 right-away if that is what u want to convert.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 20 Aug 2006, 02:41

See if this works: http://www.software-download.us/ -- Audio MP3 Converter I have not tried this myself. The other such tools in that page might do the jobs as well.