Looking for aac command line encoder,.. (which can be fed through stdin)

[Selur]

On Windows, there's: ffmpeg/mencoder (vo-aacenc/faac*/fffmpegs own aac**), NeroAacEnc***, qaac****, FhgAacEnc*****
On Linux, there's: ffmpeg/mencoder (vo-aacenc/faac*/fffmpegs own aac**), NeroAacEnc***

But what's available on mac?

I know that ffmpeg/mencoder (vo-aacenc/faac*/fffmpegs own aac**) are available, but are there others?

I stumbled over xld which seems to support (like qaac) aac encoding through quicktime, but it seems like it does not support input via stdin.

=> Does anyone know some additional command line encoders that:
a. support input via stdin
b. runs on mac


Cu Selur

Ps.: afconvert looks promising, anyone know a link to some good documentation for afconvert preferable with some examples regarding encoding piped input (via stdin) to he-aac?

-----------------
* afaik license forbids to distribute it, when statically linked (aac lc only)
** alpha state, bad quality compared to the rest (aac lc only)
*** license forbids redistribution
**** requires 'Apple Application Support' (comes with itunes&co but is also available separately)
***** requires FHGs encoder libraries that come with WinAmp

[jamiep]

try sox
http://sox.sourceforge.net/

can do most things with audio

on 10.6 and later the command line tool pcastaction is a CLI for podcast/quicktime stuff
pcastaction help encode gives this

pcastaction help encode > ~/desktop/pcastaction_encode
Podcast Producer action task, version 2.0
Copyright 2007 Apple, Inc.

encode: transforms the input file to the output file with the specified encoder

usage: encode --prb=PRB --input=INPUT --output=OUTPUT --encoder=ENCODER

the available encoders are:
3gpp2_ezmovie
3gpp2_release_A
3gpp2_release_A_hint
3gpp2_release_A_hint_server
3gpp_mobile_mp4
3gpp_mobile_mp4_hint
3gpp_mobile_mp4_hint_server
3gpp_release_5
3gpp_release_5_hint
3gpp_release_5_hint_server
amc_ezmovie
appletv
avi
avi_1cd
avi_2cd
desktop
h264
h264_hint
h264_hint_server
iphone
iphone_cellular
ipod
ipod_audio
mp4_audio_high
mp4_audio_low
mp4_high
mp4_lan
mp4_low
mp4_low_stream
mp4_medium
mp4_medium_stream


i'm guessing one of the ipod ones is aac!
hope this helps
jamie

[Selur]

Hmm,.. the sox I have doesn't have these an ipod_audio encoder,.. but I'll look into the pcastaction thing,..

[Baldrick]

Sox
Sound eXchange


edit: Just testing...added it to our tools list.

[Selur]

..... okay

[jamiep]

hmm sox doesn't seem to do too well with m4a (which would be the aac option I think) try it on yours Selur with an output as something.m4a

another alternative is qt_tools
which gets you command line access to quicktime
from here
http://omino.com/sw/qt_tools/

once installed you get qt_export as a command line tool

qt_export /Users/jamie/torvalds.wav --video=0 --audio=mp4a,44100,16,2 --datarate=256 ~/desktop/torvalds.m4a

the above command takes a wav and makes a 44.1kHz 16bit 2 channel aac file and outputs it on the dektop
cheers
j

[Selur]

Thanks! looks promising, but can it handle input from stdin?Will check tomorrow,.. (have to go to bed now,.. )