DD+ (E-AC-3) to AC-3

[kyrcy]

I need to convert audio inside an mkv container from DD+ (E-AC-3) to AC-3. I am assuming that I need to extract, convert and then add the audio back to the mkv container. Is there a tool that makes this task easier?

[pandy]

I need to convert audio inside an mkv container from DD+ (E-AC-3) to AC-3. I am assuming that I need to extract, convert and then add the audio back to the mkv container. Is there a tool that makes this task easier?

I would use ffmpeg with simple batch but perhaps somebody will recommend you some GUI tool.

ffmpeg.exe -hide_banner -v 32 -stats -y -i %1 -c:v copy -c:a ac3 -b:a 384k -f matroska "%~n1_ac3.mkv"

[kyrcy]

I would use ffmpeg with simple batch but perhaps somebody will recommend you some GUI tool.

ffmpeg.exe -hide_banner -v 32 -stats -y -i %1 -c:v copy -c:a ac3 -b:a 384k -f matroska "%~n1_ac3.mkv"

Thanks for the batch, it appears to be working. As I have no experience with the options for ffmpeg, a GUI tool would be nice. For example, how do I keep both audio tracks?

[pandy]

I would use ffmpeg with simple batch but perhaps somebody will recommend you some GUI tool.

ffmpeg.exe -hide_banner -v 32 -stats -y -i %1 -c:v copy -c:a ac3 -b:a 384k -f matroska "%~n1_ac3.mkv"

Thanks for the batch, it appears to be working. As I have no experience with the options for ffmpeg, a GUI tool would be nice. For example, how do I keep both audio tracks?

Try this:

ffmpeg.exe -hide_banner -v 32 -stats -y -i %1 -c:v copy -map 0:a -c:a copy -map 0:a -c:a ac3 -b:a 384k -f matroska "%~n1_ac3.mkv"

[johns0]

eac3to with gui will encode to ac3.

[kyrcy]

eac3to with gui will encode to ac3.

I already tried it, but could not figure out how to make it work.

[kyrcy]

I would use ffmpeg with simple batch but perhaps somebody will recommend you some GUI tool.

ffmpeg.exe -hide_banner -v 32 -stats -y -i %1 -c:v copy -c:a ac3 -b:a 384k -f matroska "%~n1_ac3.mkv"

Thanks for the batch, it appears to be working. As I have no experience with the options for ffmpeg, a GUI tool would be nice. For example, how do I keep both audio tracks?

Try this:

ffmpeg.exe -hide_banner -v 32 -stats -y -i %1 -c:v copy -map 0:a -c:a copy -map 0:a -c:a ac3 -b:a 384k -f matroska "%~n1_ac3.mkv"

It does not work correctly, as the mkv contains only the AC-3 track twice.

[johns0]

Download the latest eac3to and use this gui,the newer gui is confusing.

[kyrcy]

Download the latest eac3to and use this gui,the newer gui is confusing.

I don't see an option for converting E-AC-3 to AC-3. Am I missing something?

[johns0]

In the second tab save as type ac3,make sure you set all the path to mkvmerge/tsmuxer and eac3to in the first tab.

[sneaker]

It does not work correctly, as the mkv contains only the AC-3 track twice.

Correct would be something like this:

ffmpeg -i "input.mkv" -map 0:v -map 0:a:0 -map 0:a:0 -c:v copy -c:a:0 copy -c:a:1 ac3  "output.mkv"

See:
https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html#Stream-specifiers
https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Map

[kyrcy]

In the second tab save as type ac3,make sure you set all the path to mkvmerge/tsmuxer and eac3to in the first tab.

The gui is still confusing as the buttons are truncated when using my 4k monitor.

[pandy]

I would use ffmpeg with simple batch but perhaps somebody will recommend you some GUI tool.

ffmpeg.exe -hide_banner -v 32 -stats -y -i %1 -c:v copy -c:a ac3 -b:a 384k -f matroska "%~n1_ac3.mkv"

Thanks for the batch, it appears to be working. As I have no experience with the options for ffmpeg, a GUI tool would be nice. For example, how do I keep both audio tracks?

Try this:

ffmpeg.exe -hide_banner -v 32 -stats -y -i %1 -c:v copy -map 0:a -c:a copy -map 0:a -c:a ac3 -b:a 384k -f matroska "%~n1_ac3.mkv"

It does not work correctly, as the mkv contains only the AC-3 track twice.

Sorry, my fault, didn't tested, sneaker is right it should be something like this (tested with few different sources):

@ffmpeg.exe -hide_banner -v 32 -stats -y -i %1 -map 0:v -c:v copy -map 0:a -c:a:0 copy -filter_complex [0:a:0]"aresample=resampler=soxr:osr=48000:cutoff=0.990:dither_method=0"[a2c] -map [a2c]:1 -c:a:1 ac3 -b:a 384k -f matroska "%~n1_ac3.mkv"

It should always convert first audio track to ac3 even if for example source sample rate is not supported by AC-3 (perhaps not the case for EAC-3 but for sure case for Dolby True HD)... If you don't like idea to resample you can safely replace"aresample=..." with "anull"

[mail2tom]

XMedia Recode (free) and myFFmpeg (shareware) will do it. No extraction and remuxing required.

[kyrcy]

I will give XMedia Recode a try next time I will need to convert.

[mpierc]

First post, yeah!

I do this a lot. My LG player does not do E-AC3. Here is a batch (.bat) file I wrote.

File: Fix TV Show.bat

@echo off
title %~n0

FOR %%I IN (%*) DO nice ffmpeg -i "%%~fI" -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -abr 640 -sn "%%~dI%%~pI\%%~nI.fixed%%~xI"
pause

The syntax is a little archaic but works fine with ffmpeg version 4.1.1.
If you don't have 'nice.exe' just remove the 'nice' from above.

I've used this many times and it produces MKV files that my picky player can play.

[kyrcy]

XMedia Recode (free) and myFFmpeg (shareware) will do it. No extraction and remuxing required.

I don't see how to convert E-AC-3 to AC-3 in XMedia Recode. Am I missing something?

First post, yeah!

I do this a lot. My LG player does not do E-AC3. Here is a batch (.bat) file I wrote.

File: Fix TV Show.bat

@echo off
title %~n0

FOR %%I IN (%*) DO nice ffmpeg -i "%%~fI" -vcodec copy -acodec ac3 -abr 640 -sn "%%~dI%%~pI\%%~nI.fixed%%~xI"
pause

The syntax is a little archaic but works fine with ffmpeg version 4.1.1.
If you don't have 'nice.exe' just remove the 'nice' from above.

I've used this many times and it produces MKV files that my picky player can play.

How do I get the best audio quality possible?

[pandy]

How do I get the best audio quality possible?

For AC3 bitrate 448kbps or higher accordingly to EBU tests deliver excellent quality:

Dolby Digital requires 448 kbit/s and DTS still requires around 1.5 Mbit/s for
"Excellent" quality.

(DTS 1500kbps)

https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/tech/tech3324.pdf
https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/tech/tech3339.pdf

Dolby Digital (AC3) 512 or 640kbps should deliver overall quality that can be considered from consumer perspective as subjectively lossless.

[kyrcy]

How do I get the best audio quality possible?

For AC3 bitrate 448kbps or higher accordingly to EBU tests deliver excellent quality:

Dolby Digital requires 448 kbit/s and DTS still requires around 1.5 Mbit/s for
"Excellent" quality.

(DTS 1500kbps)

https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/tech/tech3324.pdf
https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/tech/tech3339.pdf

Dolby Digital (AC3) 512 or 640kbps should deliver overall quality that can be considered from consumer perspective as subjectively lossless.

How to I change the bitrate? For some reason subtitles (other than English) are removed after running the batch.

[pandy]

How to I change the bitrate? For some reason subtitles (other than English) are removed after running the batch.

Change bitrate where? Provide useful details.

[kyrcy]

I mean how do I set the bitrate in the batch files above using ffmpeg? Also as I wrote your batch seems to also remove subtitles (other than English) in addition to the E-AC-3 track.

[sneaker]

Map/copy the subtitles you want. (e.g. -map 0:s -c:s copy to copy all subtitles from the first input file to output.)
Set audio bitrate via -b:a (e.g. -b:a 640k to set audio bitrate to 640k for all audio outputs.)
https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-codecs.html#Codec-Options

See:
https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html#Stream-specifiers
https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Map

[kyrcy]

c:\progra~1\ffmpeg-4.1.3-win64-static\bin\ffmpeg.exe -hide_banner -v 32 -stats -y -i %1 -map 0:s -c:v copy -c:a ac3 -b:a 384k -f matroska "%~n1_ac3.mkv"

I get the message:

Stream map '0:s' matches no streams.
To ignore this, add a trailing '?' to the map.

What am I doing wrong?

[Selur]

-map 0:s

tells ffmpeg to map the subtitle from input 0 to the output,
try changing it to:

-map 0:s?

iirc that should tell ffmpeg to ignore the subtitle mapping in case the source has no subtitles.

[kyrcy]

c:\progra~1\ffmpeg-4.1.3-win64-static\bin\ffmpeg.exe -hide_banner -v 32 -stats -y -i %1 -map 0:s? -c:v copy -c:a ac3 -b:a 384k -f matroska "%~n1_ac3.mkv"

It's not working correctly as the resulting mkv only contains subtitles.

[Selur]

Okay. What happens if you use '-c:s copy' instead ?

[kyrcy]

Resulting mkv is slightly smaller but still contains only subtitles.

[Selur]

'-c copy' should tell ffmpeg to copy the subtitles '-c:v copy' tells it to copy the video and '-c:a ac3 -b:a 384k' tells it to convert the audio to ac3 with a bitrate of 384kBit/s.
No clue why the output would only contain the subtitles.

[sneaker]

If you use -map then the default mapping is overriden. I.e. you need:

-map 0:v? -map 0:a? -map 0:s? -c:v copy -c:a ac3 -b:a 384k -c:s copy

or something along those lines.

[Selur]

Yeah, but by replacing the "-map:s" with "-c:s copy" didn't solve it for him, which is what wonders me.