qtaacenc: a command-line QuickTime AAC encoder for Windows

Last modified: 2011/8/16

What is this?

qtaacenc is a command-line utility for Windows to encode audio files with QuickTime AAC encoder. It enables us to access the true VBR encoder which is not available in iTunes.

Requirements

How to use

> qtaacenc.exe [options] infile [outfile]

Without any option, qtaacenc encodes the input file with the True VBR mode, quality 65. The output file is saved in the current directory.

You can specify the following options:

--cbr bitrate
Encode the input file in CBR mode. Available bitrate range is 16-320kbps(stereo), 8-256kbps(mono).
--abr bitrate
Encode the input file in ABR mode. Available bitrate range is 16-320kbps(stereo), 8-256kbps(mono).
--cvbr bitrate
Encode the input file in Constrained VBR mode. Available bitrate range is 16-320kbps(stereo), 8-256kbps(mono).
--tvbr quality
Encode the input file in True VBR mode. Available quality range is 0-127. [default]
--he
Enable the high efficiency (HE-AAC) encoder. Cannot be used with True VBR mode.
--samplerate auto | keep | value
Control the samplerate of the output file.
  • auto
  • Automatically choose the optimum samplerate according to the bitrate and quality. [default]
  • keep
  • Keep the original samplerate (if possible).
  • value
  • Specify the preferred samplerate in Hz. Allowed values are: 8000, 11250, 12000, 16000, 22050, 24000, 32000, 44100, 48000
--fastest
Choose the profile for the fastest encoding speed (identical to --fast in the current QT AAC encoder).
--fast
Choose the profile focused on the encoding speed.
--normal
Choose the profile with moderate speed and quality.
--high
Choose the profile focused on the encoding quality. [default]
--highest
Choose the profile for the highest encoding quality (identical to --high in the current QT AAC encoder).
--title string
Set the title tag.
--artist string
Set the artist tag.
--album string
Set the album title tag.
--albumartist string
Set the album artist tag.
--genre string
Set the genre tag.
--date string
Set the release date tag.
--composer string
Set the composer tag.
--grouping string
Set the grouping tag.
--comment string
Set the commnet tag.
--track number[/total]
Set the track number tag.
--disc number[/total]
Set the disc number tag.
--compilation
Set the compilation flag.
--ignorelength
Ignore the size of data chunk when encoding from pipe.
--quiet
Do not print the progress.

Pipe Encoding

By passing - as infile, qtaacenc reads the input file from stdin. This is useful when you want to encode the file from other applications using pipe. In this case, the input format should be RIFF WAVE containing linear PCM.

Examples

> qtaacenc.exe --abr 160 foo.wav

Encode foo.wav with ABR 160kbps, and save as foo.m4a in the current directory.

> qtaacenc.exe --tvbr 100 --highest C:\foo.wav bar.m4a

Encode C:\foo.wav with true VBR quality 100, highest quality profile, and save as bar.m4a in the current directory.

Cooperation with foobar2000

qtaacenc can be used as a custom command-line encoder in foobar2000. See the picture below for the example of configurations.

Any comments or questions are accepted in the thread in Hydrogenaudio. Of course you can directly contact me.

Limitations

Download

This software is distributed under the MIT license. The source code of qtaacenc is included in the archive. Visual Studio 2008 and QuickTime SDK are required to build the project.

Change Log

2011/8/16

2011/8/6

2011/4/14

2010/11/19

2010/11/17

2010/11/15

2010/7/25

2010/3/7

2010/3/6

2010/2/21

2010/2/20

2010/2/18

2010/2/17

2010/2/12

2010/2/11

2010/2/10

2010/1/24

2010/1/22

2010/1/17

2010/1/7


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