| .\" This manpage has been automatically generated by docbook2man |
| .\" from a DocBook document. This tool can be found at: |
| .\" <http://shell.ipoline.com/~elmert/comp/docbook2X/> |
| .\" Please send any bug reports, improvements, comments, patches, |
| .\" etc. to Steve Cheng <steve@ggi-project.org>. |
| .TH "FLAC" "1" "02 January 2003" "" "" |
| .SH NAME |
| flac \- Free Lossless Audio Codec |
| .SH SYNOPSIS |
| |
| \fBflac\fR [ \fB\fIOPTION\fB\fR ] \fB\fIinfile\fB\fR \fB\fI...\fB\fR |
| |
| .SH "DESCRIPTION" |
| .PP |
| This manual page documents briefly the |
| \fBflac\fR command. |
| .PP |
| This manual page was written for the Debian GNU/Linux |
| distribution because the original program does not have a |
| manual page. Instead, it has documentation in HTML |
| format; see below. |
| .SH "OPTIONS" |
| .PP |
| A summary of options is included below. For a complete |
| description, see the HTML documentation. |
| .SS "GENERAL OPTIONS" |
| .TP |
| \fB-v, --version \fR |
| Show the flac version number |
| .TP |
| \fB-h, --help \fR |
| Show basic usage and a list of all options |
| .TP |
| \fB-H, --explain \fR |
| Show detailed explanation of usage and all options |
| .TP |
| \fB-d, --decode \fR |
| Decode (the default behavior is to encode) |
| .TP |
| \fB-t, --test \fR |
| Test a flac encoded file (same as -d |
| except no decoded file is written) |
| .TP |
| \fB-a, --analyze \fR |
| Analyze a flac encoded file (same as -d |
| except an analysis file is written) |
| .TP |
| \fB-c, --stdout \fR |
| Write output to stdout |
| .TP |
| \fB-s, --silent \fR |
| Silent mode (do not write runtime |
| encode/decode statistics to stderr) |
| .TP |
| \fB-o \fIfilename\fB, --output-name=\fIfilename\fB\fR |
| Force the output file name (usually flac just |
| changes the extension). May only be used when |
| encoding a single file. May not be used in |
| conjunction with --output-prefix. |
| .TP |
| \fB--output-prefix=\fIstring\fB\fR |
| Prefix each output file name with the given |
| string. This can be useful for encoding or decoding |
| files to a different directory. Make sure if your |
| string is a path name that it ends with a trailing |
| `/' (slash). |
| .TP |
| \fB--delete-input-file \fR |
| Automatically delete the input file after a |
| successful encode or decode. If there was an |
| error (including a verify error) the input file |
| is left intact. |
| .TP |
| \fB--skip={\fI#\fB|\fImm:ss.ss\fB}\fR |
| Skip over the first number of samples of the input. |
| This works for both encoding and decoding, but not |
| testing. The alternative form mm:ss.ss can be used |
| to specify minutes, seconds, and fractions of a |
| second. |
| .TP |
| \fB--until={\fI#\fB|[\fI+\fB|\fI-\fB]\fImm:ss.ss\fB}\fR |
| Stop at the given sample number for each input file. |
| This works for both encoding and decoding, but not testing. |
| The given sample number is not included in the decoded |
| output. The alternative form mm:ss.ss can be used to |
| specify minutes, seconds, and fractions of a second. If a |
| `+' (plus) sign is at the beginning, the --until point is |
| relative to the --skip point. If a `-' (minus) sign is at |
| the beginning, the --until point is relative to end of the |
| audio. |
| .TP |
| \fB--ogg\fR |
| When encoding, generate Ogg-FLAC output instead |
| of native-FLAC. Ogg-FLAC streams are FLAC streams |
| wrapped in an Ogg transport layer. The resulting |
| file should have an '.ogg' extension and will still |
| be decodable by flac. |
| |
| When decoding, force the input to be treated as |
| Ogg-FLAC. This is useful when piping input from |
| stdin or when the filename does not end in '.ogg'. |
| .TP |
| \fB--serial-number=\fI#\fB\fR |
| When used with --ogg, specifies the serial |
| number to use for the FLAC stream. When encoding and |
| no serial number is given, flac uses '0'. When |
| decoding and no number is given, flac uses the serial |
| number of the first page. |
| .SS "ANALYSIS OPTIONS" |
| .TP |
| \fB--residual-text \fR |
| Includes the residual signal in the analysis |
| file. This will make the file very big, much |
| larger than even the decoded file. |
| .TP |
| \fB--residual-gnuplot \fR |
| Generates a gnuplot file for every subframe; |
| each file will contain the residual distribution |
| of the subframe. This will create a lot of |
| files. |
| .SS "DECODING OPTIONS" |
| .TP |
| \fB-F, --decode-through-errors \fR |
| By default flac stops decoding with an error |
| and removes the partially decoded file if it |
| encounters a bitstream error. With -F, errors are |
| still printed but flac will continue decoding to |
| completion. Note that errors may cause the decoded |
| audio to be missing some samples or have silent |
| sections. |
| .SS "ENCODING OPTIONS" |
| .TP |
| \fB-V, --verify\fR |
| Verify a correct encoding by decoding the |
| output in parallel and comparing to the |
| original |
| .TP |
| \fB--lax\fR |
| Allow encoder to generate non-Subset |
| files. |
| .TP |
| \fB--replay-gain\fR |
| Calculate ReplayGain values and store in |
| Vorbis comments, similar to vorbisgain. Title |
| gains/peaks will be computed for each input |
| file, and an album gain/peak will be computed |
| for all files. All input files must have the |
| same resolution, sample rate, and number of |
| channels. Only mono and stereo files are |
| allowed, and the sample rate must be one of |
| 8, 11.025, 12, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, or 48 |
| kHz. Also note that this option may leave a |
| few extra bytes in a PADDING block as the exact |
| size of the tags is not known until all files |
| are processed. Note that this option cannot be |
| used when encoding to standard output (stdout). |
| .TP |
| \fB--cuesheet=\fIfilename\fB\fR |
| Import the given cuesheet file and store it in a |
| CUESHEET metadata block. This option may only be used |
| when encoding a single file. A seekpoint will be added |
| for each index point in the cuesheet to the SEEKTABLE |
| unless --no-cued-seekpoints is specified. |
| .TP |
| \fB--sector-align\fR |
| Align encoding of multiple CD format WAVE |
| files on sector boundaries. See the HTML |
| documentation for more information. |
| .TP |
| \fB-S {\fI#\fB|\fIX\fB|\fI#x\fB|\fI#s\fB}, --seekpoint={\fI#\fB|\fIX\fB|\fI#x\fB|\fI#s\fB}\fR |
| Include a point or points in a SEEKTABLE. Using #, |
| a seek point at that sample number is added. Using |
| X, a placeholder point is added at the end of a the |
| table. Using #x, # evenly spaced seek points will |
| be added, the first being at sample 0. Using #s, a |
| seekpoint will be added every # seconds (# does not |
| have to be a whole number; it can be, for example, 9.5, |
| meaning a seekpoint every 9.5 seconds). You may use |
| many -S options; the resulting SEEKTABLE will be the |
| unique-ified union of all such values. With no -S |
| options, flac defaults to '-S 10s'. Use --no-seektable |
| for no SEEKTABLE. Note: '-S #x' and '-S #s' will not |
| work if the encoder can't determine the input size before |
| starting. Note: if you use '-S #' and # is >= |
| samples in the input, there will be either no seek |
| point entered (if the input size is determinable |
| before encoding starts) or a placeholder point (if |
| input size is not determinable). |
| .TP |
| \fB-P \fI#\fB, --padding=\fI#\fB\fR |
| Tell the encoder to write a PADDING metadata |
| block of the given length (in bytes) after the |
| STREAMINFO block. This is useful if you plan to |
| tag the file later with an APPLICATION block; |
| instead of having to rewrite the entire file later |
| just to insert your block, you can write directly |
| over the PADDING block. Note that the total length |
| of the PADDING block will be 4 bytes longer than |
| the length given because of the 4 metadata block |
| header bytes. You can force no PADDING block at |
| all to be written with --no-padding, which is the |
| default. |
| .TP |
| \fB-T \fIFIELD=VALUE\fB, --tag=\fIFIELD=VALUE\fB\fR |
| Add a Vorbis comment. The comment must adhere |
| to the Vorbis comment spec; i.e. the FIELD must |
| contain only legal characters, terminated by an |
| \&'equals' sign. Make sure to quote the comment if |
| necessary. This option may appear more than once |
| to add several comments. NOTE: all tags will be |
| added to all encoded files. |
| .TP |
| \fB-b \fI#\fB, --blocksize=\fI#\fB\fR |
| Specify the block size in samples. The |
| default is 1152 for -l 0, else 4608; must be one of |
| 192, 576, 1152, 2304, 4608, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, |
| 4096, 8192, 16384, or 32768 (unless --lax is used) |
| .TP |
| \fB-m, --mid-side\fR |
| Try mid-side coding for each frame (stereo |
| input only) |
| .TP |
| \fB-M, --adaptive-mid-side\fR |
| Adaptive mid-side coding for all frames (stereo |
| input only) |
| .TP |
| \fB-0..-8, --compression-level-0..--compression-level-8\fR |
| Fastest compression..highest compression |
| (default is -5). These are synonyms for other |
| options: |
| .RS |
| .TP |
| \fB-0, --compression-level-0\fR |
| Synonymous with -l 0 -b 1152 -r 2,2 |
| .TP |
| \fB-1, --compression-level-1\fR |
| Synonymous with -l 0 -b 1152 -M -r 2,2 |
| .TP |
| \fB-2, --compression-level-2\fR |
| Synonymous with -l 0 -b 1152 -m -r 3 |
| .TP |
| \fB-3, --compression-level-3\fR |
| Synonymous with -l 6 -b 4608 -r 3,3 |
| .TP |
| \fB-4, --compression-level-4\fR |
| Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4608 -M -r 3,3 |
| .TP |
| \fB-5, --compression-level-5\fR |
| Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4608 -m -r 3,3 |
| .TP |
| \fB-6, --compression-level-6\fR |
| Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4608 -m -r 4 |
| .TP |
| \fB-7, --compression-level-7\fR |
| Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4608 -m -e -r 6 |
| .TP |
| \fB-8, --compression-level-8\fR |
| Synonymous with -l 12 -b 4608 -m -e -r 6 |
| .RE |
| .TP |
| \fB--fast\fR |
| Fastest compression. Currently |
| synonymous with -0. |
| .TP |
| \fB--best\fR |
| Highest compression. Currently |
| synonymous with -8. |
| .TP |
| \fB-e, --exhaustive-model-search\fR |
| Do exhaustive model search |
| (expensive!) |
| .TP |
| \fB-l \fI#\fB, --max-lpc-order=\fI#\fB\fR |
| Set the maximum LPC order; 0 means use only the fixed predictors |
| .TP |
| \fB-p, --qlp-coeff-precision-search\fR |
| Do exhaustive search of LP coefficient |
| quantization (expensive!). Overrides -q; |
| does nothing if using -l 0 |
| .TP |
| \fB-q \fI#\fB, --qlp-coeff-precision=\fI#\fB\fR |
| Precision of the quantized linear-predictor |
| coefficients, 0 => let encoder decide (min is 5, |
| default is 0) |
| .TP |
| \fB-r [\fI#\fB,]\fI#\fB, --rice-partition-order=[\fI#\fB,]\fI#\fB\fR |
| Set the [min,]max residual partition order |
| (0..16). min defaults to 0 if unspecified. Default |
| is -r 3,3. |
| .SS "FORMAT OPTIONS" |
| .TP |
| \fB--endian={\fIbig\fB|\fIlittle\fB}\fR |
| Set the byte order for samples |
| .TP |
| \fB--channels=\fI#\fB\fR |
| Set number of channels. |
| .TP |
| \fB--bps=\fI#\fB\fR |
| Set bits per sample. |
| .TP |
| \fB--sample-rate=\fI#\fB\fR |
| Set sample rate (in Hz). |
| .TP |
| \fB--sign={\fIsigned\fB|\fIunsigned\fB}\fR |
| Set the sign of samples (the default is signed). |
| .TP |
| \fB--force-aiff-format\fR |
| Force the decoder to output AIFF format. This option |
| is not needed if the output filename (as set by -o) ends |
| with \fI.aiff\fR. Also, this option has no |
| effect when encoding since input AIFF is auto-detected. |
| .TP |
| \fB--force-raw-format\fR |
| Force input (when encoding) or output (when decoding) |
| to be treated as raw samples (even if filename ends |
| in \fI.wav\fR). |
| .SS "NEGATIVE OPTIONS" |
| .TP |
| \fB--no-adaptive-mid-side\fR |
| .TP |
| \fB--no-decode-through-errors\fR |
| .TP |
| \fB--no-delete-input-file\fR |
| .TP |
| \fB--no-exhaustive-model-search\fR |
| .TP |
| \fB--no-lax\fR |
| .TP |
| \fB--no-mid-side\fR |
| .TP |
| \fB--no-ogg\fR |
| .TP |
| \fB--no-padding\fR |
| .TP |
| \fB--no-qlp-coeff-precision-search\fR |
| .TP |
| \fB--no-residual-gnuplot\fR |
| .TP |
| \fB--no-residual-text\fR |
| .TP |
| \fB--no-sector-align\fR |
| .TP |
| \fB--no-seektable\fR |
| .TP |
| \fB--no-silent\fR |
| .TP |
| \fB--no-verify\fR |
| These flags can be used to invert the sense |
| of the corresponding normal option. |
| .SH "SEE ALSO" |
| .PP |
| metaflac(1). |
| .PP |
| The programs are documented fully by HTML format |
| documentation, available in |
| \fI/usr/share/doc/flac/html\fR on |
| Debian GNU/Linux systems. |
| .SH "AUTHOR" |
| .PP |
| This manual page was written by Matt Zimmerman <mdz@debian.org> for |
| the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others). |