1 <!doctype refentry PUBLIC "-//Davenport//DTD DocBook V3.0//EN" [
3 <!-- Fill in your name for FIRSTNAME and SURNAME. -->
4 <!ENTITY dhfirstname "<firstname>Matt</firstname>">
5 <!ENTITY dhsurname "<surname>Zimmerman</surname>">
6 <!-- Please adjust the date whenever revising the manpage. -->
7 <!ENTITY dhdate "<date>November 6, 2002</date>">
8 <!-- SECTION should be 1-8, maybe w/ subsection other parameters are
9 allowed: see man(7), man(1). -->
10 <!ENTITY dhsection "<manvolnum>1</manvolnum>">
11 <!ENTITY dhemail "<email>mdz@debian.org</email>">
12 <!ENTITY dhusername "Matt Zimmerman">
13 <!ENTITY dhucpackage "<refentrytitle>FLAC</refentrytitle>">
14 <!ENTITY dhpackage "flac">
16 <!ENTITY debian "<productname>Debian GNU/Linux</productname>">
17 <!ENTITY gnu "<acronym>GNU</acronym>">
31 <holder>&dhusername;</holder>
41 <refname>&dhpackage;</refname>
43 <refpurpose>Free Lossless Audio Codec</refpurpose>
47 <command>flac</command>
49 <arg><option><replaceable>OPTION</replaceable></option></arg>
50 <arg choice=plain><replaceable>infile</replaceable></arg>
51 <arg choice=plain><replaceable>...</replaceable></arg>
55 <title>DESCRIPTION</title>
57 <para>This manual page documents briefly the
58 <command>flac</command> command.</para>
60 <para>This manual page was written for the &debian;
61 distribution because the original program does not have a
62 manual page. Instead, it has documentation in HTML
63 format; see below.</para>
67 <title>OPTIONS</title>
69 <para>A summary of options is included below. For a complete
70 description, see the HTML documentation.</para>
73 <title>Generic Options</title>
77 <term><option>-v</option>, <option>--version</option>
80 <para>Show the flac version number</para>
85 <term><option>-h</option>, <option>--help</option>
88 <para>Show basic usage and a list of all options</para>
93 <term><option>-H</option>, <option>--explain</option>
96 <para>Show detailed explanation of usage and all options</para>
101 <term><option>-d</option>, <option>--decode</option>
104 <para>Decode (the default behavior is to encode)</para>
109 <term><option>-t</option>, <option>--test</option>
112 <para>Test a flac encoded file (same as -d
113 except no decoded file is written)</para>
118 <term><option>-a</option>, <option>--analyze</option>
121 <para>Analyze a flac encoded file (same as -d
122 except an analysis file is written)</para>
127 <term><option>-c</option>, <option>--stdout</option>
130 <para>Write output to stdout</para>
135 <term><option>-s</option>, <option>--silent</option>
138 <para>Silent mode (do not write runtime
139 encode/decode statistics to stderr)</para>
144 <term><option>-o</option> <replaceable>filename</replaceable>, <option>--output-name</option>=<replaceable>filename</replaceable></term>
146 <para>Force the output file name (usually flac just
147 changes the extension). May only be used when
148 encoding a single file. May not be used in
149 conjunction with --output-prefix.</para>
154 <term><option>--output-prefix</option>=<replaceable>string</replaceable></term>
156 <para>Prefix each output file name with the given
157 string. This can be useful for encoding or decoding
158 files to a different directory. Make sure if your
159 string is a path name that it ends with a trailing
165 <term><option>--delete-input-file</option>
168 <para>Automatically delete the input file after a
169 successful encode or decode. If there was an
170 error (including a verify error) the input file
171 is left intact.</para>
176 <term><option>--skip</option>=<replaceable>#</replaceable></term>
178 <para>Skip the specified number of samples at the
179 beginning of the input file (can be used for both
180 encoding and decoding)</para>
185 <term><option>--ogg</option></term>
188 <para>When encoding, generate Ogg-FLAC output instead
189 of native-FLAC. Ogg-FLAC streams are FLAC streams
190 wrapped in an Ogg transport layer. The resulting
191 file should have an '.ogg' extension and will still
192 be decodable by flac.</para>
193 <para>When decoding, force the input to be treated as
194 Ogg-FLAC. This is useful when piping input from
195 stdin or when the filename does not end in '.ogg'.</para>
200 <term><option>--serial-number</option>=<replaceable>#</replaceable></term>
203 <para>When used with --ogg, specifies the serial
204 number to use for the FLAC stream. When encoding and
205 no serial number is given, flac uses '0'. When
206 decoding and no number is given, flac uses the serial
207 number of the first page.</para>
215 <title>Analysis Options</title>
219 <term><option>--residual-text</option>
222 <para>Includes the residual signal in the analysis
223 file. This will make the file very big, much
224 larger than even the decoded file.</para>
229 <term><option>--residual-gnuplot</option>
232 <para>Generates a gnuplot file for every subframe;
233 each file will contain the residual distribution
234 of the subframe. This will create a lot of
243 <title>Decoding Options</title>
247 <term><option>-F</option>, <option>--decode-through-errors</option>
250 <para>By default flac stops decoding with an error
251 and removes the partially decoded file if it
252 encounters a bitstream error. With -F, errors are
253 still printed but flac will continue decoding to
254 completion. Note that errors may cause the decoded
255 audio to be missing some samples or have silent
264 <title>Encoding Options</title>
268 <term><option>-V</option>, <option>--verify</option></term>
271 <para>Verify a correct encoding by decoding the
272 output in parallel and comparing to the
278 <term><option>--lax</option></term>
281 <para>Allow encoder to generate non-Subset
287 <term><option>--replay-gain</option></term>
290 <para>Calculate ReplayGain values and store in
291 Vorbis comments, similar to vorbisgain. Title
292 gains/peaks will be computed for each input
293 file, and an album gain/peak will be computed
294 for all files. All input files must have the
295 same resolution, sample rate, and number of
296 channels. Only mono and stereo files are
297 allowed, and the sample rate must be one of
298 8, 11.025, 12, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, or 48
299 kHz. Also note that this option may leave a
300 few extra bytes in a PADDING block as the exact
301 size of the tags is not known until all files
302 are processed. Note that this option cannot be
303 used when encoding to standard output (stdout).
309 <term><option>--sector-align</option></term>
312 <para>Align encoding of multiple CD format WAVE
313 files on sector boundaries. See the HTML
314 documentation for more information.</para>
319 <term><option>-S</option> {<replaceable>#</replaceable>|<replaceable>X</replaceable>|<replaceable>#x</replaceable>|<replaceable>#s</replaceable>}, <option>--seekpoint</option>={<replaceable>#</replaceable>|<replaceable>X</replaceable>|<replaceable>#x</replaceable>|<replaceable>#s</replaceable>}</term>
323 Include a point or points in a SEEKTABLE. Using #,
324 a seek point at that sample number is added. Using
325 X, a placeholder point is added at the end of a the
326 table. Using #x, # evenly spaced seek points will
327 be added, the first being at sample 0. Using #s, a
328 seekpoint will be added every # seconds (# does not
329 have to be a whole number; it can be, for example, 9.5,
330 meaning a seekpoint every 9.5 seconds). You may use
331 many -S options; the resulting SEEKTABLE will be the
332 unique-ified union of all such values. With no -S
333 options, flac defaults to '-S 100x'. Use --no-seektable
334 for no SEEKTABLE. Note: '-S #x' and '-S #s' will not
335 work if the encoder can't determine the input size before
336 starting. Note: if you use '-S #' and # is >=
337 samples in the input, there will be either no seek
338 point entered (if the input size is determinable
339 before encoding starts) or a placeholder point (if
340 input size is not determinable).</para>
345 <term><option>-P</option> <replaceable>#</replaceable>, <option>--padding</option>=<replaceable>#</replaceable></term>
348 <para>Tell the encoder to write a PADDING metadata
349 block of the given length (in bytes) after the
350 STREAMINFO block. This is useful if you plan to
351 tag the file later with an APPLICATION block;
352 instead of having to rewrite the entire file later
353 just to insert your block, you can write directly
354 over the PADDING block. Note that the total length
355 of the PADDING block will be 4 bytes longer than
356 the length given because of the 4 metadata block
357 header bytes. You can force no PADDING block at
358 all to be written with --no-padding, which is the
364 <term><option>-T</option> <replaceable>FIELD=VALUE</replaceable>, <option>--tag</option>=<replaceable>FIELD=VALUE</replaceable></term>
367 <para>Add a Vorbis comment. The comment must adhere
368 to the Vorbis comment spec; i.e. the FIELD must
369 contain only legal characters, terminated by an
370 'equals' sign. Make sure to quote the comment if
371 necessary. This option may appear more than once
372 to add several comments. NOTE: all tags will be
373 added to all encoded files.</para>
378 <term><option>-b</option> <replaceable>#</replaceable>, <option>--blocksize</option>=<replaceable>#</replaceable></term>
381 <para>Specify the block size in samples. The
382 default is 1152 for -l 0, else 4608; must be one of
383 192, 576, 1152, 2304, 4608, 256, 512, 1024, 2048,
384 4096, 8192, 16384, or 32768 (unless --lax is used)</para>
389 <term><option>-m</option>, <option>--mid-side</option></term>
392 <para>Try mid-side coding for each frame (stereo
398 <term><option>-M</option>, <option>--adaptive-mid-side</option></term>
401 <para>Adaptive mid-side coding for all frames (stereo
407 <term><option>-0</option>..<option>-8</option>, <option>--compression-level-0</option>..<option>--compression-level-8</option></term>
410 <para>Fastest compression..highest compression
411 (default is -5). These are synonyms for other
416 <term><option>-0</option>, <option>--compression-level-0</option></term>
419 <para>Synonymous with -l 0 -b 1152 -r 2,2
425 <term><option>-1</option>, <option>--compression-level-1</option></term>
428 <para>Synonymous with -l 0 -b 1152 -M -r 2,2
434 <term><option>-2</option>, <option>--compression-level-2</option></term>
437 <para>Synonymous with -l 0 -b 1152 -m -r 3
443 <term><option>-3</option>, <option>--compression-level-3</option></term>
446 <para>Synonymous with -l 6 -b 4608 -r 3,3
452 <term><option>-4</option>, <option>--compression-level-4</option></term>
455 <para>Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4608 -M -r 3,3
461 <term><option>-5</option>, <option>--compression-level-5</option></term>
464 <para>Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4608 -m -r 3,3
470 <term><option>-6</option>, <option>--compression-level-6</option></term>
473 <para>Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4608 -m -r 4
479 <term><option>-7</option>, <option>--compression-level-7</option></term>
482 <para>Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4608 -m -e -r 6
488 <term><option>-8</option>, <option>--compression-level-8</option></term>
491 <para>Synonymous with -l 12 -b 4608 -m -e -r 6
502 <term><option>--fast</option></term>
505 <para>Fastest compression. Currently
506 synonymous with -0.</para>
511 <term><option>--best</option></term>
514 <para>Highest compression. Currently
515 synonymous with -8.</para>
520 <term><option>-e</option>, <option>--exhaustive-model-search</option></term>
523 <para>Do exhaustive model search
529 <term><option>-l</option> <replaceable>#</replaceable>, <option>--max-lpc-order</option>=<replaceable>#</replaceable></term>
532 <para>Set the maximum LPC order; 0 means use only the fixed predictors</para>
537 <term><option>-p</option>, <option>--qlp-coeff-precision-search</option></term>
540 <para>Do exhaustive search of LP coefficient
541 quantization (expensive!). Overrides -q;
542 does nothing if using -l 0</para>
547 <term><option>-q</option> <replaceable>#</replaceable>, <option>--qlp-coeff-precision</option>=<replaceable>#</replaceable></term>
550 <para>Precision of the quantized linear-predictor
551 coefficients, 0 => let encoder decide (min is 5,
557 <term><option>-r</option> [<replaceable>#</replaceable>,]<replaceable>#</replaceable>, <option>--rice-partition-order</option>=[<replaceable>#</replaceable>,]<replaceable>#</replaceable></term>
560 <para>Set the [min,]max residual partition order
561 (0..16). min defaults to 0 if unspecified. Default
570 <title>Format Options</title>
574 <term><option>--endian</option>={<replaceable>big</replaceable>|<replaceable>little</replaceable>}</term>
577 <para>Set the byte order for samples</para>
582 <term><option>--channels</option>=<replaceable>#</replaceable></term>
585 <para>Set number of channels.</para>
590 <term><option>--bps</option>=<replaceable>#</replaceable></term>
593 <para>Set bits per sample.</para>
598 <term><option>--sample-rate</option>=<replaceable>#</replaceable></term>
601 <para>Set sample rate (in Hz).</para>
606 <term><option>--sign</option>={<replaceable>signed</replaceable>|<replaceable>unsigned</replaceable>}</term>
609 <para>Set the sign of samples (the default is signed).</para>
614 <term><option>--force-raw-format</option></term>
617 <para>Force input (when encoding) or output (when decoding)
618 to be treated as raw samples (even if filename ends
619 in <filename>.wav</filename>).</para>
627 <title>Negative Options</title>
631 <term><option>--no-adaptive-mid-side</option></term>
632 <term><option>--no-decode-through-errors</option></term>
633 <term><option>--no-delete-input-file</option></term>
634 <term><option>--no-escape-coding</option></term>
635 <term><option>--no-exhaustive-model-search</option></term>
636 <term><option>--no-lax</option></term>
637 <term><option>--no-mid-side</option></term>
638 <term><option>--no-ogg</option></term>
639 <term><option>--no-padding</option></term>
640 <term><option>--no-qlp-coeff-precision-search</option></term>
641 <term><option>--no-residual-gnuplot</option></term>
642 <term><option>--no-residual-text</option></term>
643 <term><option>--no-sector-align</option></term>
644 <term><option>--no-seektable</option></term>
645 <term><option>--no-silent</option></term>
646 <term><option>--no-verify</option></term>
648 <para>These flags can be used to invert the sense
649 of the corresponding normal option.</para>
658 <title>SEE ALSO</title>
660 <para>The programs are documented fully by HTML format
661 documentation, available in
662 <filename>/usr/share/doc/flac/html</filename> on
663 &debian; systems.</para>
666 <title>AUTHOR</title>
668 <para>This manual page was written by &dhusername; &dhemail; for
669 the &debian; system (but may be used by others).</para>
671 <!-- <para>Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify
672 this document under the terms of the <acronym>GNU</acronym> Free
673 Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version
674 published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant
675 Sections, no Front-Cover Texts and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy
676 of the license can be found under
677 <filename>/usr/share/common-licenses/FDL</filename>.</para> -->
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