man/flac.sgml

   1 <!doctype refentry PUBLIC "-//Davenport//DTD DocBook V3.0//EN" [
   2
   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>May 16, 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">
  15
  16   <!ENTITY debian      "<productname>Debian GNU/Linux</productname>">
  17   <!ENTITY gnu         "<acronym>GNU</acronym>">
  18 ]>
  19
  20 <refentry>
  21   <docinfo>
  22     <address>
  23         &dhemail;
  24     </address>
  25     <author>
  26         &dhfirstname;
  27         &dhsurname;
  28       </author>
  29         <copyright>
  30                     <year>2002</year>
  31                     <holder>&dhusername;</holder>
  32         </copyright>
  33             &dhdate;
  34         </docinfo>
  35   <refmeta>
  36       &dhucpackage;
  37
  38       &dhsection;
  39     </refmeta>
  40       <refnamediv>
  41                    <refname>&dhpackage;</refname>
  42
  43         <refpurpose>Free Lossless Audio Codec</refpurpose>
  44       </refnamediv>
  45         <refsynopsisdiv>
  46           <cmdsynopsis>
  47             <command>flac</command>
  48
  49             <arg><option><replaceable>OPTION</replaceable></option></arg>
  50             <arg choice=plain><replaceable>infile</replaceable></arg>
  51             <arg choice=plain><replaceable>...</replaceable></arg>
  52           </cmdsynopsis>
  53         </refsynopsisdiv>
  54         <refsect1>
  55           <title>DESCRIPTION</title>
  56
  57           <para>This manual page documents briefly the
  58             <command>flac</command> command.</para>
  59
  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>
  64
  65         </refsect1>
  66         <refsect1>
  67           <title>OPTIONS</title>
  68
  69           <para>A summary of options is included below.  For a complete
  70           description, see the HTML documentation.</para>
  71
  72           <refsect2>
  73             <title>Generic Options</title>
  74
  75             <variablelist>
  76               <varlistentry>
  77                 <term><option>-H</option>
  78                 </term>
  79                 <listitem>
  80                   <para>Show detailed help screen</para>
  81                 </listitem>
  82               </varlistentry>
  83
  84               <varlistentry>
  85                 <term><option>-d</option>
  86                 </term>
  87                 <listitem>
  88                   <para>Decode (default behavior is encode)</para>
  89                 </listitem>
  90               </varlistentry>
  91
  92               <varlistentry>
  93                 <term><option>-c</option>
  94                 </term>
  95                 <listitem>
  96                   <para>Encode from standard input, or decode to
  97                   standard output</para>
  98                 </listitem>
  99               </varlistentry>
 100
 101               <varlistentry>
 102                 <term><option>-t</option>
 103                 </term>
 104                 <listitem>
 105                   <para>Test a flac encoded file (same as -d
 106                     except no decoded file is written)</para>
 107                 </listitem>
 108               </varlistentry>
 109
 110               <varlistentry>
 111                 <term><option>-a</option>
 112                 </term>
 113                 <listitem>
 114                   <para>Analyze a flac encoded file (same as -d
 115                     except an analysis file is written)</para>
 116                 </listitem>
 117               </varlistentry>
 118
 119               <varlistentry>
 120                 <term><option>-s</option>
 121                 </term>
 122                 <listitem>
 123                   <para>Silent mode (do not write runtime
 124                     encode/decode statistics to stdout)</para>
 125                 </listitem>
 126               </varlistentry>
 127
 128               <varlistentry>
 129                 <term><option>-o</option> <replaceable>filename</replaceable></term>
 130                 <listitem>
 131                   <para>Force the output file name (usually flac just
 132                     changes the extension).  May only be used when
 133                     encoding a single file.  May not be used in
 134                     conjunction with --output-prefix.</para>
 135                 </listitem>
 136               </varlistentry>
 137
 138               <varlistentry>
 139                 <term><option>--output-prefix</option> <replaceable>string</replaceable></term>
 140                 <listitem>
 141                   <para>Prefix each output file name with the given
 142                     string.  This can be useful for encoding/decoding
 143                     files to a different directory.  Make sure if your
 144                     string is a path name that it ends with a trailing
 145                     `/' (slash).</para>
 146                 </listitem>
 147               </varlistentry>
 148
 149               <varlistentry>
 150                 <term><option>--delete-input-file</option>
 151                 </term>
 152                 <listitem>
 153                   <para>Automatically delete the input file after a
 154                     successful encode or decode.  If there was an
 155                     error (including a verify error) the input file
 156                     is left intact.</para>
 157                 </listitem>
 158               </varlistentry>
 159
 160               <varlistentry>
 161                 <term><option>--skip</option> <replaceable>samples</replaceable></term>
 162                 <listitem>
 163                   <para>Skip the specified number of samples at the
 164                     beginning of the input file (can be used for both
 165                     encoding and decoding)</para>
 166                 </listitem>
 167               </varlistentry>
 168
 169             </variablelist>
 170           </refsect2>
 171
 172           <refsect2>
 173             <title>Analysis Options</title>
 174
 175             <variablelist>
 176               <varlistentry>
 177                 <term><option>--a-rtext</option>
 178                 </term>
 179                 <listitem>
 180                   <para>Includes the residual signal in the analysis
 181                     file.  This will make the file very big, much
 182                     larger than even the decoded file.</para>
 183                 </listitem>
 184               </varlistentry>
 185
 186               <varlistentry>
 187                 <term><option>--a-rgp</option>
 188                 </term>
 189                 <listitem>
 190                   <para>Generates a gnuplot file for every subframe;
 191                     each file will contain the residual distribution
 192                     of the subframe.  This will create a lot of
 193                     files.</para>
 194                 </listitem>
 195               </varlistentry>
 196
 197             </variablelist>
 198           </refsect2>
 199
 200           <refsect2>
 201             <title>Encoding Options</title>
 202
 203             <variablelist>
 204               <varlistentry>
 205                 <term><option>--ogg</option></term>
 206
 207                 <listitem>
 208                   <para>When encoding, generate Ogg-FLAC output instead
 209                     of native-FLAC.  Ogg-FLAC streams are FLAC streams
 210                     wrapped in an Ogg transport layer.  The resulting
 211                     file should have an '.ogg' extension and will still
 212                     be decodable by flac.</para>
 213                   <para>When decoding, force the input to be treated as
 214                     Ogg-FLAC.  This is useful when piping input from
 215                     stdin or when the filename does not end in '.ogg'.</para>
 216                 </listitem>
 217               </varlistentry>
 218
 219               <varlistentry>
 220                 <term><option>--lax</option></term>
 221
 222                 <listitem>
 223                   <para>Allow encoder to generate non-Subset
 224                     files.</para>
 225                 </listitem>
 226               </varlistentry>
 227
 228               <varlistentry>
 229                 <term><option>--sector-align</option></term>
 230
 231                 <listitem>
 232                   <para>Align encoding of multiple CD format WAVE
 233                     files on sector boundaries.  See the HTML
 234                     documentation for more information.</para>
 235                 </listitem>
 236               </varlistentry>
 237
 238               <varlistentry>
 239                 <term><option>-S</option> <replaceable>{ # | X | #x }</replaceable></term>
 240
 241                 <listitem>
 242                   <para>
 243                     Include a point or points in a SEEKTABLE.  Using #,
 244                     a seek point at that sample number is added.  Using
 245                     X, a placeholder point is added at the end of a the
 246                     table.  Using #x, # evenly spaced seek points will
 247                     be added, the first being at sample 0.  You may use
 248                     many -S options; the resulting SEEKTABLE will be the
 249                     unique-ified union of all such values.  With no -S
 250                     options, flac defaults to '-S 100x'.  Use -S- for
 251                     no SEEKTABLE.  Note: '-S #x' will not work if the
 252                     encoder can't determine the input size before
 253                     starting.  Note: if you use '-S #' and # is >=
 254                     samples in the input, there will be either no seek
 255                     point entered (if the input size is determinable
 256                     before encoding starts) or a placeholder point (if
 257                     input size is not determinable).</para>
 258                 </listitem>
 259               </varlistentry>
 260
 261               <varlistentry>
 262                 <term><option>-P</option> <replaceable>bytes</replaceable></term>
 263
 264                 <listitem>
 265                   <para>Tell the encoder to write a PADDING metadata
 266                     block of the given length (in bytes) after the
 267                     STREAMINFO block.  This is useful if you plan to
 268                     tag the file later with an APPLICATION block;
 269                     instead of having to rewrite the entire file later
 270                     just to insert your block, you can write directly
 271                     over the PADDING block.  Note that the total length
 272                     of the PADDING block will be 4 bytes longer than
 273                     the length given because of the 4 metadata block
 274                     header bytes.  You can force no PADDING block at
 275                     all to be written with -P-, which is the default.
 276                     </para>
 277                 </listitem>
 278               </varlistentry>
 279
 280               <varlistentry>
 281                 <term><option>-b</option> <replaceable>blocksize</replaceable></term>
 282
 283                 <listitem>
 284                   <para>Default is 1152 for -l 0, else 4608; must be
 285                     192/576/1152/2304/4608/256/512/1024/2048/4096/8192/16384/32768
 286                     (unless --lax is used)</para>
 287                 </listitem>
 288               </varlistentry>
 289
 290               <varlistentry>
 291                 <term><option>-m</option></term>
 292
 293                 <listitem>
 294                   <para>Try mid-side coding for each frame (stereo
 295                     input only)</para>
 296                 </listitem>
 297               </varlistentry>
 298
 299               <varlistentry>
 300                 <term><option>-M</option></term>
 301
 302                 <listitem>
 303                   <para>Loose mid-side coding for all frames (stereo
 304                     input only)</para>
 305                 </listitem>
 306               </varlistentry>
 307
 308               <varlistentry>
 309                 <term><option>-0</option>..<option>-8</option></term>
 310
 311                 <listitem>
 312                   <para>Fastest compression..highest compression
 313                     (default is -5).  These are synonyms for other
 314                     options:</para>
 315
 316                   <variablelist>
 317                     <varlistentry>
 318                       <term><option>-0</option></term>
 319
 320                       <listitem>
 321                         <para>Synonymous with -l 0 -b 1152 -r 2,2
 322                           </para>
 323                       </listitem>
 324                     </varlistentry>
 325
 326                     <varlistentry>
 327                       <term><option>-1</option></term>
 328
 329                       <listitem>
 330                         <para>Synonymous with -l 0 -b 1152 -M -r 2,2
 331                           </para>
 332                       </listitem>
 333                     </varlistentry>
 334
 335                     <varlistentry>
 336                       <term><option>-2</option></term>
 337
 338                       <listitem>
 339                         <para>Synonymous with -l 0 -b 1152 -m -r 3
 340                           </para>
 341                       </listitem>
 342                     </varlistentry>
 343
 344                     <varlistentry>
 345                       <term><option>-3</option></term>
 346
 347                       <listitem>
 348                         <para>Synonymous with -l 6 -b 4608 -r 3,3
 349                           </para>
 350                       </listitem>
 351                     </varlistentry>
 352
 353                     <varlistentry>
 354                       <term><option>-4</option></term>
 355
 356                       <listitem>
 357                         <para>Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4608 -M -r 3,3
 358                           </para>
 359                       </listitem>
 360                     </varlistentry>
 361
 362                     <varlistentry>
 363                       <term><option>-5</option></term>
 364
 365                       <listitem>
 366                         <para>Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4608 -m -r 3,3
 367                           </para>
 368                       </listitem>
 369                     </varlistentry>
 370
 371                     <varlistentry>
 372                       <term><option>-6</option></term>
 373
 374                       <listitem>
 375                         <para>Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4608 -m -r 4
 376                           </para>
 377                       </listitem>
 378                     </varlistentry>
 379
 380                     <varlistentry>
 381                       <term><option>-7</option></term>
 382
 383                       <listitem>
 384                         <para>Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4608 -m -e -r 6
 385                           </para>
 386                       </listitem>
 387                     </varlistentry>
 388
 389                     <varlistentry>
 390                       <term><option>-8</option></term>
 391
 392                       <listitem>
 393                         <para>Synonymous with -l 12 -b 4608 -m -e -r 6
 394                           </para>
 395                       </listitem>
 396                     </varlistentry>
 397                   </variablelist>
 398
 399                 </listitem>
 400
 401
 402               </varlistentry>
 403
 404               <varlistentry>
 405                 <term><option>--fast</option></term>
 406
 407                 <listitem>
 408                   <para>Fastest compression.  Currently
 409                     synonymous with -0.</para>
 410                 </listitem>
 411               </varlistentry>
 412
 413               <varlistentry>
 414                 <term><option>--best</option></term>
 415
 416                 <listitem>
 417                   <para>Highest compression.  Currently
 418                     synonymous with -8.</para>
 419                 </listitem>
 420               </varlistentry>
 421
 422               <varlistentry>
 423                 <term><option>-e</option></term>
 424
 425                 <listitem>
 426                   <para>Do exhaustive model search
 427                     (expensive!)</para>
 428                 </listitem>
 429               </varlistentry>
 430
 431               <varlistentry>
 432                 <term><option>-E</option></term>
 433
 434                 <listitem>
 435                   <para>Do escape coding in the entropy coder.  This
 436                     causes the encoder to use an unencoded representation
 437                     of the residual in a partition if it is smaller.  It
 438                     increases the runtime and usually results in an
 439                     improvement of less than 1%.</para>
 440                 </listitem>
 441               </varlistentry>
 442
 443               <varlistentry>
 444                 <term><option>-l</option> <replaceable>max_lpc_order</replaceable></term>
 445
 446                 <listitem>
 447                   <para>0 => use only fixed predictors</para>
 448                 </listitem>
 449               </varlistentry>
 450
 451               <varlistentry>
 452                 <term><option>-p</option></term>
 453
 454                 <listitem>
 455                   <para>Do exhaustive search of LP coefficient
 456                     quantization (expensive!).  Overrides -q,
 457                     does nothing if using -l 0</para>
 458                 </listitem>
 459               </varlistentry>
 460
 461               <varlistentry>
 462                 <term><option>-q</option> <replaceable>bits</replaceable></term>
 463
 464                 <listitem>
 465                   <para>Precision of the quantized linear-predictor
 466                     coefficients, 0 => let encoder decide (min is 5,
 467                     default is 0)</para>
 468                 </listitem>
 469               </varlistentry>
 470
 471               <varlistentry>
 472                 <term><option>-r</option> <replaceable>[level,]level</replaceable></term>
 473
 474                 <listitem>
 475                   <para>Set the [min,]max residual partition order
 476                     (0..16). min defaults to 0 if unspecified.  Default
 477                     is -r 3,3.</para>
 478                 </listitem>
 479               </varlistentry>
 480
 481               <varlistentry>
 482                 <term><option>-R</option> <replaceable>#</replaceable></term>
 483
 484                 <listitem>
 485                   <para>Set the Rice parameter search distance.
 486                     Default is 0.</para>
 487                 </listitem>
 488               </varlistentry>
 489
 490               <varlistentry>
 491                 <term><option>-V</option></term>
 492
 493                 <listitem>
 494                   <para>Verify a correct encoding by decoding the
 495                     output in parallel and comparing to the
 496                     original</para>
 497                 </listitem>
 498               </varlistentry>
 499
 500               <varlistentry>
 501                 <term><option>-S-</option> <option>-P-</option> <option>-m-</option> <option>-M-</option> <option>-e-</option> <option>-E-</option> <option>-p-</option> <option>-V-</option> <option>--delete-input-file-</option> <option>--lax-</option> <option>--ogg-</option>
 502                 </term>
 503
 504                 <listitem>
 505                   <para>These flags can be used to invert the sense
 506                     of the corresponding normal option.</para>
 507                 </listitem>
 508               </varlistentry>
 509             </variablelist>
 510
 511           </refsect2>
 512           <refsect2>
 513             <title>Format Options</title>
 514
 515             <variablelist>
 516               <varlistentry>
 517                 <term><option>-fb</option></term>
 518
 519                 <listitem>
 520                   <para>Big-endian byte order</para>
 521                 </listitem>
 522               </varlistentry>
 523
 524               <varlistentry>
 525                 <term><option>-fl</option></term>
 526
 527                 <listitem>
 528                   <para>Little-endian byte order</para>
 529                 </listitem>
 530               </varlistentry>
 531
 532               <varlistentry>
 533                 <term><option>-fc</option>
 534                   <replaceable>channels</replaceable></term>
 535
 536                 <listitem>
 537                   <para>Set number of channels.</para>
 538                 </listitem>
 539               </varlistentry>
 540
 541               <varlistentry>
 542                 <term><option>-fp</option>
 543                   <replaceable>bits_per_sample</replaceable></term>
 544
 545                 <listitem>
 546                   <para>Set bits per sample.</para>
 547                 </listitem>
 548               </varlistentry>
 549
 550               <varlistentry>
 551                 <term><option>-fs</option>
 552                   <replaceable>sample_rate</replaceable></term>
 553
 554                 <listitem>
 555                   <para>Set sample rate (in Hz).</para>
 556                 </listitem>
 557               </varlistentry>
 558
 559               <varlistentry>
 560                 <term><option>-fu</option></term>
 561
 562                 <listitem>
 563                   <para>Unsigned samples (default is signed)</para>
 564                 </listitem>
 565               </varlistentry>
 566
 567               <varlistentry>
 568                 <term><option>-fr</option></term>
 569
 570                 <listitem>
 571                   <para>Force to raw format (even if filename ends
 572                     in <filename>.wav</filename>).</para>
 573                 </listitem>
 574               </varlistentry>
 575
 576             </variablelist>
 577           </refsect2>
 578
 579         </refsect1>
 580           <refsect1>
 581             <title>SEE ALSO</title>
 582
 583             <para>The programs are documented fully by HTML format
 584               documentation, available in
 585               <filename>/usr/share/doc/flac/html</filename> on
 586                 &debian; systems.</para>
 587           </refsect1>
 588           <refsect1>
 589             <title>AUTHOR</title>
 590
 591             <para>This manual page was written by &dhusername; &dhemail; for
 592               the &debian; system (but may be used by others).</para>
 593
 594             <!-- <para>Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify
 595             this document under the terms of the <acronym>GNU</acronym> Free
 596             Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version
 597             published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant
 598             Sections, no Front-Cover Texts and no Back-Cover Texts.  A copy
 599             of the license can be found under
 600           <filename>/usr/share/common-licenses/FDL</filename>.</para> -->
 601
 602         </refsect1>
 603       </refentry>
 604
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