Contents
Installed Program: faac
Installed Libraries: libfaac.so and libmp4v2.so
Installed Directories: None
The faac application is an encoder for a lossy sound compression scheme specified in MPEG-2 Part 7 and MPEG-4 Part 3 standards and known as Advanced Audio Coding (AAC). This encoder is useful for producing files that can be played back on an iPod. Moreover, the iPod does not understand other sound compression schemes used in video files.
This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS 12.4 platform.
Download (HTTP): https://github.com/lfs-book/faac/archive/v1.31.1/faac-1.31.1.tar.gz
Download SHA256 Sum: 24f9ca44d75eca534b27671b129e6cb2d718a8be63cc476a0d0d745ad5d1299e
Download MD5 sum: f9eeff03ad4a27a4973fe728ab065924
Download size: 851.5 KB
Estimated disk space required: 6,321.2 KB
Estimated build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Prepare faac by running the following commands:
./bootstrap ./configure --prefix=/usr --disable-static
make
This package does not come with a test suite. However, basic functionality can be tested by encoding a sample WAV file (the sample file is installed by the Alsa-Utils package. Then, decode the result using the faad program and play back the decoded file aplay issue the following commands:
./frontend/faac -o Front_Left.mp4 /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Left.wav faad Front_Left.mp4 aplay Front_Left.wav
aplay should identify the file as
Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Stereo, and
you should hear the words “front left.”
Now Install the package, as the root user:
make install
The quality of faac is not up to par with the best AAC encoders currently available. Also, it only supports AAC and not High Efficiency AAC (also known as aacPlus), which provides better quality at low bitrates by means of using the “spectral band replication” technology. One example of an alternative program for producing AAC and HE-AAC streams is:
3GPP
Enhanced aacPlus general audio codec:
available in the source form, can encode only HE-AAC up to 48 kbps
out of the box, but the maximum bitrate can be changed by editing
the tuning table in the
FloatFR_sbrenclib/src/sbr_main.c file.
Note, however, that the iPod supports only the Low Complexity AAC profile, which is the default in faac, but is completely unavailable in the 3GPP encoder.