User Commands FLAC(1)
NAME
flac - Free Lossless Audio Codec
SYNOPSIS
flac [ OPTIONS ] [ infile.wav infile.aiff infile.raw
infile.flac infile.oga infile.ogg - ... ]
flac [ -d --decode -t --test -a --analyze ] [
OPTIONS ] [ infile.flac infile.oga infile.ogg - ... ]
DESCRIPTION
flac is a command-line tool for encoding, decoding, testing
and analyzing FLAC streams.
OPTIONS
A summary of options is included below. For a complete
description, see the HTML documentation.
GENERAL OPTIONS
-v, --version
Show the flac version number
-h, --help
Show basic usage and a list of all options
-H, --explain
Show detailed explanation of usage and all options
-d, --decode
Decode (the default behavior is to encode)
-t, --test
Test a flac encoded file (same as -d except no decoded
file is written)
-a, --analyze
Analyze a FLAC encoded file (same as -d except an
analysis file is written)
-c, --stdout
Write output to stdout
-s, --silent
Silent mode (do not write runtime encode/decode statis-
tics to stderr)
--totally-silent
Do not print anything of any kind, including warnings
or errors. The exit code will be the only way to
determine successful completion.
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--no-utf8-convert
Do not convert tags from local charset to UTF-8. This
is useful for scripts, and setting tags in situations
where the locale is wrong. This option must appear
before any tag options!
-w, --warnings-as-errors
Treat all warnings as errors (which cause flac to ter-
minate with a non-zero exit code).
-f, --force
Force overwriting of output files. By default, flac
warns that the output file already exists and continues
to the next file.
-o filename, --output-name=filename
Force the output file name (usually flac just changes
the extension). May only be used when encoding a sin-
gle file. May not be used in conjunction with --
output-prefix.
--output-prefix=string
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).
--delete-input-file
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.
--keep-foreign-metadata
If encoding, save WAVE or AIF non-audio chunks in FLAC
metadata. If decoding, restore any saved non-audio
chunks from FLAC metadata when writing the decoded
file. Foreign metadata cannot be transcoded, e.g. WAVE
chunks saved in a FLAC file cannot be restored when
decoding to AIF. Input and output must be regular
files (not stdin or stdout).
--skip={#mm:ss.ss}
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.
--until={#[]-]mm:ss.ss}
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
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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.
--ogg
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 '.oga' 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 '.oga' or '.ogg'.
--serial-number=#
When used with --ogg, specifies the serial number to
use for the first Ogg FLAC stream, which is then incre-
mented for each additional stream. When encoding and
no serial number is given, flac uses a random number
for the first stream, then increments it for each addi-
tional stream. When decoding and no number is given,
flac uses the serial number of the first page.
ANALYSIS OPTIONS
--residual-text
Includes the residual signal in the analysis file.
This will make the file very big, much larger than even
the decoded file.
--residual-gnuplot
Generates a gnuplot file for every subframe; each file
will contain the residual distribution of the subframe.
This will create a lot of files.
DECODING OPTIONS
--cue=[#.#][-[#.#]
Set the beginning and ending cuepoints to decode. The
optional first #.# is the track and index point at
which decoding will start; the default is the beginning
of the stream. The optional second #.# is the track
and index point at which decoding will end; the default
is the end of the stream. If the cuepoint does not
exist, the closest one before it (for the start point)
or after it (for the end point) will be used. If those
don't exist, the start of the stream (for the start
point) or end of the stream (for the end point) will be
used. The cuepoints are merely translated into sample
numbers then used as --skip and --until. A CD track
can always be cued by, for example, --cue=9.1-10.1 for
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track 9, even if the CD has no 10th track.
-F, --decode-through-errors
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.
ENCODING OPTIONS
-V, --verify
Verify a correct encoding by decoding the output in
parallel and comparing to the original
--lax
Allow encoder to generate non-Subset files. The
resulting FLAC file may not be streamable or might have
trouble being played in all players (especially
hardware devices), so you should only use this option
in combination with custom encoding options meant for
archival.
--replay-gain
Calculate ReplayGain values and store them as FLAC
tags, 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 PADING 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).
--cuesheet=filename
Import the given cuesheet file and store it in a
CUESHET 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 SEKTABLE
unless --no-cued-seekpoints is specified.
--picture={FILENAMESPECIFICATION}
Import a picture and store it in a PICTURE metadata
block. More than one --picture command can be speci-
fied. Either a filename for the picture file or a more
complete specification form can be used. The SPECIFI-
CATION is a string whose parts are separated by
(pipe) characters. Some parts may be left empty to
invoke default values. FILENAME is just shorthand for
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"FILENAME". The format of SPECIFICATION is
[TYPE][MIME-
TYPE][DESCRIPTION][WIDTHxHEIGHTxDEPTH[/COLORS]FILE
TYPE is optional; it is a number from one of:
0: Other
1: 32x32 pixels 'file icon' (PNG only)
2: Other file icon
3: Cover (front)
4: Cover (back)
5: Leaflet page
6: Media (e.g. label side of CD)
7: Lead artist/lead performer/soloist
8: Artist/performer
9: Conductor
10: Band/Orchestra
11: Composer
12: Lyricist/text writer
13: Recording Location
14: During recording
15: During performance
16: Movie/video screen capture
17: A bright coloured fish
18: Illustration
19: Band/artist logotype
20: Publisher/Studio logotype
The default is 3 (front cover). There may only be one
picture each of type 1 and 2 in a file.
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MIME-TYPE is optional; if left blank, it will be
detected from the file. For best compatibility with
players, use pictures with MIME type image/jpeg or
image/png. The MIME type can also be --> to mean that
FILE is actually a URL to an image, though this use is
discouraged.
DESCRIPTION is optional; the default is an empty
string.
The next part specfies the resolution and color infor-
mation. If the MIME-TYPE is image/jpeg, image/png, or
image/gif, you can usually leave this empty and they
can be detected from the file. Otherwise, you must
specify the width in pixels, height in pixels, and
color depth in bits-per-pixel. If the image has
indexed colors you should also specify the number of
colors used. When manually specified, it is not
checked against the file for accuracy.
FILE is the path to the picture file to be imported, or
the URL if MIME type is -->
For example, "image/jpeg../cover.jpg" will embed
the JPEG file at ../cover.jpg, defaulting to type 3
(front cover) and an empty description. The resolution
and color info will be retrieved from the file itself.
The specification "4--
>CD320x300x24/173http:/blah.blah/backcover.tiff"
will embed the given URL, with type 4 (back cover),
description "CD", and a manually specified resolution
of 320x300, 24 bits-per-pixel, and 173 colors. The
file at the URL will not be fetched; the URL itself is
stored in the PICTURE metadata block.
--sector-align
Align encoding of multiple CD format files on sector
boundaries. See the HTML documentation for more infor-
mation.
-S {#X#x#s}, --seekpoint={#X#x#s}
Include a point or points in a SEKTABLE. 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 SEKTABLE will be the unique-
ified union of all such values. With no -S options,
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flac defaults to '-S 10s'. Use --no-seektable for no
SEKTABLE. 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).
-P #, --padding=#
Tell the encoder to write a PADING 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 APLICATION block; instead of having to rewrite the
entire file later just to insert your block, you can
write directly over the PADING block. Note that the
total length of the PADING block will be 4 bytes
longer than the length given because of the 4 metadata
block header bytes. You can force no PADING block at
all to be written with --no-padding. The encoder
writes a PADING block of 8192 bytes by default (or
65536 bytes if the input audio stream is more that 20
minutes long).
-T FIELD=VALUE, --tag=FIELD=VALUE
Add a FLAC tag. 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.
--tag-from-file=FIELD=FILENAME
Like --tag, except FILENAME is a file whose contents
will be read verbatim to set the tag value. The con-
tents will be converted to UTF-8 from the local char-
set. This can be used to store a cuesheet in a tag
(e.g. --tag-from-file="CUESHET=image.cue"). Do not
try to store binary data in tag fields! Use APLICA-
TION blocks for that.
-b #, --blocksize=#
Specify the block size in samples. Subset streams must
use one of 192, 576, 1152, 2304, 4608, 256, 512, 1024,
2048, 4096 (and 8192 or 16384 if the sample rate is
>48kHz).
-m, --mid-side
Try mid-side coding for each frame (stereo input only)
-M, --adaptive-mid-side
Adaptive mid-side coding for all frames (stereo input
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only)
-0..-8, --compression-level-0..--compression-level-8
Fastest compression..highest compression (default is
-5). These are synonyms for other options:
-0, --compression-level-0
Synonymous with -l 0 -b 1152 -r 3
-1, --compression-level-1
Synonymous with -l 0 -b 1152 -M -r 3
-2, --compression-level-2
Synonymous with -l 0 -b 1152 -m -r 3
-3, --compression-level-3
Synonymous with -l 6 -b 4096 -r 4
-4, --compression-level-4
Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4096 -M -r 4
-5, --compression-level-5
Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4096 -m -r 5
-6, --compression-level-6
Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4096 -m -r 6
-7, --compression-level-7
Synonymous with -l 8 -b 4096 -m -e -r 6
-8, --compression-level-8
Synonymous with -l 12 -b 4096 -m -e -r 6
--fast
Fastest compression. Currently synonymous with -0.
--best
Highest compression. Currently synonymous with -8.
-e, --exhaustive-model-search
Do exhaustive model search (expensive!)
-A function, --apodization=function
Window audio data with given the apodization function.
The functions are: bartlett, bartletthann, blackman,
blackmanharris4term92db, connes, flattop,
gauss(STDEV), hamming, hann, kaiserbessel, nuttall,
rectangle, triangle, tukey(P), welch.
For gauss(STDEV), STDEV is the standard deviation
(0 let encoder decide (min is 5, default is
0)
-r [#,]#, --rice-partition-order=[#,]#
Set the [min,]max residual partition order (0..16). min
defaults to 0 if unspecified. Default is -r 5.
FORMAT OPTIONS
--endian={biglittle}
Set the byte order for samples
--channels=#
Set number of channels.
--bps=#
Set bits per sample.
--sample-rate=#
Set sample rate (in Hz).
--sign={signedunsigned}
Set the sign of samples (the default is signed).
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--input-size=#
Specify the size of the raw input in bytes. If you are
encoding raw samples from stdin, you must set this
option in order to be able to use --skip, --until, --
cue-sheet, or other options that need to know the size
of the input beforehand. If the size given is greater
than what is found in the input stream, the encoder
will complain about an unexpected end-of-file. If the
size given is less, samples will be truncated.
--force-aiff-format
Force the decoder to output AIF format. This option
is not needed if the output filename (as set by -o)
ends with .aiff. Also, this option has no effect when
encoding since input AIF is auto-detected.
--force-raw-format
Force input (when encoding) or output (when decoding)
to be treated as raw samples (even if filename ends in
.wav).
NEGATIVE OPTIONS
--no-adaptive-mid-side
--no-decode-through-errors
--no-delete-input-file
--no-exhaustive-model-search
--no-lax
--no-mid-side
--no-ogg
--no-padding
--no-qlp-coeff-precision-search
--no-residual-gnuplot
--no-residual-text
--no-sector-align
--no-seektable
--no-silent
--no-verify
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--no-warnings-as-errors
These flags can be used to invert the sense of the
corresponding normal option.
SEE ALSO
metaflac(1).
The programs are documented fully by HTML format documenta-
tion, available in /usr/share/doc/flac/html on Debian
GNU/Linux systems.
AUTHOR
This manual page was written by Matt Zimmerman
for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be
used by others).
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