


FLAC(1)                                                   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 analyz-
       ing 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 statistics 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 com-
              pletion.





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FLAC(1)                                                   FLAC(1)


       --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 terminate 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 exten-
              sion).   May  only be used when encoding a single 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 AIFF non-audio chunks in FLAC meta-
              data.  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 AIFF.  Input and output must be regu-
              lar 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 alterna-
              tive 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 sam-
              ple  number is not included in the decoded output.  The alterna-
              tive form mm:ss.ss can be used to specify minutes, seconds,  and
              fractions  of  a  second.  If a `+' (plus) sign is at the begin-
              ning, the --until point is relative to the --skip point.   If  a
              `-' (minus) sign is at the beginning, the --until point is rela-
              tive to end of the audio.

       --ogg  When encoding, generate Ogg FLAC output instead of native  FLAC.



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FLAC(1)                                                   FLAC(1)


              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 incremented for each  addi-
              tional  stream.   When  encoding  and no serial number is given,
              flac uses a random number for the first stream, then  increments
              it  for  each additional 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 con-
              tain  the residual distribution of the subframe.  This will cre-
              ate 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 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



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FLAC(1)                                                   FLAC(1)


              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 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).

       --cuesheet=filename
              Import the given cuesheet file and store it in a CUESHEET  meta-
              data 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 speci-
              fied.

       --picture={FILENAME|SPECIFICATION}
              Import a picture and store it in a PICTURE metadata block.  More
              than  one --picture command can be specified.  Either a filename
              for the picture file or a more complete specification  form  can
              be  used.   The  SPECIFICATION is a string whose parts are sepa-
              rated by | (pipe) characters.  Some parts may be left  empty  to
              invoke   default   values.    FILENAME  is  just  shorthand  for
              "||||FILENAME".  The format of SPECIFICATION is

              [TYPE]|[MIME-TYPE]|[DESCRIPTION]|[WIDTHxHEIGHTxDEPTH[/COL-
              ORS]]|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



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FLAC(1)                                                   FLAC(1)


              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.

              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 information.  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 pix-
              els, 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.




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FLAC(1)                                                   FLAC(1)


              The                                                specification
              "4|-->|CD|320x300x24/173|http://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 information.

       -S {#|X|#x|#s}, --seekpoint={#|X|#x|#s}
              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-seek-
              table 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).

       -P #, --padding=#
              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.  The encoder writes a PADDING 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,  termi-
              nated  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 contents will  be  con-
              verted  to  UTF-8  from  the local charset.  This can be used to
              store   a    cuesheet    in    a    tag    (e.g.     --tag-from-
              file="CUESHEET=image.cue").   Do not try to store binary data in



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FLAC(1)                                                   FLAC(1)


              tag fields!  Use APPLICATION 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 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,     bartlett_hann,     blackman,



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FLAC(1)                                                   FLAC(1)


              blackman_harris_4term_92db, connes, flattop, gauss(STDDEV), ham-
              ming,  hann,  kaiser_bessel,   nuttall,   rectangle,   triangle,
              tukey(P), welch.

              For  gauss(STDDEV),  STDDEV  is  the  standard deviation (0<STD-
              DEV<=0.5).

              For tukey(P), P specifies the fraction of  the  window  that  is
              tapered  (0<=P<=1; P=0 corresponds to "rectangle" and P=1 corre-
              sponds to "hann").

              More than one -A option (up to 32) may be  used.   Any  function
              that  is specified erroneously is silently dropped.  The encoder
              chooses suitable defaults in the absence of any -A options;  any
              -A option specified replaces the default(s).

              When  more  than  one function is specified, then for every sub-
              frame the encoder will try each of them  separately  and  choose
              the  window  that  results  in the smallest compressed subframe.
              Multiple functions can greatly increase the encoding time.

       -l #, --max-lpc-order=#
              Specifies the maximum LPC order. This number must be <= 32.  For
              Subset  streams,  it must be <=12 if the sample rate is <=48kHz.
              If 0, the encoder will not attempt  generic  linear  prediction,
              and  use only fixed predictors. Using fixed predictors is faster
              but usually results in files being 5-10% larger.

       -p, --qlp-coeff-precision-search
              Do exhaustive search  of  LP  coefficient  quantization  (expen-
              sive!).  Overrides -q; does nothing if using -l 0

       -q #, --qlp-coeff-precision=#
              Precision  of  the quantized linear-predictor coefficients, 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={big|little}
              Set the byte order for samples

       --channels=#
              Set number of channels.

       --bps=#
              Set bits per sample.

       --sample-rate=#
              Set sample rate (in Hz).





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FLAC(1)                                                   FLAC(1)


       --sign={signed|unsigned}
              Set the sign of samples (the default is signed).

       --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 AIFF 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 AIFF
              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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FLAC(1)                                                   FLAC(1)


       --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 documentation,  avail-
       able in /usr/local/share/doc/flac/html.

AUTHOR
       This manual page was written by Matt Zimmerman <mdz@debian.org> for the
       Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).












































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