Contents
Installed Program:
faac
Installed Libraries:
libfaac.so and libmp4v2.so
Installed Directories:
None
FAAC 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 12.2 platform.
Download (HTTP): https://github.com/knik0/faac/archive/1_30/faac-1_30.tar.gz
Download MD5 sum: 8d61e6d55088e599aa91532d5e6995b0
Download size: 240 KB
Estimated disk space required: 4.7 MB
Estimated build time: less than 0.1 SBU
Install 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-1.2.12 package:
./frontend/faac -o Front_Left.mp4 /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Left.wav
Then, decode the result using the faad program from the FAAD2-2.11.1 package and play back the decoded file (requires the aplay program from the alsa-utils-1.2.12 package:
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, as the root user:
make install
--disable-static: This
switch prevents installation of static versions of the libraries.
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.