RE: Set Compression Options to 256 kbps VBR

Fred,

 

As I recall the bit rate setting in the drop down box is not really a setting, but is used to estimate the length of time extraction will take.  Am I wrong here?  

 

Mike

 

 

 

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2018 5:50 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [EAC] Set Compression Options to 256 kbps VBR

 

  

On Oct 15, 2018, at 4:45 PM, [email protected] [EAC] <[email protected]> wrote:

I would like to change the compression options to 256 kbps VBR but when I select that bitrate, I still get files around the average of 192.

Are you saying that you want to specify VBR with a maximum bitrate of 256kbps, or do you really want to specify an average bitrate (ABR)?  If it’s the latter, look at the “—ABR” option below.





I don't see any option to select VBR

There isn’t one.

 

and I am not familiar with creating a command line on my own. 

Then let’s start there, since that’s a basic skill everyone who uses a computer should have..  Here are the options for LAME:

 

Freds-iMac-Pro-3:~ Fred$ lame --longhelp

LAME 64bits version 3.100 (http://lame.sf.net)

 

usage: lame [options] <infile> [outfile]

 

    <infile> and/or <outfile> can be "-", which means stdin/stdout.

 

RECOMMENDED:

    lame -V2 input.wav output.mp3

 

OPTIONS:

  Input options:

    --scale <arg>   scale input (multiply PCM data) by <arg>

    --scale-l <arg> scale channel 0 (left) input (multiply PCM data) by <arg>

    --scale-r <arg> scale channel 1 (right) input (multiply PCM data) by <arg>

    --swap-channel  swap L/R channels

    --ignorelength  ignore file length in WAV header

    --gain <arg>    apply Gain adjustment in decibels, range -20.0 to +12.0

    --mp1input      input file is a MPEG Layer I   file

    --mp2input      input file is a MPEG Layer II  file

    --mp3input      input file is a MPEG Layer III file

    --nogap <file1> <file2> <...>

                    gapless encoding for a set of contiguous files

    --nogapout <dir>

                    output dir for gapless encoding (must precede --nogap)

    --nogaptags     allow the use of VBR tags in gapless encoding

    --out-dir <dir> output dir, must exist

 

  Input options for RAW PCM:

    -r              input is raw pcm

    -s sfreq        sampling frequency of input file (kHz) - default 44.1 kHz

    --signed        input is signed (default)

    --unsigned      input is unsigned

    --bitwidth w    input bit width is w (default 16)

    -x              force byte-swapping of input

    --little-endian input is little-endian (default)

    --big-endian    input is big-endian

    -a              downmix from stereo to mono file for mono encoding

 

 

  Operational options:

    -m <mode>       (j)oint, (s)imple, (f)orce, (d)ual-mono, (m)ono (l)eft (r)ight

                    default is (j)

                    joint  = Uses the best possible of MS and LR stereo

                    simple = force LR stereo on all frames

                    force  = force MS stereo on all frames.

    --preset type   type must be "medium", "standard", "extreme", "insane",

                    or a value for an average desired bitrate and depending

                    on the value specified, appropriate quality settings will

                    be used.

                    "--preset help" gives more info on these

    --comp  <arg>   choose bitrate to achieve a compression ratio of <arg>

    --replaygain-fast   compute RG fast but slightly inaccurately (default)

    --replaygain-accurate   compute RG more accurately and find the peak sample

    --noreplaygain  disable ReplayGain analysis

    --clipdetect    enable --replaygain-accurate and print a message whether

                    clipping occurs and how far the waveform is from full scale

    --flush         flush output stream as soon as possible

    --freeformat    produce a free format bitstream

    --decode        input=mp3 file, output=wav

    -t              disable writing wav header when using --decode

 

 

  Verbosity:

    --disptime <arg>print progress report every arg seconds

    -S              don't print progress report, VBR histograms

    --nohist        disable VBR histogram display

    --quiet         don't print anything on screen

    --silent        don't print anything on screen, but fatal errors

    --brief         print more useful information

    --verbose       print a lot of useful information

 

  Noise shaping & psycho acoustic algorithms:

    -q <arg>        <arg> = 0...9.  Default  -q 3 

                    -q 0:  Highest quality, very slow 

                    -q 9:  Poor quality, but fast 

    -h              Same as -q 2.   

    -f              Same as -q 7.   Fast, ok quality

 

 

  CBR (constant bitrate, the default) options:

    -b <bitrate>    set the bitrate in kbps, default 128 kbps

    --cbr           enforce use of constant bitrate

 

  ABR options:

    --abr <bitrate> specify average bitrate desired (instead of quality)

 

  VBR options:

    -V n            quality setting for VBR.  default n=4

                    0=high quality,bigger files. 9=smaller files

    -v              the same as -V 4

    --vbr-old       use old variable bitrate (VBR) routine

    --vbr-new       use new variable bitrate (VBR) routine (default)

    -Y              lets LAME ignore noise in sfb21, like in CBR

                    (Default for V3 to V9.999)

    -b <bitrate>    specify minimum allowed bitrate, default  32 kbps

    -B <bitrate>    specify maximum allowed bitrate, default 320 kbps

    -F              strictly enforce the -b option, for use with players that

                    do not support low bitrate mp3

    -t              disable writing LAME Tag

    -T              enable and force writing LAME Tag

 

 

  MP3 header/stream options:

    -e <emp>        de-emphasis n/5/c  (obsolete)

    -c              mark as copyright

    -o              mark as non-original

    -p              error protection.  adds 16 bit checksum to every frame

                    (the checksum is computed correctly)

    --nores         disable the bit reservoir

    --strictly-enforce-ISO   comply as much as possible to ISO MPEG spec

    --buffer-constraint <constraint> available values for constraint:

                                     default, strict, maximum

 

  Filter options:

  --lowpass <freq>        frequency(kHz), lowpass filter cutoff above freq

  --lowpass-width <freq>  frequency(kHz) - default 15% of lowpass freq

  --highpass <freq>       frequency(kHz), highpass filter cutoff below freq

  --highpass-width <freq> frequency(kHz) - default 15% of highpass freq

  --resample <sfreq>  sampling frequency of output file(kHz)- default=automatic

 

 

  ID3 tag options:

    --tt <title>    audio/song title (max 30 chars for version 1 tag)

    --ta <artist>   audio/song artist (max 30 chars for version 1 tag)

    --tl <album>    audio/song album (max 30 chars for version 1 tag)

    --ty <year>     audio/song year of issue (1 to 9999)

    --tc <comment>  user-defined text (max 30 chars for v1 tag, 28 for v1.1)

    --tn <track[/total]>   audio/song track number and (optionally) the total

                           number of tracks on the original recording. (track

                           and total each 1 to 255. just the track number

                           creates v1.1 tag, providing a total forces v2.0)..

    --tg <genre>    audio/song genre (name or number in list)

    --ti <file>     audio/song albumArt (jpeg/png/gif file, v2.3 tag)

    --tv <id=value> user-defined frame specified by id and value (v2.3 tag)

                    syntax: --tv "TXXX=description=content"

    --add-id3v2     force addition of version 2 tag

    --id3v1-only    add only a version 1 tag

    --id3v2-only    add only a version 2 tag

    --id3v2-utf16   add following options in unicode text encoding

    --id3v2-latin1  add following options in latin-1 text encoding

    --space-id3v1   pad version 1 tag with spaces instead of nulls

    --pad-id3v2     same as '--pad-id3v2-size 128'

    --pad-id3v2-size <value> adds version 2 tag, pad with extra <value> bytes

    --genre-list    print alphabetically sorted ID3 genre list and exit

    --ignore-tag-errors  ignore errors in values passed for tags

 

    Note: A version 2 tag will NOT be added unless one of the input fields

    won't fit in a version 1 tag (e.g. the title string is longer than 30

    characters), or the '--add-id3v2' or '--id3v2-only' options are used,

    or output is redirected to stdout.

 

Misc:

    --license       print License information

 

 

MPEG-1   layer III sample frequencies (kHz):  32  48  44.1

bitrates (kbps): 32 40 48 56 64 80 96 112 128 160 192 224 256 320

 

MPEG-2   layer III sample frequencies (kHz):  16  24  22.05

bitrates (kbps):  8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 80 96 112 128 144 160

 

MPEG-2.5 layer III sample frequencies (kHz):   8  12  11.025

bitrates (kbps):  8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64

 

Your command line should be constructed with those options shown above that you wish to use.

 

I attached a picture of my current settings. The additional command line is the one that was already set in there when I downloaded it. 

Your image cuts off the command line options. But your command line options are overriding your drop-down selection.  Specifically, if the quality selected is low, then the parameter passed is “-V 5” and if it’s high quality, then the parameter is “-V 2.”  That’s VBR based on quality settings ranging from 0-9. (as you can see above: "0=high quality,bigger files. 9=smaller files."

 

So, come up with a command line that you think should work and give it a try.  If you have problems or need additional help, post the command line here and explain what problems you’re seeing.  We’ll be happy to help.

 

Regards,

  Fred Maxwell
  Moderator, Exact Audio Copy Yahoogroup