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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.

       --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.
	      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
	      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

	      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.

	      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
	      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, blackman_har‐
	      ris_4term_92db, connes, flattop, gauss(STDDEV),  hamming,	 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).

       --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

       --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/share/doc/flac/html on Debian GNU/Linux systems.

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

			       14 September 2007		       FLAC(1)
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