
qaac 2.71
Usage: qaac [options] infiles....

"-" as infile means stdin.
On ADTS/WAV output mode, "-" as outfile means stdout.

Main options:
--formats              Show available AAC formats and exit
-a, --abr <bitrate>    AAC ABR mode / bitrate
-V, --tvbr <n>         AAC True VBR mode / quality [0-127]
-v, --cvbr <bitrate>   AAC Constrained VBR mode / bitrate
-c, --cbr <bitrate>    AAC CBR mode / bitrate
                       For -a, -v, -c, "0" as bitrate means "highest".
                       Highest bitrate available is automatically chosen.
                       For LC, default is -V90
                       For HE, default is -v0
--he                   HE AAC mode (TVBR is not available)
-q, --quality <n>      AAC encoding Quality [0-2]
--adts                 ADTS output (AAC only)
--no-smart-padding     Don't apply smart padding for gapless playback.
                       By default, beginning and ending of input is
                       extrapolated to achieve smooth transition between
                       songs. This option also works as a workaround for
                       bug of CoreAudio HE-AAC encoder that stops encoding
                       1 frame too early.
                       Setting this option can lead to gapless playback
                       issue especially on HE-AAC.
                       However, resulting bitstream will be identical with
                       iTunes only when this option is set.
-d <dirname>           Output directory. Default is current working dir.
--check                Show library versions and exit.
-A, --alac             ALAC encoding mode
-D, --decode           Decode to a WAV file.
--caf                  Output to CAF file instead of M4A/WAV/AAC.
--play                 Decode to a WaveOut device (playback).
-r, --rate <keep|auto|n>
                       keep: output sampling rate will be same as input
                             if possible.
                       auto: output sampling rate will be automatically
                             chosen by encoder.
                       n: desired output sampling rate in Hz.
--lowpass <number>     Specify lowpass filter cut-off frequency in Hz.
                       Use this when you want lower cut-off than
                       Apple default.
-b, --bits-per-sample <n>
                       Bits per sample of output (for WAV/ALAC only)
--no-dither            Turn off dither when quantizing to lower bit depth.
--peak                 Scan + print peak (don't generate output file).
                       Cannot be used with encoding mode or -D.
                       When DSP options are set, peak is computed 
                       after all DSP filters have been applied.
--gain <f>             Adjust gain by f dB.
                       Use negative value to decrese gain, when you want to
                       avoid clipping introduced by DSP.
-N, --normalize        Normalize (works in two pass. can generate HUGE
                       tempfile for large piped input)
--drc <thresh:ratio:knee:attack:release>
                       Dynamic range compression.
                       Loud parts over threshold are attenuated by ratio.
                         thresh:  threshold (in dBFS, < 0.0)
                         ratio:   compression ratio (> 1.0)
                         knee:    knee width (in dB, >= 0.0)
                         attack:  attack time (in millis, >= 0.0)
                         release: release time (in millis, >= 0.0)
--limiter              Apply smart limiter that softly clips portions
                       where peak exceeds (near) 0dBFS
--start <[[hh:]mm:]ss[.ss..]|<n>s|<mm:ss:ff>f>
                       Specify start point of the input.
                       You specify either in seconds(hh:mm:ss.sss..form) or
                       number of samples followed by 's' or
                       cuesheet frames(mm:ss:ff form) followed by 'f'.
                       When negative value is given, instead of trimming,
                       specified amount of silence is prepended.
                       Example:
                         --start 4010160s : start at 4010160 samples
                         --start 1:30:70f : same as above, in cuepoint
                         --start 1:30.93333 : same as above
--end <[[hh:]mm:]ss[.ss..]|<n>s|<mm:ss:ff>f>
                       Specify end point of the input (exclusive).
--delay <[[hh:]mm:]ss[.ss..]|<n>s|<mm:ss:ff>f>
                       Same as --start, with the sign reversed.
                       Positive value will prepend silence.
                       (This option exists due to historical reason)
--no-delay             Compensate encoder delay by prepending 960 samples 
                       of scilence, then trimming 3 AAC frames from 
                       the beginning (and also tweak iTunSMPB).
                       This option is mainly intended for resolving
                       A/V sync issue of video. 
--num-priming <n>      (Experimental). Set arbitrary number of priming
                       samples in range from 0 to 2112 (default 2112).
                       Applicable only for AAC LC.
                       --num-priming=0 is the same as --no-delay.
                       Doesn't work with --no-smart-padding.
--gapless-mode <n>     Encoder delay signaling for gapless playback.
                         0: iTunSMPB (default)
                         1: ISO standard (elst + sbgp + sgpd)
                         2: Both
--matrix-preset <name> Specify user defined preset for matrix mixer.
--matrix-file <file>   Matrix file for remix.
--no-matrix-normalize  Don't automatically normalize(scale) matrix
                       coefficients for the matrix mixer.
--chanmap <n1,n2...>   Rearrange input channels to the specified order.
                       Example:
                         --chanmap 2,1 -> swap L and R.
                         --chanmap 2,3,1 -> C+L+R -> L+R+C.
--chanmask <n>         Force input channel mask(bitmap).
                       Either decimal or hex number with 0x prefix
                       can be used.
                       When 0 is given, qaac works as if no channel mask is
                       present in the source and picks default layout.
--no-optimize          Don't optimize MP4 container after encoding.
--tmpdir <dirname>     Specify temporary directory. Default is %TMP%
-s, --silent           Suppress console messages.
--verbose              More verbose console messages.
-i, --ignorelength     Assume WAV input and ignore the data chunk length.
--threading            Enable multi-threading.
-n, --nice             Give lower process priority.
--sort-args            Sort filenames given by command line arguments.
--text-codepage <n>    Specify text code page of cuesheet/chapter/lyrics.
                       Example: 1252 for Latin-1, 65001 for UTF-8.
                       Use this when bogus values are written into tags
                       due to automatic encoding detection failure.
-S, --stat             Save bitrate statistics into file.
--log <filename>       Output message to file.

Option for output filename generation:
--fname-from-tag       Generate filename based on metadata of input.
                       By default, output filename will be the same as input
                       (only different by the file extension).
                       Name generation can be tweaked by --fname-format.
--fname-format <string>   Format string for output filename.

Option for single output:
-o <filename>          Specify output filename
--concat               Encodes whole inputs into a single file. 
                       Requires output filename (with -o)

Option for cuesheet input only:
--cue-tracks <n[-n][,n[-n]]*>
                       Limit extraction to specified tracks.
                       Tracks can be specified with comma separated numbers.
                       Hyphen can be used to denote range of numbers.
                       Tracks non-existent in the cue are just ignored.
                       Numbers must be in the range 0-99.
                       Example:
                         --cue-tracks 1-3,6-9,11
                           -> equivalent to --cue-tracks 1,2,3,6,7,8,9,11
                         --cue-tracks 2-99
                           -> can be used to skip first track (and HTOA)

Options for Raw PCM input only:
-R, --raw              Raw PCM input.
--raw-channels <n>     Number of channels, default 2.
--raw-rate     <n>     Sample rate, default 44100.
--raw-format   <str>   Sample format, default S16L.
                       Sample format spec:
                       1st char: S(igned) | U(nsigned) | F(loat)
                       2nd part: Bitwidth
                       Last part: L(ittle Endian) | B(ig Endian)
                       Last part can be omitted, L is assumed by default.
                       Cases are ignored. u16b is OK.

Options for CoreAudio sample rate converter:
--native-resampler[=line|norm|bats,n]
                       Arguments followed by '=' are optional.
                       First argument before comma is complexity from
                       one of the following:
                         line: linear (worst, don't use this)
                         norm: normal
                         bats: mastering (best, default)
                       Second argument after comma is integer quality
                       between 0-127 (default 0).
                       Example:
                         --native-resampler
                         --native-resampler=norm,96

Tagging options:
 (same value is set to all files, so use with care for multiple files)
--title <string>
--artist <string>
--band <string>       This means "Album Artist".
--album <string>
--grouping <string>
--composer <string>
--comment <string>
--genre <string>
--date <string>
--track <number[/total]>
--disk <number[/total]>
--compilation[=0|1]
                      By default, iTunes compilation flag is not set.
                      --compilation or --compilation=1 sets flag on.
                      --compilation=0 is same as default.
--lyrics <filename>
--artwork <filename>
--artwork-size <n>    Specify maximum width or height of artwork in pixels.
                      If specified artwork (with --artwork) is larger than
                      this, artwork is automatically resized.
--copy-artwork        Copy front cover art(APIC:type 3) from the source.
                      When --artwork is also given, this option is ignored.
--chapter <filename>
                      Set chapter from file.
--tag <fcc>:<value>
                      Set iTunes pre-defined tag with fourcc key
                      and value.
                      1) When key starts with U+00A9 (copyright sign),
                         you can use 3 chars starting from the second char
                         instead.
                      2) Some known tags having type other than UTF-8 string
                         are taken care of. Others are just stored as UTF-8
                         string.
--tag-from-file <fcc>:<path>
                      Same as above, but value is read from file.
--long-tag <key>:<value>
                      Set long tag (iTunes custom metadata) with 
                      arbitrary key/value pair. Value is always stored as
                      UTF8 string.
