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FLAC(1)								       FLAC(1)

NAME
       flac - Free Lossless Audio Codec

SYNOPSIS
       flac  [ OPTIONS ] [ infile.wav | infile.rf64 | 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.

       --preserve-modtime
	      Output  files  have  their  timestamps/permissions  set to match
	      those of their inputs (this is default).	Use --no-preserve-mod‐
	      time to make output files have the current time and default per‐
	      missions.

       --keep-foreign-metadata
	      If encoding, save WAVE, RF64, or AIFF non-audio chunks  in  FLAC
	      metadata.	  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 can‐
	      not be restored when decoding to AIFF.  Input and output must be
	      regular 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.

       --apply-replaygain-which-is-not-lossless[=<specification>]
	      Applies ReplayGain values while decoding.

	      WARNING:	THIS IS NOT LOSSLESS.  DECODED AUDIO WILL NOT BE IDEN‐
	      TICAL TO THE ORIGINAL WITH THIS OPTION.

	      The equals sign and <specification> is  optional.	  If  omitted,
	      the default is 0aLn1.

	      The  <specification>  is a shorthand notation for describing how
	      to apply ReplayGain.  All components are optional but  order  is
	      important.   '[]' means 'optional'.  '|' means 'or'.  '{}' means
	      required.	 The format is:

	      [<preamp>][a|t][l|L][n{0|1|2|3}]

	      preamp A floating point number in dB.   This  is	added  to  the
		     existing gain value.

	      a|t    Specify  'a'  to  use  the	 album gain, or 't' to use the
		     track gain.  If tags for the preferred kind (album/track)
		     do	 not  exist  but  tags for the other (track/album) do,
		     those will be used instead.

	      l|L    Specify 'l' to peak-limit the output, so that the Replay‐
		     Gain  peak value is full-scale.  Specify 'L' to use a 6dB
		     hard limiter that kicks in	 when  the  signal  approaches
		     full-scale.

	      n{0|1|2|3}
		     Specify  the amount of noise shaping.  ReplayGain synthe‐
		     sis happens in floating point;  the  result  is  dithered
		     before  converting	 back  to  integer.  This quantization
		     adds noise.  Noise shaping tries to move the noise	 where
		     you  won't	 hear it as much.  0 means no noise shaping, 1
		     means 'low', 2 means 'medium', 3 means 'high'.

       For example, the default of 0aLn1 means 0dB preamp, use album gain, 6dB
       hard limit, low noise shaping.

       --apply-replaygain-which-is-not-lossless=3  means 3dB preamp, use album
       gain, no limiting, no noise shaping.

       flac uses the ReplayGain tags for the calculation.  If  a  stream  does
       not  have the required tags or they can't be parsed, decoding will con‐
       tinue with a warning, and no ReplayGain is applied to that stream.

   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.	This option is
	      DEPRECATED and may not exist in future versions of flac.

       --ignore-chunk-sizes
	      When  encoding  to flac, ignore the file size headers in WAV and
	      AIFF files to attempt to work around problems with over-sized or
	      malformed files.

	      WAV  and	AIFF files both have an unsigned 32 bit numbers in the
	      file header which specifes the length of audio data. Since  this
	      number is unsigned 32 bits, that limits the size of a valid file
	      to being just over 4 Gigabytes. Files larger than this are  mal-
	      formed, but should be read correctly using this option.

       -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, --cuesheet, 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-raw-format
	      Force input (when encoding) or  output  (when  decoding)	to  be
	      treated as raw samples (even if filename ends in .wav).

       --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  .aif  or
	      .aiff.   Also,  this  option  has	 no effect when encoding since
	      input AIFF is auto-detected.

       --force-rf64-format
	      Force the decoder to output RF64 format.	 This  option  is  not
	      needed  if  the  output filename (as set by -o) ends with .rf64.
	      Also, this option has no effect when encoding since  input  RF64
	      is auto-detected.

       --force-wave64-format
	      Force  the  decoder to output Wave64 format.  This option is not
	      needed if the output filename (as set by	-o)  ends  with	 .w64.
	      Also, this option has no effect when encoding since input Wave64
	      is auto-detected.

   NEGATIVE OPTIONS
       --no-adaptive-mid-side

       --no-cued-seekpoints

       --no-decode-through-errors

       --no-delete-input-file

       --no-preserve-modtime

       --no-keep-foreign-metadata

       --no-exhaustive-model-search

       --no-force

       --no-lax

       --no-mid-side

       --no-ogg

       --no-padding

       --no-qlp-coeff-prec-search

       --no-replay-gain

       --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/libflac-doc/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).

				  2013/04/30			       FLAC(1)
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