Commit e34e3619 authored by Rostislav Pehlivanov's avatar Rostislav Pehlivanov

doc/encoders.texi: update documentation for the native AAC encoder

Since the next commit removes the experimental flag from the encoder
it's better to update the documentation which has been around in its
current form for as long as the encoder itself.
Signed-off-by: 's avatarRostislav Pehlivanov <atomnuker@gmail.com>
parent b270ec9a
......@@ -30,81 +30,119 @@ follows.
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) encoder.
This encoder is an experimental FFmpeg-native AAC encoder. Currently only the
low complexity (AAC-LC) profile is supported. To use this encoder, you must set
@option{strict} option to @samp{experimental} or lower.
As this encoder is experimental, unexpected behavior may exist from time to
time. For a more stable AAC encoder, see @ref{libvo-aacenc}. However, be warned
that it has a worse quality reported by some users.
@c todo @ref{libaacplus}
See also @ref{libfdk-aac-enc,,libfdk_aac} and @ref{libfaac}.
This encoder is the default AAC encoder, natively implemented into FFmpeg. Its
quality is on par or better than libfdk_aac at the default bitrate of 128kbps.
This encoder also implements more options, profiles and samplerates than
other encoders (with only the AAC-HE profile pending to be implemented) so this
encoder has become the default and is the recommended choice.
@subsection Options
@table @option
@item b
Set bit rate in bits/s. Setting this automatically activates constant bit rate
(CBR) mode.
(CBR) mode. If this option is unspecified it is set to 128kbps.
@item q
Set quality for variable bit rate (VBR) mode. This option is valid only using
the @command{ffmpeg} command-line tool. For library interface users, use
@option{global_quality}.
@item stereo_mode
Set stereo encoding mode. Possible values:
@table @samp
@item auto
Automatically selected by the encoder.
@item ms_off
Disable middle/side encoding. This is the default.
@item ms_force
Force middle/side encoding.
@end table
@item cutoff
Set cutoff frequency. If unspecified will allow the encoder to dynamically
adjust the cutoff to improve clarity on low bitrates.
@item aac_coder
Set AAC encoder coding method. Possible values:
@table @samp
@item faac
FAAC-inspired method.
This method is a simplified reimplementation of the method used in FAAC, which
sets thresholds proportional to the band energies, and then decreases all the
thresholds with quantizer steps to find the appropriate quantization with
distortion below threshold band by band.
The quality of this method is comparable to the two loop searching method
described below, but somewhat a little better and slower.
@item anmr
Average noise to mask ratio (ANMR) trellis-based solution.
This has a theoretic best quality out of all the coding methods, but at the
cost of the slowest speed.
@item twoloop
Two loop searching (TLS) method.
This method first sets quantizers depending on band thresholds and then tries
to find an optimal combination by adding or subtracting a specific value from
all quantizers and adjusting some individual quantizer a little.
Will tune itself based on whether aac_is/aac_ms/aac_pns are enabled.
This is the default choice for a coder.
This method produces similar quality with the FAAC method and is the default.
@item anmr
Average noise to mask ratio (ANMR) trellis-based solution.
This is an experimental coder which currently produces a lower quality, is more
unstable and is slower than the default twoloop coder but has potential.
Currently has no support for the @option{aac_is} or @option{aac_pns} options.
Not currently recommended.
@item fast
Constant quantizer method.
This method sets a constant quantizer for all bands. This is the fastest of all
the methods, yet produces the worst quality.
the methods and has no rate control or support for @option{aac_is} or
@option{aac_pns}.
Not recommended.
@end table
@item aac_ms
Sets mid/side coding mode. The default value of "-1" will automatically use
M/S with bands which will benefit from such coding. Can be forced for all bands
using the value "1", which is mainly useful for debugging or disabled using "0".
@item aac_is
Sets intensity stereo coding tool usage. By default, it's enabled and will
automatically toggle IS for similar pairs of stereo bands if it's benefitial.
Can be disabled for debugging by setting the value to "0".
@item aac_pns
Uses perceptual noise substitution to replace low entropy high frequency bands
with imperceivable white noise during the decoding process. By default, it's
enabled, but can be disabled for debugging purposes by using "0".
@item aac_tns
Enables the use of a multitap FIR filter which spans through the high frequency
bands to hide quantization noise during the encoding process and is reverted
by the decoder. As well as decreasing unpleasant artifacts in the high range
this also reduces the entropy in the high bands and allows for more bits to
be used by the mid-low bands. By default it's enabled but can be disabled for
debugging by setting the option to "0".
@item aac_ltp
Enables the use of the long term prediction extension which increases coding
efficiency in very low bandwidth situations such as encoding of voice or
solo piano music by extending constant harmonic peaks in bands throughout
frames. This option is implied by profile:a aac_low and is incompatible with
aac_pred. Use in conjunction with @option{-ar} to decrease the samplerate.
@item aac_pred
Enables the use of a more traditional style of prediction where the spectral
coefficients transmitted are replaced by the difference of the current
coefficients minus the previous "predicted" coefficients. In theory and sometimes
in practice this can improve quality for low to mid bitrate audio.
This option implies the aac_main profile and is incompatible with aac_ltp.
@item profile
Sets the encoding profile, possible values:
@table @samp
@item aac_low
The default, AAC "Low-complexity" profile. Is the most compatible and produces
decent quality.
@item mpeg2_aac_low
This profile disables aac_is and aac_pns which were introduced with the MPEG4
specifications and could cause incompatibility with very old devices. Will
reduce quality and is therefore not recommended unless necessary.
@item aac_ltp
Long term prediction profile, is enabled by and will enable the aac_ltp option.
Introduced in MPEG4.
@item aac_ltp
Main-type prediction profile, is enabled by and will enable the aac_pred option.
Introduced in MPEG2.
If this option is unspecified it is set to @samp{aac_low}.
@end table
@end table
@section ac3 and ac3_fixed
......@@ -578,15 +616,13 @@ and slightly improves compression.
libfaac AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) encoder wrapper.
Requires the presence of the libfaac headers and library during
configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with
@code{--enable-libfaac --enable-nonfree}.
This encoder is considered to be of higher quality with respect to the
@ref{aacenc,,the native experimental FFmpeg AAC encoder}.
This encoder is of much lower quality and is more unstable than any other AAC
encoders, so it's highly recommended to instead use other encoders, like
@ref{aacenc,,the native FFmpeg AAC encoder}.
For more information see the libfaac project at
@url{http://www.audiocoding.com/faac.html/}.
This encoder also requires the presence of the libfaac headers and library
during configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with
@code{--enable-libfaac --enable-nonfree}.
@subsection Options
......@@ -694,9 +730,10 @@ configuration. You need to explicitly configure the build with
so if you allow the use of GPL, you should configure with
@code{--enable-gpl --enable-nonfree --enable-libfdk-aac}.
This encoder is considered to be of higher quality with respect to
both @ref{aacenc,,the native experimental FFmpeg AAC encoder} and
@ref{libfaac}.
This encoder is considered to produce output on par or worse at 128kbps to the
@ref{aacenc,,the native FFmpeg AAC encoder} but can often produce better
sounding audio at identical or lower bitrates and has support for the
AAC-HE profiles.
VBR encoding, enabled through the @option{vbr} or @option{flags
+qscale} options, is experimental and only works with some
......
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