Provided by: lame_3.96.1-1_i386 bug

NAME

       lame - create mp3 audio files

SYNOPSIS

       lame [options] <infile> <outfile>

DESCRIPTION

       LAME  is  a program which can be used to create compressed audio files.
       (Lame ain’t an MP3 encoder).  These audio files can be played  back  by
       popular MP3 players such as mpg123 or madplay.  To read from stdin, use
       "-" for <infile>.  To write to stdout, use a "-" for <outfile>.

OPTIONS

       Input options:

       -r     Assume  the  input  file  is  raw  pcm.    Sampling   rate   and
              mono/stereo/jstereo  must  be  specified  on  the  command line.
              Without -r, LAME will perform several  fseek()’s  on  the  input
              file looking for WAV and AIFF headers.
              Might not be available on your release.

       -x     Swap bytes in the input file or output file when using --decode.
              For sorting out little endian/big endian type problems.  If your
              encodings sounds like static, try this first.

       -s sfreq
              sfreq = 8/11.025/12/16/22.05/24/32/44.1/48

              Required  only  for  raw  PCM input files.  Otherwise it will be
              determined from the header of the input file.

              LAME will automatically resample the input file to  one  of  the
              supported MP3 samplerates if necessary.

       --bitwidth n
              Input bit width.
              n = 8, 16, 24, 32 (default 16)

              Required  only  for  raw  PCM input files.  Otherwise it will be
              determined from the header of the input file.

       --mp2input
              Assume the input file is a MPEG Layer II (ie MP2) file.
              If the filename ends in ".mp2" LAME will assume  it  is  a  MPEG
              Layer  II file.  For stdin or Layer II files which do not end in
              .mp2 you need to use this switch.

       --mp3input
              Assume the input file is a MP3 file.
              Usefull for  downsampling  from  one  mp3  to  another.   As  an
              example,  it  can  be  usefull  for streaming through an IceCast
              server.
              If the filename ends in ".mp3" LAME will assume it  is  an  MP3.
              For  stdin or MP3 files which do not end in .mp3 you need to use
              this switch.

       --nogap file1 file2 ...
              gapless encoding for a set of contiguous files

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

       Operational options:

       -m mode
              mode = s, j, f, d, m

              Joint-stereo is the default mode for stereo files with VBR  when
              -V  is  more  than  4  or  fixed bitrates of 160kbs or less.  At
              higher fixed bitrates or higher VBR  settings,  the  default  is
              stereo.

              (s)tereo
              In  this  mode, the encoder makes no use of potentially existing
              correlations between the two input channels.  It  can,  however,
              negotiate  the  bit  demand  between both channel, i.e. give one
              channel more bits if the other contains silence  or  needs  less
              bits because of a lower complexity.

              (j)oint stereo
              In this mode, the encoder will make use of a correlation between
              both channels.  The signal will be matrixed into a sum  ("mid"),
              computed  by L+R, and difference ("side") signal, computed by L-
              R, and more bits are allocated to the mid  channel.   This  will
              effectively  increase  the bandwidth if the signal does not have
              too much stereo separation, thus giving a  significant  gain  in
              encoding quality.

              Using  mid/side  stereo  inappropriately  can  result in audible
              compression artifacts.  To much switching between  mid/side  and
              regular  stereo can also sound bad.  To determine when to switch
              to  mid/side  stereo,  LAME  uses  a  much  more   sophisticated
              algorithm than that described in the ISO documentation, and thus
              is safe to use in joint stereo mode.

              (f)orced joint stereo
              This mode will force MS joint  stereo  on  all  frames.   It  is
              slightly faster than joint stereo, but it should be used only if
              you are sure that every frame of the input file has very  little
              stereo separation.

              (d)ual channels
              In  this  mode,  the  2  channels will be totally indenpendently
              encoded.  Each channel will have exactly half  of  the  bitrate.
              This  mode  is  designed  for  applications  like dual languages
              encoding (for example: English in one channel and French in  the
              other).   Using this encoding mode for regular stereo files will
              result in a lower quality encoding.

              (mo)no
              The input will be encoded as a mono signal.  If it was a  stereo
              signal,  it  will  be  downsampled  to  mono.   The  downmix  is
              calculated as the sum of the left and right channel,  attenuated
              by 6 dB.

       -a     Mix the stereo input file to mono and encode as mono.
              The  downmix  is  calculated  as  the  sum of the left and right
              channel, attenuated by 6 dB.

              This option is only needed in the case of raw PCM  stereo  input
              (because  LAME  cannot  determine  the number of channels in the
              input file).  To encode a stereo PCM input  file  as  mono,  use
              lame -m s -a.

              For  WAV and AIFF input files, using -m -I m will always produce
              a mono .mp3 file from both mono and stereo input.

       -d     Allows the left and right channels to use different  block  size
              types.

       --freeformat
              Produces a free format bitstream.  With this option, you can use
              -b with any bitrate higher than 8 kbps.

              However, even if an mp3 decoder  is  required  to  support  free
              bitrates  at  least  up  to 320 kbps, many players are unable to
              deal with it.

              Tests have  shown  that  the  following  decoders  support  free
              format:
              FreeAmp up to 440 kbps
              in_mpg123 up to 560 kbps
              l3dec up to 310 kbps
              LAME up to 560 kbps
              MAD up to 640 kbps

       --decode
              Uses LAME for decoding to a wav file.  The input file can be any
              input type supported by  encoding,  including  layer  II  files.
              LAME uses a bugfixed version of mpglib for decoding.

              If  -t is used (disable wav header), LAME will output raw pcm in
              native endian format.  You can use -x to swap bytes order.

              This option is not usable if  the  MP3  decoder  was  explicitly
              disabled in the build of LAME.

       -t     Disable writing of the INFO Tag on encoding.
              This  tag  in  embedded in frame 0 of the MP3 file.  It includes
              some information about the encoding options of the file, and  in
              VBR it lets VBR aware players correctly seek and compute playing
              times of VBR files.

              When --decode is specified  (decode  to  WAV),  this  flag  will
              disable  writing of the WAV header.  The output will be raw pcm,
              native endian format.  Use -x to swap bytes.

       --comp arg
              Instead of choosing bitrate, using this option, user can  choose
              compression ratio to achieve.

       --scale n
       --scale-l n
       --scale-r n
              Scales  input  (every  channel,  only left channel or only right
              channel) by n.  This just multiplies the PCM data (after it  has
              been converted to floating point) by n.

              n > 1: increase volume
              n = 1: no effect
              n < 1: reduce volume

              Use  with care, since most MP3 decoders will truncate data which
              decodes to values greater than 32768.

       --replaygain-fast
              Compute ReplayGain fast but slightly inaccurately.

              This computes "Radio" ReplayGain on the input data stream  after
              user-specified volume-scaling and/or resampling.

              The  ReplayGain  analysis  does  not  affect  the  content  of a
              compressed data stream itself, it  is  a  value  stored  in  the
              header   of  a  sound  file.   Information  on  the  purpose  of
              ReplayGain  and  the   algorithms   used   is   available   from
              http://www.replaygain.org/.

              Only  the "RadioGain" Replaygain value is computed, it is stored
              in the LAME tag.  The analysis is performed with  the  reference
              volume  equal  to  89dB.   Note:  the  reference volume has been
              changed from 83dB on transition from version 3.95 to 3.95.1.

              This switch is enabled by default.

              See also: --replaygain-accurate, --noreplaygain

       --replaygain-accurate
              Compute ReplayGain more accurately and find the peak sample.

              This enables decoding on the fly, computes "Radio" ReplayGain on
              the  decoded  data  stream, finds the peak sample of the decoded
              data stream and stores it in the file.

              The ReplayGain  analysis  does  not  affect  the  content  of  a
              compressed  data  stream  itself,  it  is  a value stored in the
              header  of  a  sound  file.   Information  on  the  purpose   of
              ReplayGain   and   the   algorithms   used   is  available  from
              http://www.replaygain.org/.

              By default, LAME performs ReplayGain analysis on the input  data
              (after the user-specified volume scaling).  This behaviour might
              give slightly inaccurate results because the data on the  output
              of  a  lossy compression/decompression sequence differs from the
              initial input data.  When --replaygain-accurate is specified the
              mp3 stream gets decoded on the fly and the analysis is performed
              on the decoded data stream.  Although theoretically this  method
              gives more accurate results, it has several disadvantages:

               *   tests have shown that the difference between the ReplayGain
                   values computed on the  input  data  and  decoded  data  is
                   usually not greater than 0.5dB, although the minimum volume
                   difference the human ear can perceive is about 1.0dB

               *   decoding on the fly significantly slows down  the  encoding
                   process

              The apparent advantage is that:

               *   with   --replaygain-accurate   the   real  peak  sample  is
                   determined and stored in the file.  The  knowledge  of  the
                   peak  sample can be useful to decoders (players) to prevent
                   a  negative  effect  called  ’clipping’   that   introduces
                   distortion into the sound.

              Only  the "RadioGain" Replaygain value is computed, it is stored
              in the LAME tag.  The analysis is performed with  the  reference
              volume  equal  to  89dB.   Note:  the  reference volume has been
              changed from 83dB on transition from version 3.95 to 3.95.1.

              This option is not usable if  the  MP3  decoder  was  explicitly
              disabled  in  the  build  of  LAME.   (Note: if LAME is compiled
              without the MP3 decoder, ReplayGain analysis is performed on the
              input data after user-specified volume scaling).

              See also: --replaygain-fast, --noreplaygain --clipdetect

       --noreplaygain
              Disable ReplayGain analysis.

              By  default ReplayGain analysis is enabled. This switch disables
              it.

              See also: --replaygain-fast, --replaygain-accurate

       --clipdetect
              Clipping detection.

              Enable  --replaygain-accurate  and  print  a   message   whether
              clipping  occurs  and  how  far  in dB the waveform is from full
              scale.

              This option is not usable if  the  MP3  decoder  was  explicitly
              disabled in the build of LAME.

              See also: --replaygain-accurate

       --preset  [fast] type | [cbr] kbps
              Use one of the built-in presets.

              Have a look at the PRESETS section below.

              Warning:  with  the current version fast presets might result in
              too high bitrate compared to regular presets.

              --preset help gives more infos about the  the  used  options  in
              these presets.

       --alt-preset  [fast] type | [cbr] kbps
              Use one of the built-in  presets.

              This  option  is  deprecated and offers the same as the --preset
              option above. Do not use it anymore, it will go away in a  later
              version.

       --r3mix
              Uses r3mix VBR preset.
              See http://www.r3mix.net/ for more details.

       --noasm  type
              Disable  specific  assembly optimizations ( mmx / 3dnow / sse ).
              Quality will not increase, only speed will be reduced.   If  you
              have  problems  running Lame on a Cyrix/Via processor, disabling
              mmx optimizations might solve your problem.

       Verbosity:

       --disptime n
              Set the delay in seconds between two display updates.

       --nohist
              By  default,  LAME  will  display  a  bitrate  histogram   while
              producing VBR mp3 files.  This will disable that feature.
              Histogram display might not be available on your release.

       -S
       --silent
       --quiet
              Do not print anything on the screen.

       --verbose
              Print a lot of information on the screen.

       --help Display a list of available options.

       Noise shaping & psycho acoustic algorithms:

       -q qual
              0 <= qual <= 9

              Bitrate  is of course the main influence on quality.  The higher
              the bitrate, the higher the quality.  But for a  given  bitrate,
              we   have   a   choice  of  algorithms  to  determine  the  best
              scalefactors and huffman encoding (noise shaping).

              -q 0:
              use slowest & best possible version of all algorithms.  -q 0 and
              -q  1 are slow and may not produce significantly higher quality.

              -q 2:
              recommended.  Same as -h.

              -q 5:
              default value.  Good speed, reasonable quality.

              -q 7:
              same as -f.  Very fast, ok quality.  Psycho acoustics  are  used
              for pre-echo & M/S, but no noise shaping is done.

              -q 9:
              disables   almost  all  algorithms  including  psy-model.   Poor
              quality.

       -h     Use some quality improvements.  Encoding will be slower, but the
              result  will be of higher quality.  The behaviour is the same as
              the -q 2 switch.
              This switch is always enabled when using VBR.

       -f     This switch forces the encoder to use a  faster  encoding  mode,
              but with a lower quality.  The behaviour is the same as the -q 7
              switch.

              Noise shaping will be disabled, but psycho acoustics will  still
              be computed for bit allocation and pre-echo detection.

       CBR (constant bitrate, the default) options:

       -b n   For MPEG1 (sampling frequencies of 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz)
              n  =  32,  40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256,
              320

              For MPEG2 (sampling frequencies of 16, 22.05 and 24 kHz)
              n = 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 144, 160

              Default is 128 for MPEG1 and 64 for MPEG2.

       --cbr  enforce use of constant bitrate

       ABR (average bitrate) options:

       --abr n
              Turns on encoding with a targeted average bitrate  of  n  kbits,
              allowing to use frames of different sizes.  The allowed range of
              n is 8 - 310, you can use any integer value within that range.

              It can be combined with the -b and -B switches like: lame  --abr
              123 -b 64 -B 192 a.wav a.mp3 which would limit the allowed frame
              sizes between 64 and 192 kbits.

              The use of -B is NOT RECOMMENDED.  A  128  kbps  CBR  bitstream,
              because of the bit reservoir, can actually have frames which use
              as many bits as a 320 kbps frame.  VBR modes minimize the use of
              the bit reservoir, and thus need to allow 320 kbps frames to get
              the same flexibility as CBR streams.

       VBR (variable bitrate) options:

       -v     use variable bitrate (--vbr-old)

       --vbr-old
              Invokes the oldest, most tested VBR algorithm.  It produces very
              good  quality  files,  though  is  not  very fast.  This has, up
              through v3.89, been considered the "workhorse" VBR algorithm.

       --vbr-new
              Invokes the newest VBR algorithm.   During  the  development  of
              version  3.90,  considerable  tuning was done on this algorithm,
              and it is now considered to be on par with the  original  --vbr-
              old.   It has the added advantage of being very fast (over twice
              as fast as --vbr-old).

       -V n   0 <= n <= 9
              Enable VBR (Variable BitRate) and specifies  the  value  of  VBR
              quality (default = 4).  0 = highest quality.

       ABR and VBR options:

       -b bitrate
              For MPEG1 (sampling frequencies of 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz)
              n  =  32,  40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256,
              320

              For MPEG2 (sampling frequencies of 16, 22.05 and 24 kHz)
              n = 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 144, 160

              Specifies the minimum bitrate to be used.  However, in order  to
              avoid  wasted  space,  the smallest frame size available will be
              used during silences.

       -B bitrate
              For MPEG1 (sampling frequencies of 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz)
              n = 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 160,  192,  224,  256,
              320

              For MPEG2 (sampling frequencies of 16, 22.05 and 24 kHz)
              n = 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 144, 160

              Specifies the maximum allowed bitrate.

              Note:  If  you  own an mp3 hardware player build upon a MAS 3503
              chip, you must set maximum bitrate to no more than 224 kpbs.

       -F     Strictly enforce the -b option.
              This is mainly for use with hardware players that do not support
              low bitrate mp3.

              Without  this  option,  the  minimum bitrate will be ignored for
              passages of analog silence, i.e. when the music level  is  below
              the absolute threshold of human hearing (ATH).

       ATH related:

       --noath
              Disable  any  use of the ATH (absolute threshold of hearing) for
              masking.  Normally, humans are unable to hear  any  sound  below
              this threshold.

       --athshort
              Ignore psychoacoustic model for short blocks, use ATH only.

       --athonly
              This  option  causes  LAME to ignore the output of the psy-model
              and only  use  masking  from  the  ATH  (absolute  threshold  of
              hearing).   Might be useful at very high bitrates or for testing
              the ATH.

       --athtype shape
              The Absolute Threshold of Hearing is the minimum threshold under
              which humans are unable to hear any sound.
              In  the  past, LAME was using ATH shape 0 which is the Painter &
              Spanias  formula.   Tests  have  shown  that  this  formula   is
              innacurate  for  the  13  -  22  kHz  area,  leading  to audible
              artifacts in some cases.
              Shape 1 was thus implemented, which is over  sensitive,  leading
              to very high bitrates.
              Shape 2 formula was accurately modelized from real data in order
              to reach optimal quality while not wasting bitrate.  In CBR  and
              ABR  modes,  LAME  uses  ATH shape 2 by default, VBR selects one
              depending on the specified parameter to the -V option.

       --athlower n
              Lower the ATH (absolute threshold of hearing) by n dB.
              Normally, humans  are  unable  to  hear  any  sound  below  this
              threshold,  but for music recorded at very low level this option
              might be usefull.

       --athaa-type n
              ATH auto adjust types 1 - 3, else no adjustment

       --athaa-sensitivity x
              activation offset in -/+ dB for ATH auto-adjustment

       PSY related:

       --short
              Let LAME use short blocks when appropriate.  It is  the  default
              setting.

       --noshort
              Encode  all  frames using long blocks only.  This could increase
              quality when encoding at very  low  bitrates,  but  can  produce
              serious pre-echo artefacts.

       --allshort
              Use only short blocks, no long ones.

       --cwlimit freq
              Compute  tonality  up  to  freq  (in  kHz).   Default setting is
              8.8717.

       --notemp
              Do not make use of the temporal masking effect.

       --nspsytune
              Experimental PSY tunings by Naoki Shibata

       --nssafejoint
              M/S switching criterion

       --nsmsfix arg
              M/S switching tuning [effective 0-3.5]

       --ns-bass x
              Adjust masking for sfbs  0 -  6 (long)  0 -  5 (short)

       --ns-alto x
              Adjust masking for sfbs  7 - 13 (long)  6 - 10 (short)

       --ns-treble x
              Adjust masking for sfbs 14 - 21 (long) 11 - 12 (short)

       --ns-sfb21 x
              Change ns-treble by x dB for sfb21

       Experimantal options:

       -X n   0 <= n <= 7

              When LAME searches for a "good" quantization, it has to  compare
              the  actual  one with the best one found so far.  The comparison
              says which one is better, the best so far or the actual.  The -X
              parameter  selects  between  different  approaches  to make this
              decision, -X0 beeing the default mode:

              -X0
              The criterions are (in order of importance):
              * less distorted scalefactor bands
              * the sum of noise over the thresholds is lower
              * the total noise is lower

              -X1
              The actual is better if the maximum noise over  all  scalefactor
              bands is less than the best so far.

              -X2
              The actual is better if the total sum of noise is lower than the
              best so far.

              -X3
              The actual is better if the total sum of noise is lower than the
              best  so far and the maximum noise over all scalefactor bands is
              less than the best so far plus 2dB.

              -X4
              Not yet documented.

              -X5
              The criterions are (in order of importance):
              * the sum of noise over the thresholds is lower
              * the total sum of noise is lower

              -X6
              The criterions are (in order of importance):
              * the sum of noise over the thresholds is lower
              * the maximum noise over all scalefactor bands is lower
              * the total sum of noise is lower

              -X7
              The criterions are:
              * less distorted scalefactor bands
              or
              * the sum of noise over the thresholds is lower

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

       -Z     toggles the scalefac feature on

       MP3 header/stream options:

       -e emp emp = n, 5, c

              n = (none, default)
              5 = 0/15 microseconds
              c = citt j.17

              All this does is set a flag in the bitstream.  If you have a PCM
              input  file  where one of the above types of (obsolete) emphasis
              has been applied, you can set this flag in LAME.  Then  the  mp3
              decoder should de-emphasize the output during playback, although
              most decoders ignore this flag.

              A better solution would be  to  apply  the  de-emphasis  with  a
              standalone  utility before encoding, and then encode without -e.

       -c     Mark the encoded file as being copyrighted.

       -o     Mark the encoded file as being a copy.

       -p     Turn on CRC error protection.
              It will add a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) code in each  frame,
              allowing  to  detect transmission errors that could occur on the
              MP3 stream.  However, it takes 16  bits  per  frame  that  would
              otherwise  be  used  for encoding, and then will slightly reduce
              the sound quality.

       --nores
              Disable  the  bit  reservoir.   Each  frame  will  then   become
              independent from previous ones, but the quality will be lower.

       --strictly-enforce-ISO
              With  this  option, LAME will enforce the 7680 bit limitation on
              total frame size.
              This results in many wasted bits for high bitrate encodings  but
              will  ensure strict ISO compatibility.  This compatibility might
              be important for hardware players.

       Filter options:

       -k     Tells the encoder to use  full  bandwidth  and  to  disable  all
              filters.   By  default, the encoder uses some highpass filtering
              at low bitrates, in order to keep a good quality by giving  more
              bits to more important frequencies.
              Increasing  the bandwidth from the default setting might produce
              ringing artefacts at low bitrates.  Use with care!

       --lowpass freq
              Set a lowpass filtering frequency in kHz.  Frequencies above the
              specified one will be cutoff.

       --lowpass-width freq
              Set  the  width of the lowpass filter.  The default value is 15%
              of the lowpass frequency.

       --highpass freq
              Set an highpass filtering frequency in kHz.   Frequencies  below
              the specified one will be cutoff.

       --highpass-width freq
              Set  the width of the highpass filter in kHz.  The default value
              is 15% of the highpass frequency.

       --resample sfreq
              sfreq = 8, 11.025, 12, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48
              Select ouptut sampling frequency (only supported for  encoding).
              If  not  specified,  LAME  will automatically resample the input
              when using high compression ratios.

       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
              audio/song track number (1 to 255, creates v1.1 tag)

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

       --add-id3v2
              force addition of version 2 tag

       --id3v1-only
              add only a version 1 tag

       --id3v2-only
              add only a version 2 tag

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

       --pad-id3v2
              pad version 2 tag with extra 128 bytes

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

       --ignore-tag-errors
              ignore errors in values passed for tags, use defaults in case an
              error occours

       Analysis options:

       -g     run graphical analysis on <infile>.  <infile> can also be a .mp3
              file.  (This feature is a compile time option.  Your binary  may
              for speed reasons be compiled without this.)

ID3 TAGS

       LAME  is  able  to embed ID3 v1, v1.1 or v2 tags inside the encoded MP3
       file.  This allows to have some usefull  information  about  the  music
       track  included  inside  the  file.  Those data can be read by most MP3
       players.

       Lame will smartly choose wich tags to use.  It will  add  ID3  v2  tags
       only  if  the input comments won’t fit in v1 or v1.1 tags, i.e. if they
       are more than 30 characters.  In this case, both v1 and v2 tags will be
       added, to ensure reading of tags by MP3 players wich are unable to read
       ID3 v2 tags.

ENCODING MODES

       LAME is able to encode your music using one of its  3  encoding  modes:
       constant  bitrate  (CBR),  average  bitrate  (ABR) and variable bitrate
       (VBR).

       Constant Bitrate (CBR)
              This is the default encoding mode, and also the most basic.   In
              this  mode, the bitrate will be the same for the whole file.  It
              means that each part of your mp3 file will  be  using  the  same
              number  of  bits.  The musical passage beeing a difficult one to
              encode or an easy one, the encoder will use the same bitrate, so
              the quality of your mp3 is variable.  Complex parts will be of a
              lower quality than the easiest ones.  The main advantage is that
              the  final  files  size  won’t  change  and  can  be  accurately
              predicted.

       Average Bitrate (ABR)
              In this mode, you choose the encoder will  maintain  an  average
              bitrate  while using higher bitrates for the parts of your music
              that need more bits.  The result will be of higher quality  than
              CBR  encoding but the average file size will remain predictible,
              so this mode is highly recommended over CBR.  This encoding mode
              is  similar to what is reffered as vbr in AAC or Liquid Audio (2
              other compression technologies).

       Variable bitrate (VBR)
              In this mode, you choose the desired quality on a scale  from  9
              (lowest quality/biggest distortion) to 0 (highest quality/lowest
              distortion).  Then encoder tries to maintain the  given  quality
              in  the  whole  file  by  choosing the optimal number of bits to
              spend for each part of your music.  The main advantage  is  that
              you  are  able  to  specify  the  quality level that you want to
              reach, but the inconvenient is  that  the  final  file  size  is
              totally unpredictible.

PRESETS

       The  --preset  switches  are  designed  to provide the highest possible
       quality.

       They have for the most part been subject  to  and  tuned  via  rigorous
       double blind listening tests to verify and achieve this objective.

       These  are continually updated to coincide with the latest developments
       that occur and as a result should provide  you  with  nearly  the  best
       quality currently possible from LAME.

       To activate these prests:

       For VBR modes (generally highest quality):

       --preset standard
              This  preset  should  generally be transparent to most people on
              most music and is already quite high in quality.

       --preset extreme
              If you have extremely good hearing and similar  equipment,  this
              preset  will  generally provide slightly higher quality than the
              standard mode.

       For CBR 320kbps (highest quality possible from the --preset switches):

       --preset insane
              This preset will usually be overkill for most  people  and  most
              situations,  but  if  you must have the absolute highest quality
              with no regard to filesize, this is the way to go.

       For ABR modes (high quality per given bitrate but not as high as VBR):

       --preset  kbps
              Using this preset will  usually  give  you  good  quality  at  a
              specified  bitrate.   Depending  on  the  bitrate  entered, this
              preset will determine the optimal settings for  that  particular
              situation.   While  this  approach  works,  it  is not nearly as
              flexible as VBR, and usually will not attain the same  level  of
              quality as VBR at higher bitrates.

       The   following  options  are  also  available  for  the  corresponding
       profiles:

       fast standard|extreme|insane
       cbr  kbps

       fast   Enables  the  new  fast  VBR  for  a  particular  profile.   The
              disadvantage to the speed switch is that often times the bitrate
              will be slightly higher than with the normal  mode  and  quality
              may be slightly lower also.

       cbr    If  you use the ABR mode (read above) with a significant bitrate
              such as 80, 96, 112, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256, 320, you  can  use
              the  cbr  option  to  force  CBR  mode  encoding  instead of the
              standard ABR mode.  ABR does provide higher quality but CBR  may
              be  useful  in situations such as when streaming an MP3 over the
              internet may be important.

EXAMPLES

       Fixed bit rate jstereo 128kbs encoding:

              lame sample.wav sample.mp3

       Fixed  bit  rate   jstereo   128   kbps   encoding,   highest   quality
       (recommended):

              lame -h sample.wav sample.mp3

       Fixed bit rate jstereo 112 kbps encoding:

              lame -b 112 sample.wav sample.mp3

       To  disable joint stereo encoding (slightly faster, but less quality at
       bitrates <= 128 kbps):

              lame -m s sample.wav sample.mp3

       Fast encode, low quality (no psycho-acoustics):

              lame -f sample.wav sample.mp3

       Variable bitrate (use -V n to adjust quality/filesize):

              lame -h -V 6 sample.wav sample.mp3

       Streaming mono 22.05 kHz raw pcm, 24 kbps output:

              cat inputfile | lame -r -m m -b 24 -s 22.05 - - > output

       Streaming mono 44.1 kHz raw pcm, with downsampling to 22.05 kHz:

              cat inputfile | lame -r -m m -b 24 --resample 22.05 - - > output

       Encode with the fast standard preset:

              lame --preset fast standard sample.wav sample.mp3

BUGS

       Probably there are some.

SEE ALSO

       mpg123(1), madplay(1), sox(1)

AUTHORS

       LAME originally developed by Mike Cheng and now maintained by
       Mark Taylor.  GPSYCHO psycho-acoustic model by Mark Taylor.
       (http://www.mp3dev.org/).
       mpglib by Michael Hipp
       Manual page by William Schelter, Nils Faerber, Alexander Leidinger

                               October 13, 2001                        lame(1)

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