Provided by: flac_1.3.4-2_amd64 bug

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 analyzing 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 completion.

       --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 extension).  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-modtime to make output files have
                 the current time and default permissions.

       --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 cannot 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 alternative 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 sample number is not included
                 in the decoded output.  The alternative form mm:ss.ss can  be  used  to  specify
                 minutes,  seconds,  and  fractions  of a second.  If a `+' (plus) sign is at the
                 beginning, the --until point is relative to the --skip point.  If a `-'  (minus)
                 sign is at the beginning, the --until point is relative 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 additional 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 contain the residual
                 distribution of the subframe.  This will create 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  IDENTICAL  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 ReplayGain 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 synthesis 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  continue  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 metadata 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 specified.

       --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 separated 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[/COLORS]]|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 specifies 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 pixels, 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-seektable 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, terminated 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 converted 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 -A tukey(0.5) -A partial_tukey(2)

                 -7, --compression-level-7
                           Synonymous   with   -l  8  -b  4096  -m  -e  -r  6  -A  tukey(0.5)  -A
                           partial_tukey(2)

                 -8, --compression-level-8
                           Synonymous  with  -l  12  -b  4096  -m  -e  -r  6  -A  tukey(0.5)   -A
                           partial_tukey(2) -A punchout_tukey(3)

       --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_harris_4term_92db, connes,  flattop,
                 gauss(STDDEV),  hamming,  hann,  kaiser_bessel,  nuttall,  rectangle,  triangle,
                 tukey(P), partial_tukey(n[/ov[/P]]), punchout_tukey(n[/ov[/P]]), welch.

                 For gauss(STDDEV), STDDEV is the standard deviation (0<STDDEV<=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 corresponds to "hann").

                 For  partial_tukey(n)  and  punchout_tukey(n), n apodization functions are added
                 that span different parts of each block. Values of 2 to 6  seem  to  yield  sane
                 results.  If  necessary,  an  overlap  can  be  specified,  as  can be the taper
                 parameter, for  example  partial_tukey(2/0.2)  or  partial_tukey(2/0.2/0.5).  ov
                 should be smaller than 1 and can be negative.

                 Please  note  that  P,  STDDEV and ov are locale specific, so a comma as decimal
                 separator might be required instead of a dot.

                 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  subframe  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 (expensive!).  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..15).  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,  available  in
       /usr/share/doc/libflac-doc/html on Debian GNU/Linux systems.

AUTHOR

       This manual page was initially written by Matt Zimmerman  mdz@debian.org  for  the  Debian
       GNU/Linux  system (but may be used by others). It has been kept up-to-date by the Xiph.org
       Foundation.

                                                                                          FLAC(1)