Convert audio file to FLAC with ffmpeg?

Question

can I convert one of this format to compatible 16000.0 Sample Rate FLAC file?

kAudioFormatLinearPCM                   = 'lpcm',
kAudioFormatAppleIMA4                   = 'ima4',
kAudioFormatMPEG4AAC                    = 'aac ',
kAudioFormatMACE3                       = 'MAC3',
kAudioFormatMACE6                       = 'MAC6',
kAudioFormatULaw                        = 'ulaw',
kAudioFormatALaw                        = 'alaw',
kAudioFormatMPEGLayer1                  = '.mp1',
kAudioFormatMPEGLayer2                  = '.mp2',
kAudioFormatMPEGLayer3                  = '.mp3',
kAudioFormatAppleLossless               = 'alac'

I tried using ffmpeg

ffmpeg -i audio.xxx -acodec flac audio.flac

but result is

FFmpeg version CVS, Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Fabrice Bellard
Mac OSX universal build for ffmpegX
  configuration:  --enable-memalign-hack --enable-mp3lame --enable-gpl --disable-vhook --disable-ffplay --disable-ffserver --enable-a52 --enable-xvid --enable-faac --enable-faad --enable-amr_nb --enable-amr_wb --enable-pthreads --enable-x264 
  libavutil version: 49.0.0
  libavcodec version: 51.9.0
  libavformat version: 50.4.0
  built on Apr 15 2006 04:58:19, gcc: 4.0.1 (Apple Computer, Inc. build 5250)
Input #0, wsaud, from 'audio.alac':
  Duration: 00:00:03.8, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 199 kb/s
  Stream #0.0: Audio: adpcm_ima_ws, 24931 Hz, stereo, 199 kb/s
Unable for find a suitable output format for 'audio.flac'

I also installed flac codec for mac, but nothing...

I tried also use convtoflac.sh (from http://legroom.net/software/convtoflac) but result is similar.

Any idea to convert in flac?

Solution 1

Forget the FFmpeg version that's included within ffmpegX – it's really old. Obviously it wasn't compiled with FLAC support.

You could:

• Download a static build from the FFmpeg homepage. Just download the archive, extract it to some folder, then navigate to that folder and run it from there (./ffmpeg), or add it to your $PATH.
• Install it using Homebrew, a package manager for OS X.
• Install it from source. Here's a compilation guide for OS X.

Then, just try it again:

ffmpeg -i audio.xxx -c:a flac audio.flac

Solution 2

on linux 12.04 lts desktop this

ffmpeg -i audio.xxx -c:a flac audio.flac

has this error

" Unrecognized option 'c:v' Failed to set value 'flac' for option 'c:v' "

this works without error

ffmpeg -i input.flv(mp4)  output.flac

Solution 3

As slhck says, ffmpeg appears unable to recognise flac. It has to be told to look for it.

ffmpeg -i audio.xxx -f flac audio.flac

Comments

[elp]

I reinstall theora and now it's ok, because link returns No such keg: /usr/local/Cellar/libtheora. Thanks a lot man!

[evilsoup]

There's also a compilation guide on the ffmpeg wiki, though I'm not really sure how to judge if it's better or worse than the ones you've already linked to.

[slhck]

@evilsoup Thanks. The guide didn't exist at the time of writing this answer, but it's definitely better than what I've found so far. Now I remember editing the Wiki page myself a few months ago.

[Marius Gedminas]

Would adding -vn help? It ought to tell ffmpeg to ignore the video stream.

[Vitaly Zdanevich]

Why it reduce kb/s from 3000 to 1500?