Xing

The Xing (pronounced "zing") MP3 encoder has, for a long time, held the crown of being one of the fastest MP3 encoders. Of course that comes with a price, and quality isn't on par with other - slower, but tuned for quality instead of speed - encoders like FhG Slowenc (Audioactive) and LAME.

While Xing has always been considered an encoder with terrible quality, that rumour was proven untrue after a listening test compared an old version of it against other MP3 encoders and it ended up not even close to last place.

Features

• Encodes .wav to MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 layer 3 audio
• Encodes bitrates ranging from 28 to 320 kbps
• Variable Bitrate (VBR) encoding support
• High Frequency Encoding support (up to 20 kHz)
• Low data rate support
• Several times faster than most popular encoders
• Automated batch processing
• MP3 playback capabilities
• GUI based and command-line encoder front ends

Helix MP3 Encoder

In 2005, RealNetworks — owners of the Xing assets after they bought that company — decided to release the Xing encoder under an open source license, with the new name Helix mp3enc. It is part of the Helix datatype project, a collection of code libraries intended to support the Helix DNA Server. The new version of the encoder is a library and has a command-line interface, but no GUI.

Screenshot

Xing Mp3 Encoder

External links

• compiled command-line executable for Windows, at RareWares
• API docs
• source code (CVS)
• Related discussion in HydrogenAudio forum