fhgaacenc

**fhgaacenc**


Developer(s)	tmkk
Release information
Initial release
Stable release	20120624 (June 24, 2012; 12 years ago)
Preview release
Compatibility
Operating system	Windows
Additional information
Use	Encoder
License	MIT
Website	github.com/tmkk/fhgaacenc

Current AAC encoders (most to least recommended)
1	Apple AAC ^M/W
2	FhG AAC (Winamp) ^W
3	Fraunhofer FDK AAC ^S/L/M/W
4	Nero AAC ^L/W
5	FFmpeg 3.0+ AAC encoder ^S/L/M/W
6	FAAC ^S/L/M/W
7	Libav (pre-3.0 FFmpeg) AAC encoder ^S/L/M/W
^S Source code available; ^L Linux; ^M macOS; ^W Windows
List of AAC encoders

fhgaacenc is a command-line encoder through which the FhG AAC encoder included with Winamp can be used. An updated version (20151024) with some fixes by Case is included with the foobar2000 Free Encoder Pack.^[1]

As the name suggests, the FhG codec is written by Fraunhofer, author of the open-source Fraunhofer FDK AAC. FhG AAC is the commercial floating-point version. It performs higher-precision calculation. The settings are quite similar to FDK AAC.

Setup

Note: The required enc_fhgaac.dll can only be found in Winamp versions 5.62–5.666.

Option 1

Download and install the relevant version of Winamp.

Option 2

Download the relevant version of Winamp, but do not install it.
Open the setup exe file as an archive using a tool such as 7-Zip.
Copy the following files to the same folder as fhgaacenc.exe:
- Plugins\enc_fhgaac.dll
- libmp4v2.dll
- nsutil.dll

Command-line usage

The following usage notes are from version 20151024:

Usage: fhgaacenc.exe [options] infile [outfile]
  Note: pass - as infile to encode from stdin.
        pass - as outfile to encode to stdout (ADTS only).

  General encoding options
        --cbr <bitrate> : encode in CBR mode, bitrate=8..576
        --vbr <preset>  : encode in VBR mode, preset=1..6 [default, preset 4]
            1: HE-AAC v2  (~32 kbps)
            2: HE-AAC     (~64 kbps)
            3: AAC LC     (~96 kbps)
            4: AAC LC    (~128 kbps)
            5: AAC LC    (~192 kbps)
            6: AAC LC    (~256 kbps)
        --profile <auto|lc|he|hev2> : choose AAC profile (only for CBR mode)
            auto : automatically choose the optimum profile
                   according to the bitrate [default]
            lc   : force use LC-AAC profile
            he   : force use HE-AAC (AAC+SBR) profile
            hev2 : force use HE-AAC v2 (AAC+SBR+PS) profile
        --adts : use ADTS container instead of MPEG-4
  Other options
        --ignorelength : ignore the size of data chunk when encoding from pipe
        --quiet        : don't print the progress

A newer version?

Winamp's FhG AAC encoder is stuck in 2011. There are actually newer versions of the FhG encoder online in commercial software:

poikosoft's "ez_cd_audio_converter_setup.exe" can be opened with 7-zip to reveal two versions of encm_aacf.dll described as Fraunhofer IIS AAC, digitally signed by... Poikosoft. The same package also has a encm_xheaacf.dll, presumably the xHE-AAC encoder from FhG mentioned in the changelog. (Yes, this is probably illegal on their part too.)

References

↑ qaac.exe and fhgaacenc.exe on hydrogenaudio

External links

fhgaacenc on GitHub
fhgaacenc-20120624.zip (zip file)

[1] qaac.exe and fhgaacenc.exe on hydrogenaudio

[1]