Top 8 Audio Codecs Converters for Windows Systems
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AC-3 ACM Codec
A very useful AC3 decompressor for VirtualDub that can help you convert and decompress AC3 directly to MP3 or WAV formats with ease.
VirtualDub, TMPGEnc, Avisynth, CoolEdit are some of the many ACM clients available on the market that use various external codecs to compress or decompress files of a specific format. AC-3 ACM Codec is just a small audio decompressing utility for the AC-3 format, also known as Dolby Digital, which they all have in common. The package comes with individual installers for x86 and x64 systems. To install it on your system you just need to double click the .bat file for your specific system architecture (x86 or x64). Another method is to right-click the AC3ACM.inf file and choose Install from the Context menu.
The codec can control up to six sound channels which cover the entire audible sound spectrum (20 Hz – 20,000 Hz). Five of the channels are dedicated to normal-range speakers (right front, center, left front, rear right, rear left) and one individual channel for low frequencies (20 Hz – 120 Hz) for the subwoffer.
Regarding audio sample rates, the AC-3 codec supports up to 48 kHz. The AC-3 ACM Codec is based on two open source libraries: liba52 by Aaron Holtzman and Michel Lespinasse and FFmpeg ac3enc code by Fabrice Bellard.
Using one of the many ACM clients with the AC-3 ACM Codec, you can easily decompress AC3 audio files into WAV or MP3 and even use AC3 encoded AVI files that normally aren’t recognized by this applications.
The codec is also designed to work with the default Windows multimedia framework, called Audio Compression Manager (ACM), which manages all audio codecs installed on a system.
If you previously had installed an earlier version of this codec it is recommended to uninstall the old version before installing the new one. To uninstall AC-3 ACM Codec you simply need to go to Add/Remove Programs from the Control Panel, select it and press the "Add/Remove" button.
If you want to decompress your Dolby Digital encoded files to WAV or MP3, AC-3 ACM Codec is the tool that will ease your work.
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SpatialVerb VST
A powerful reverb effect plugin that is capable of simulating a room's early and late impulse response using ray tracing and a feedback delay network.
SpatialVerb VST is a lightweight audio plugin that can be used with a third party host in order to deliver a customizable reverb effect. The plugin implements ray tracing to calculate sound wave paths and provides the best possible audio outcome.
User-friendly interface with simple controls
SpatialVerb VST is designed to be as straightforward as possible in both graphic interface design and actual use of the controls. It offers basic knobs that you can rotate to control parameters such as ‘WallAbsorb’, ‘Feedback’, ‘Cutoff’ and ‘Gain’, as well as sliders for room simulation.
The plugin also displays a series of graphs that you can use to interpret the way in which audio signal is processed, diminished or enhanced, after you make modifications to a parameter.
Real-time audio processing
The moment you make an adjustment from the main panel the resulting audio is immediately fed to your speakers so there isn’t a noticeable delay. Each ample or subtle modification is applied to the signal allowing you to fine-tune everything by ear or using specialized gear.
Shape sound according to a room
SpatialVerb VST comes with a feature that allows you to modify the sound according the shape of a room rather than its size. You are given a set of sliders with which you are able to modify the width and length of a room.
To make sound processing even more accurate, the plugin allows you to further manipulate audio by moving two virtual source speakers and two destination microphones around the representation of the room. As expected, each change you make to their position is instantly reflected through your speakers.
A powerful and practical reverb plugin
To sum things up, SpatialVerb VST is by all means a very handy plugin to have around when you want to apply both discrete and ‘destructive’ reverb effects to your audio signal.
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OptimFROG
Audio codec specialized in achieving one of the best lossless audio compression ratios, while being compatible with several media players (e.g. Windows Media Player, foobar2000, Winamp, and dBpowerAMP).
OptimFROG is a lightweight audio package that contains codecs for helping you obtain lossless audio compression results. It is specifically developed to help you reduce at maximum the size of audio items, while preserving the audio quality as much as possible.
The process is pretty much similar to ZIP compression, but the tool works exclusively with audio files. The audio codec can be deployed on Windows, Linux, and Mac versions.
Compatibility with several media players (direct playback of OptimFROG files)
OptimFROG offers support for fully-featured input plugins for Windows Media Player, foobar2000, Winamp 2/3/5, dBpowerAMP, XMPlay, QCD, and XMMS audio players (with bit stream error resilience, ID3v1.1 and APEv2 read tagging support, ID3v2 compatible).
Several media players are known to be compatible with OptimFROG, such as Audacious, AudioNUT, DeaDBeeF, DirectShow Decoder Filter, Passion Audio Player, lamip, Qmmp, RadLight 4, MusicCubeOne, and Zoom Player.
In addition, it works hand in hand with various utilities, namely AudioMagus (organize OptimFROG files), BASS (audio decoder library with support for OptimFROG items), Burrrn (create audio CDs directly from OptimFROG files), EAC / Exact Audio Copy (extract audio CDs in OptimFROG format), getID3() for extracting useful information about OptimFROG files, GX::Transcoder (transcode directly from OptimFROG files), Kermit (Windows frontend interface for OptimFROG), and Mp3tag (manage tags for OptimFROG files).
It also comes with support for MPC / Musepack (direct encode mode from OptimFROG files), MPEG Audio Collection (organize OptimFROG files), Music Collector (organize OptimFROG files), MusicBrainz Picard (manage tags for OptimFROG files), Nero audio plugins (create audio CDs directly from OptimFROG files), Perl Audio Converter (transcode from OptimFROG files), and Tag (command-line tagging tool for OptimFROG files).
Audio compression capabilities
OptimFROG comes packed with several smart and handy features, such as optimal support for all integer PCM WAV formats up to 32 bits, RAW file support, and encoding and decoding options. Plus, you can verify the integrity of the compressed files, process multiple files at the same time via the command-line console using wildcards, and delete the source file at the end of a successful task.
What’s more, you are allowed to copy the time stamp of the source file to the destination item, create self-extracting archives (SFX file format), as well as make use of a rich-featured SDK for employing the compressed files in any program.
Final remarks
To sum things up, OptimFROG proves to be a reliable audio codec that helps you achieve one of the best lossless audio compression ratios. It is all worthy of your attention.
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DC-Bass Source Mod
A BASS based DirectShow Audio Decoder that offers you the chance to use a multitude of audio formats that by default are not available.
DC-Bass Source Mod is a derivation from DCoder's Bass Source Filter, which is a DirectShow filter built around the BASS library.
BASS is a form of delivering audio samples, streams, MP3 music and recording functions in the form of a DLL which would make distribution and use a lot easier. It supports audio formats such as MPEG-1 Layer 2 & 3, .mpa, .m1a, .m2a, .ogg, .oga, .opus, .aac, .m4a, .m4b, .mpc, .wav, .aif, .aifc, .aiff, .cda, .alac, .m4a, .flac and many others.
It’s also compatible with audio trackers such as .it, .mo3, .mod, .mtm, .s3m, .umx. and .xm, along with SHOUTcast / Icecast streams like MP3, OGG, AAC and OPUS.
Using this codec you are able to play various other audio formats which by default are not compatible with your Windows operating system. Once DC-Bass Source Mod is active, you can play them using even the native Windows Media Player.
In a sense, DC-Bass Source Mod is an optimized version of DCoder's Bass Source Filter. It provides the means to perform different kinds of operations using audio streams. It also serves as a bridge between various programming languages such as C/C++, Delphi and Visual Basic.
The DC-Bass Source Mod codec can certainly be used for a wide range of tasks that involve audio processing. One thing it can’t really handle is streaming audio from video containers such as AVI, TS, MPG, VOB and MKV.
In closing, DC-Bass Source Mod is an audio codec that offers you the possibility to play much more formats than those made available by Windows.
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FLAC
An audio compression utility that is designed to handle FLAC, OGG for decoding and WAV music tracks for encoding into high quality format.
When it comes to sound quality for the music files stored onto our computers, we would all like to have the best available. Nonetheless, this could mean that we would have to deal with file types other than most users are accustomed with, like MP3 or WAV.
Build high-quality audio files
Among the audio formats that offer superior quality as compared to the widespread MP3 tracks, FLAC and OGG are always cited. However, encoding or decoding such files would need a specialized tool that can handle these types.
One such utility is called simply FLAC and its main focus are indeed the Free Lossless Audio Codec files. The core tools are runnable through command-line but this package also includes the FLAC Frontend that makes operating them much easier, so less experienced users can benefit from their capabilities.
Process different audio file types
Adding and processing the music files can be done from a simple and somewhat cluttered interface, that manages somehow to provide a generous space for the file list, to the detriment of the settings and operational buttons.
This program is able to deal with FLAC, OGG and WAV files only and offers some specific functions for each. The first two types support decoding and testing operations, while the latter can be only queued for encoded.
Insofar as the available options are concerned, FLAC will enable you to set the encoding level using a slider that can be adjusted to values from 0 to 8. You can also activate the file verification and have tags added automatically. For batches of music tracks you have the possibility to adjust the gain to make them sound as if they were off the same album.
On an ending note
The conclusion is that for anyone who has to work with FLAC files, to decode them or encode others in that format, this software solution is one of the top choices in its category.
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Download Hubs
FLAC is part of these download collections: FLAC Players, Open FLAC, Convert FLAC, Make FLAC
edcast-reborn
Oddsock's Edcast given new life - a reborn version of the old Edcast that allows you to stream to Icecast or Shoutcast using multiple encoders.
edcast-reborn is a renewed version of Edcast (aka Oddcast), which was designed as a plugin for media players such as Winamp, being able to broadcast various audio formats.
When Edcast, the original project, was shut down, a rewired version of the program was soon released under the name of edcast-reborn, preserving the purpose and the approach of the old application.
edcast-reborn encases the exact same engine as its predecessor, boasting improved encoding capabilities and keeping the support for all the major broadcasting servers that the original Edcast had.
Moreover, the developer of edcast-reborn decided to preserve its appearance as well in an attempt to maintain the ease of use and accessibility that the audience got used to.
The application includes all of the components required for seamless audio streaming, deploying carious encoders during the installation process, including Vorbis, Lame and AAC.
This allows you to work with multiple encoders at the same time, which translates into the possibility of broadcasing multiple formats simultaneously to multiple servers, too.
Moreover, you can pull metadata directly from the media player, but extracting it from a file or URL address is possible all the same.
Live recording is another feature worth mentioning, allowing you to switch it on or off without the need to disconnect any of the encoders in your list.
The configuration of an encoder is much simpler than in other applications, because edcast-reborn provides a more user-oriented approach, allowing you to set the parameters of the streaming process in a very comfortable way.
On an ending note, edcast-reborn is an outstanding audio streaming application, allowing you to send various stream types to servers such as Icecast or Shoutcast with minimum effort.
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Monkey's Audio
Compress .wav tracks into .ape files to reduce their size without losing sound quality, decompress .ape, convert files, check file integrity and manage tags.
Designed for .wav tracks only, Monkey's Audio is a lightweight and powerful application that can compress files into .ape format to reduce the space they occupy on the disk while attempting to preserve the original sound quality. It features multiple levels of speed and offers support for batch processing.
Quick setup and simple UI
After a brief and uneventful setup procedure, you are greeted by an outdated interface that doesn't put emphasis on looks, yet it's easy to navigate and lets you immediately dive into the configuration procedure.
Compress, decompress and convert files
It's possible to compress .wav tracks at a preferred speed (fast, normal, high, high, extra high, insane), decompress .ape files, check file integrity via CRC checksum, as well as convert a compressed files between various compression formats: .ape, .shn (Shorten), .wv (Wavpack), .rka (Rkau), .mp3 (LAME), .mp+ (Mp+ decoder) and .ogg. Lastly, the software application lets you create, edit or remove tags for .ape and .mp3 files.
Check the new compressed size and configure app settings
The file list shows the name, extension, original and compressed size, time and status, along with the reduced size (in percentage) for each processed file.
As far as program options are concerned, you can specify the maximum number of simultaneous running files and process priority, together with integrity check mode (quick or full), play sound on task completion, modify the default output folder, and so on.
Evaluation and conclusion
The software application carries out compression jobs swiftly and delivers very good results concerning compression ratio and sound quality. No error dialogs popped up in our tests, and the tool didn't hang or crash.
Although it may seem outdated, Monkey's Audio offers a simple and effective solution to reducing the size of .wav audio tracks.
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Download Hubs
Monkey's Audio is part of these download collections: APE Players, Open APE, APE Makers
Sony ATRAC3 Audio Codec
ATRAC3 achieves twice the data compression rate of ATRAC with virtually no loss in sound quality and reduces the size of audios.
Storing and playing music tracks on our portable devices as well as sound recording and audio data transmission are all limited by a handful of parameters, of which the most important ones are the bitrate and physical file size.
In order to achieve the best quality/size ratio, you should make sure you are using the most appropriate codecs for the job. This is reason enough to try one of the best tools especially tailored for this job, namely Sony ATRAC3 Audio Codec.
The compression used by Sony's proprietary Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding (ATRAC) technology constantly evolved and ATRAC3 is the standard you would find in a Sony MiniDisc. Its sound quality bests that of the wide-spread 128 kbps MP3s, while the dimensions of the generated files are considerably smaller when compared to an audio CD, for example.
The can be installed in a manner identical to all similar components. This means that you just have to extract the INF file from the archive, right-click it and then choose 'Install'.
Once you successfully add the codec to the existing ones, it can be used for compressing music tracks. The advanced features of this codec will enable you to add much more files onto a portable storage device or music player because of the more effective compression abilities.
Thanks to its continuous evolution, the ATRAC technology aims to provide a great musical experience and the Sony ATRAC3 Audio Codec is one of the best examples that illustrates it. Without compromising quality while providing an improved compression and thus saving precious space on storage media, the codec is among the best choices in its category.
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