home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Manual.txt for Version 0.99a of ISO/MPEG Audio Layer 3 software only
- encoder/decoder.
-
- 1. ENCODER
- =======
-
- L3ENC.EXE and L3ENC_FP.EXE are ISO/MPEG Layer III software only encoders.
- They take raw PCM audio data files as input and deliver Layer III coded bit
- stream files as output. Several options can be selected via command line
- switches.
- Usage:
-
- L3ENC <PCM audio data> <bitstream> [-switch1 [-switch2 [...]]]
- L3ENC_FP <PCM audio data> <bitstream> [-switch1 [-switch2 [...]]]
-
- L3ENC.EXE should work on any IBM PC compatible computer. L3ENC_FP requires
- a 386 type CPU or better with external or built in 387 hardware floating
- point support. A 486DX CPU or better is recommended.
-
- 1.1 PCM audio input file
- The first command line argument specifies the name for the PCM audio
- data file. Version 0.99a of the encoder accepts only one input format:
- raw PCM audio data files with two interleaved channels of 16 bit
- signed integer samples. The sampling rate must be 44.1 kHz.
-
- <sample #1 channel #1> <sample #1 channel #2> <s.#2 ch.#1> <s.#2 ch.#2> ...
-
- 1.2 bitstream output file
- The second command line argument specifies the name for the bitstream
- output file. As for now there is no default value for the filename or for
- the extension of the file name. The format of the bit stream is as defined
- in the ISO/MPEG publication IS11172-3.
-
- 1.3 encoding mode
- Depending on the setting of the '-mod' switch, the encoder will treat the
- two input channels as:
- -mod 1 stereo (joint stereo),
- -mod 2 mono audio data.
-
- Default is joint stereo.
- For stereo, the first channel is the left channel. The second channel is
- the right channel.
- For mono mode the mono signal is calculated from the stereo input data as:
- <mono sample #n> = (<s.#n ch.#1> + <s.#n ch.#2>) / 2
- i.e. mono = (left + right) / 2
-
- Version 1.0 of the Encoder will have true mono input options.
-
- 1.4 sampling rate
- Version 0.99a of the encoder is restricted to 44.1 kHz.
- Version 1.0 of the encoder will support 32kHz, 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz.
-
- 1.5 bitrate
- The bitrate of the bit stream output is selected via the '-br' switch. The
- bitrate is specified in bits/second. The bitrate is the total bitrate for
- all encoded channels, i.e. if you select 'br 128000' and 'stereo', both
- channels will be stuffed into one bit stream of 128000 bits/second.
- Currently only ISO bit rates are accepted by the encoder. Valid bit rates
- are:
-
- 32k 40k 48k 56k 64k 80k 96k 112k 128k 160k 192k 224k 256k 320k
-
- The default bitrate is 128000 bits/sec.
-
- Version 0.99a of the encoder is restricted to stereo bit rates greater
- than 64 kBit/s and to mono bit rates less than 320 kBit/s.
-
- 1.6 crc check
- If '-crc' is asserted, ISO/MPEG1 crc checking is enabled. Without the 'crc'
- switch, crc checking is disabled.
-
- 1.7 examples of switch settings
- L3ENC infile.pcm out.bit -sr 112000 -cr
- L3ENC c:\music\pcm\newage.pcm c:\bitstr\l3\newage.bit -mod 2 -br 64000
-
-
-
- 2. DECODER
- =======
-
- L3DEC.EXE and L3DEC_FP.EXE are ISO/MPEG Layer 3 software only decoders.
- They take Layer 3 bit stream files as input and deliver PCM audio data
- files as output. A number of options can be selected via command line
- switches. Usage:
-
- l3dec <bit_stream> [<PCM_audio_data>] [-switch1 [switch2 [...]]]
- l3dec_fp <bit_stream> [<PCM_audio_data>] [-switch1 [switch2 [...]]]
-
- L3DEC.EXE should work on any IBM PC compatible computer. L3DEC_FP.EXE
- requires a 386 CPU or better with external or built in 387 hardware
- floating point support.
-
- If you specify no output file name, the bit stream is nevertheless
- (partially) decoded but PCM audio output is discarded. This option is
- only useful, if you want to check the correct format of a a bit stream
- file without actually producing any output. And yes --- this is much
- faster than the full decoding process.
-
- 2.1 bit stream input file
- The format of the bit stream input file must comply with ISO/IEC
- IS11172-3. Currently there is no default file name extension.
-
- The decoder will process all valid Layer3 bit stream data without
- restrictions to bit rate or sampling frequency.
-
- 2.2 PCM audio data output file
- Audio data is output as samples of 16 bit signed integer PCM data.
- The default format is raw PCM data and can be either one channel or
- two interleaved channels.
- format of one (mono) channel PCM audio data:
- <sample #1><sample #2>....
- format of two channel (stereo) PCM audio data:
- <spl.#1 ch.#1><spl.#1 ch.#2><sp.#2 ch.#1><spl.#2 ch.#2>...
- If one or two audio channels are used depends on the encoded information in
- the bit stream. For stereo output data the first channel is the left
- channel. Information about sampling frequency and number of used channels
- is displayed at the beginning of the decoding process.
-
- 2.3 RIFF/WAVE format
- If selected by the '-wav' switch, audio data is output in RIFF/WAVE format
- (*.WAV) as used by Microsoft Windows. The audio data itself is still
- written as 16 bit PCM data as described in 2.2 but it is preceded by a
- WAVE-header. The WAVE-Header contains information about the number of
- channels (1 or 2), sampling frequency (32k/44.1k/48k) and used bits per
- sample (16).
-
- 2.4 [Sound Header]
- [description]
-
- 2.5 skip frames
- With the '-fb' option you can skip a number of frames in the bit stream
- before the decoding starts. '-fb nnn' skips the first nnn frames. Each
- frame contains 1152 samples of audio data. Depending on the used sampling
- frequency, the duration of a frame is calculated as 24 msec (@ 48kHz), 26.1
- msec (@ 44.1kHz) or 36 msec (@ 32kHz).
-
- 2.6 decode only nnn frames
- If you want to decode only a certain number of frames, specify the '-fn'
- option. '-fn xxx' will decode only xxx frames (see also 2.5).
-
- 2.7 search again after loss of synchronisation
- Normally the decoding process is stopped, if a loss of synchronisation is
- detected, i.e. the synch information is incorrect. To enable decoding of
- partially damaged bit stream files, you may assert the '-sa' option. In
- this mode the decoding is not stopped and the file is searched for valid
- synch information until end of file is encountered.
-
-
- All brand names are registered trade marks of their respective owners.
-
-