This one should be pretty easy. I thought it would be almost obvious. But someone asked on IRC and even assumed it was not possible. So, here is how you can encode to ALAC using foobar2000.
- Grab a copy of FFmpeg. I am currently hosting FFmpeg v0.5 here on the site because it’s kind of hard to find.
- Extract ffmpeg.exe somewhere. I recommend C:\Windows\System32.
- Go to Tools -> Converter -> Output formats -> Add new.
- Choose Encoder: Custom
- Click the “…” button, and browse to where you extracted ffmpeg.exe.
- Extension: m4a
- Parameters: -i – -acodec alac %d
- Format is: lossless (or hybrid)
- Highest BPS supported: 16-bit
- Encoder name: ALAC
And now you can encode using ALAC just as you would with any other encoding format! Note that FFmpeg’s ALAC support still has a few bugs, notably the length of the file will be altered. (This means that it is not truly lossless, even though the audio content will not be altered.)
Thanks Canar. This is exactly what I was looking for. Just ran through this setup and tested. Works as expected. Your instructions are solid. I haven’t done a listen or compare on the stereo running through the Benchmark DAC-1 and Quad 12L Active speakers. I will try to fit that in this weekend and let you know how it sounds.
Comment by mtnbike — June 11, 2009 @ 2:44 pm