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17 <h3>LameXP - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
</h3><br>
19 <a name=
"127191f3"></a><b>Table of contents:
</b><br>
21 <li><a href=
"#6a0b023d">What is LameXP ???
</a>
22 <li><a href=
"#be0a8459">What platforms does LameXP run on?
</a>
23 <li><a href=
"#29065b86">What output formats (encoders) does LameXP support?
</a>
24 <li><a href=
"#4e398a46">What input formats (decoders) does LameXP support?
</a>
25 <li><a href=
"#96205e91">My anti-virus program raises an alarm when I try to download/install/launch LameXP. Why is that?
</a>
26 <li><a href=
"#fd53d98a">Who created LameXP?
</a>
27 <li><a href=
"#de1c5e44">What license is LameXP released under?
</a>
28 <li><a href=
"#303e5fa7">Do I have to pay for LameXP? / How can I donate to the authors of LameXP?
</a>
29 <li><a href=
"#054010d9">MP3, AAC or Vorbis - What is the best compressed audio format?
</a>
30 <li><a href=
"#411d1257">What is the difference between the CBR, VBR and ABR rate control modes?
</a>
31 <li><a href=
"#71a113b0">How do I enable AAC/MP4/M4A output (encoding) in LameXP?
</a>
32 <li><a href=
"#126abc5a">Is there a way to output
".m4a" or
".aac" files with LameXP?
</a>
33 <li><a href=
"#ebf016ab">How do I enable WMA input (decoding) in LameXP?
</a>
34 <li><a href=
"#9fd53558">How can I use LameXP as a
"portable" application?
</a>
35 <li><a href=
"#3d6684e9">Is there a way to use custom tools (binaries) with LameXP instead of the
"built-in" ones?
</a>
36 <li><a href=
"#df406578">The LameXP startup (splash screen) takes very long on my system. What can I do?
</a>
37 <li><a href=
"#a923d407">Why is there a time limit (expiration) in my version of LameXP?
</a>
38 <li><a href=
"#900a2a6c">Is there a way to hide/show the LameXP console (
"DOS Box") window?
</a>
39 <li><a href=
"#9b0a5c32">Why does application 'xyz' not open the Wave files created by LameXP?
</a>
40 <li><a href=
"#89cbd3d0">Why does LameXP run (only) N instances/threads in parallel on my computer?
</a>
41 <li><a href=
"#454e51dd">Why does LameXP try to connect to the web-server at 'xyz.com' secretly?
</a>
42 <li><a href=
"#12d077d5">How can I force LameXP to create ID3 version
2 (ID3v2) tags?
</a>
43 <li><a href=
"#d83ab3c6">Why does LameXP use LAME v3.99 rather than v3.98?
</a><br>
44 <li><a href=
"#4213adbc">Can LameXP be used to convert/extract tracks from an Audio CD?
</a>
45 <li><a href=
"#434f2578">Why is the maximum normalization level limited to -
0.5 dB?
</a>
46 <li><a href=
"#9f8ff13a">What do the different 'Equalization' modes do?
</a>
47 <li><a href=
"#c6d9dfed">Why does my encoded file come out slightly longer than the original?
</a>
48 <li><a href=
"#ed4d30ed">Why is the Hibernation option disabled (greyed out) on my system?
</a>
49 <li><a href=
"#54150e92">Why do random files fail with
"Not Found!" or
"Failed!" status?
</a>
50 <li><a href=
"#3e999f02">Why is
"Convert this file with LameXP" missing from the Explorer context menu somtimes?
</a>
51 <li><a href=
"#e7c9ae2b">Why do I get the error 'Executable doesn't support Windows compatibility mode' on startup?
</a>
52 <li><a href=
"#328b0a18">Why do I get the error 'Executable requires Windows XP or later' on startup?
</a>
53 <li><a href=
"#3ffe490e">Why do I get the error 'The procedure entry point De/EncodePointer could not be located' on startup?
</a>
54 <li><a href=
"#01922741">Why do I get the error 'LameXP.exe is not a valid Win32 application' on startup?
</a>
55 <li><a href=
"#491aaad9">Why do I get the error 'A device attached to the system is not functioning' on startup?
</a>
56 <li><a href=
"#a0fd5ae8">Why do I get the error 'File
´tool_foobar.exe
´ could not be locked!' on startup?
</a>
57 <li><a href=
"#f35cfa24">How can I translate LameXP to my language or improve an existing translation?
</a>
58 <li><a href=
"#8dba381f">Where can I download the latest version of LameXP?
</a>
59 <li><a href=
"#9c2e273d">Where can I submit bug reports or feature requests?
</a>
60 <li><a href=
"#e5694e3e">What programming language is LameXP written in?
</a><br>
61 <li><a href=
"#982cf1c0">Where can I find the LameXP source code?
</a>
62 <li><a href=
"#a0c1e92b">What are the prerequisites to build LameXP from the sources?
</a></ul>
66 <a name=
"6a0b023d"></a><b>What is LameXP ???
</b><br>
68 LameXP is a graphical user-interface (front-end) for various of audio encoders: It allows you convert your
<br>
69 audio files from one audio format to another one in the most simple way. Despite its name, LameXP is NOT only
<br>
70 a front-end for the LAME encoder, but supports a wide range of output formats, including MP3, Ogg Vorbis,
<br>
71 AAC/MP4, FLAC, AC-
3 and Wave Audio. The number of supported input formats is even bigger! Furthermore LameXP
<br>
72 does NOT only run on Windows XP, but also on Windows Vista, Windows
7 and many other operating systems.
<br>
74 As all the encoders and decoders used by LameXP are already
"built-in" (with one exception), you do NOT need
<br>
75 to install any additional software, such as
"Codecs",
"Filters" or
"Plug-ins", on your computer. Everything
<br>
76 works
"out of the box"! You can even use LameXP as a
"portable" application, e.g. run it from your USB stick.
<br>
77 Moreover LameXP was designed for batch processing. This means that you can convert a huge number of audio
<br>
78 files, e.g. a complete album or even your entire music collection, in a single step. And, as LameXP is able
<br>
79 to process several audio files in parallel, it takes full advantage of modern multi-core processors! However
<br>
80 LameXP is NOT only optimized for speed, it also provides excellent sound quality by using the most
<br>
81 sophisticated encoders available and by giving the user unrestricted control over all encoding parameters.
<br>
83 In addition to that, LameXP provides full support for metadata, including cover art. So when converting your
<br>
84 audio files, LameXP will retain existing meta tags. But there also is an easy-to-use editor for adding or
<br>
85 modifying metadata. LameXP supports Unicode for both, meta tags and filenames, so there won't be any problems
<br>
86 with
"foreign" characters. And, thanks to our translators, the user-interface of LameXP is available in
<br>
87 multiple languages. Last but not least, LameXP supports a number of post-processing filters, including sample
<br>
88 rate conversion, normalization (gain), tone adjustment and downmixing of multi-channel sources.
<br><br>
92 <a name=
"be0a8459"></a><b>What platforms does LameXP run on?
</b><br>
94 LameXP is currently being developed on the following platforms:
<br><ul>
95 <li>Microsoft Windows
7 (
32-Bit and
64-Bit editions) with
<a href=
"http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/gg635126" target=
"_blank">Service Pack
1</a>
96 <li>Microsoft Windows XP with
<a href=
"http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/bb794714" target=
"_blank">Service Pack
3</a></ul>
98 The following platforms should work too, but aren't tested extensively:
<br><ul>
99 <li>Microsoft Windows
8 (
32-Bit and
64-Bit editions)
100 <li>Microsoft Windows Vista (
32-Bit and
64-Bit editions) with
<a href=
"http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd262148" target=
"_blank">Service Pack
2</a>
101 <li>Microsoft Windows XP x64 Edition with
<a href=
"http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17791" target=
"_blank">Service Pack
2</a>
102 <li>Microsoft Windows
2000 with
<a href=
"http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=4127" target=
"_blank">Service Pack
4</a>
103 <li>Microsoft Windows Server
2008 with
<a href=
"http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd262148" target=
"_blank">Service Pack
2</a>
104 <li>Microsoft Windows Server
2008 R2 with
<a href=
"http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/gg635126" target=
"_blank">Service Pack
1</a>
105 <li>GNU/Linux (e.g. Ubuntu
12.04) using
<a href=
"http://www.winehq.org/" target=
"_blank">Wine
</a> v1.4+, native Linux version planned
</ul>
107 The following
"legacy" platforms are NOT supported any longer:
<br><ul>
108 <li>Microsoft Windows NT
4.0
109 <li>Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (*)
110 <li>Microsoft Windows
98 (*)
111 <li>Microsoft Windows
95</ul>
113 (*) Some people claim that LameXP can run on Windows
98 SE or Millennium Edition with the help of
<a href=
"http://sourceforge.net/projects/kernelex/" target=
"_blank">KernelEx
</a>.
<br><br>
117 <a name=
"29065b86"></a><b>What output formats (encoders) does LameXP support?
</b><br>
119 Currently the following output formats are supported by LameXP:
<br><ul>
120 <li>MPEG Audio-Layer III (MP3), using the
<a href=
"http://lamexp.sourceforge.net/" target=
"_blank">LAME
</a> encoder [built-in]
121 <li>Ogg Vorbis, using the
<a href=
"http://www.xiph.org/vorbis/" target=
"_blank">OggEnc2/libvorbis
</a> encoder with
<a href=
"http://www.geocities.jp/aoyoume/aotuv/" target=
"_blank">aoTuV
</a> [built-in]
122 <li>Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), using
<a href=
"http://www.audiocoding.com/nero_aacenc.html" target=
"_blank">Nero AAC
</a> encoder [separate download!]
123 <li>ATSC A/
52 (aka
"AC-3"), using the
<a href=
"http://aften.sourceforge.net/" target=
"_blank">Aften
</a> encoder [built-in]
124 <li>DCA, using the
<a href=
"https://gitorious.org/dtsenc" target=
"_blank">DCA Enc
</a> encoder (still experimental) [built-in]
125 <li>Free Lossless Audio Codec (
<a href=
"http://flac.sourceforge.net/" target=
"_blank">FLAC
</a>) [built-in]
126 <li>Uncompressed PCM / Waveform Audio File (WAV/RIFF)
</ul>
130 <a name=
"4e398a46"></a><b>What input formats (decoders) does LameXP support?
</b><br>
132 Currently the following input formats are supported by LameXP:
<br><ul>
133 <li>AC-
3 (ATSC A/
52), using Valib decoder [built-in]
134 <li>Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), using FAAD decoder [built-in]
135 <li>Apple Lossless (ALAC)
137 <li>Avisynth, audio only [requires Avisynth
2.5.x to be installed]
138 <li>Digital Theater System, using Valib decoder [built-in]
139 <li>Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)
141 <li>Monkey's Audio (APE)
142 <li>MPEG Audio-Layer I (MP1), using mpg123 decoder [built-in]
143 <li>MPEG Audio-Layer II (MP2), using mpg123 decoder [built-in]
144 <li>MPEG Audio-Layer III (MP3), using mpg123 decoder [built-in]
149 <li>The True Audio (TTA)
150 <li>Uncompressed PCM / Waveform Audio File (WAV/RIFF)
151 <li>WavPack Hybrid Lossless Audio
152 <li>Windows Media Audio (WMA), using wma2wav [built-in]
</ul>
156 <a name=
"96205e91"></a><b>My anti-virus program raises an alarm when I try to download/install/launch LameXP. Why is that?
</b><br>
158 Occasionally your anti-virus program may mistakenly(!) detect
"malware" (e.g. virus, trojan horse or worm) in
<br>
159 LameXP. This is called a
"false positive" and the file is actually innocent/clean. It's an error in your
<br>
160 specific anti-virus software. So in case you encounter such problems, please use
<a href=
"http://www.virustotal.com/" target=
"_blank">http://www.virustotal.com/
</a>,
<br>
161 <a href=
"http://www.virscan.org/" target=
"_blank">http://www.virscan.org/
</a> or a similar online-service to check the file in question with multiple(!) anti-virus
<br>
162 engines. Especially take care with scan results like
"suspicious",
"generic" or
"packed", as such results are
<br>
163 NOT confirmed malware detections and in almost any case they can be ignored/discarded safely!
<br>
165 Apparently anti-virus programs tend to suspect installers or uninstallers created with
<a href=
"http://nsis.sourceforge.net/" target=
"_blank">NSIS
</a>. Furthermore some
<br>
166 anti-virus programs blindly suspect all
"packed" executables of being malware. Obviously that is a stupid
<br>
167 generalization, so please ignore these nasty warnings! Last but not least: Always keep in mind that LameXP is
<br>
168 OpenSource software. If you don't trust the provided pre-compiled binaries, simply download the
<a href=
"#982cf1c0">source codes
</a>,
<br>
169 search the code for
"malicious" functions (you won't find any!) and then
<a href=
"#a0c1e92b">compile
</a> your own binary.
<br>
172 <li>IN CASE YOU HAVE A CONFIRMED INFECTION, RE-DOWNLOAD THE FILE FROM ONE OF THE *OFFICIAL* MIRRORS!
173 <li>DO NOT SEND US VIRUS REPORTS, UNLESS YOU HAVE VERIFIED THE INFECTION WITH MULTIPLE ANTI-VIRUS ENGINES!
174 <li>PLEASE REPORT
"FALSE POSITIVES" TO THE DEVELOPER OF YOUR ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE. WE CANNOT FIX THEM!
</ul>
178 <a name=
"fd53d98a"></a><b>Who created LameXP?
</b><br>
180 LameXP was written from the scratch by
<a href=
"mailto:mulder2-nospam@gmx.de">LoRd_MuldeR
<MuldeR2
@GMX.de
></a>. However it has to be noted that LameXP
<br>
181 uses a number of third-party tools, which have been created by the individual authors. Moreover various
<br>
182 people have contributed LameXP translations. Please see the
"About" dialog for details! Also please do NOT
<br>
183 send e-mail to LoRd_MuldeR directly, if the problem or suggestion can be discussed in the
<a href=
"#9c2e273d">support
</a> forums!
<br>
185 More OpenSource projects by LoRd_MuldeR available at
<a href=
"http://mulder.at.gg/" target=
"_blank">http://mulder.at.gg/
</a> or
<a href=
"http://mulder.googlecode.com/" target=
"_blank">http://mulder.googlecode.com/
</a>.
<br><br>
189 <a name=
"de1c5e44"></a><b>What license is LameXP released under?
</b><br>
191 LameXP is free software. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
<br>
192 License (GPL) as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version
2 of the License, or (at your
<br>
193 option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
<br>
194 WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
<br>
196 The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed to take away your freedom to share and
<br>
197 change the works. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share
<br>
198 and change all versions of a program
- to make sure it remains free software for all its users.
<br>
200 Please see the
<a href=
"http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html" target=
"_blank">GNU General Public License
</a> for more details!
<br><br>
204 <a name=
"303e5fa7"></a><b>Do I have to pay for LameXP? / How can I donate to the authors of LameXP?
</b><br>
206 LameXP is
<a href=
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software" target=
"_blank">free software
</a>, so you may use it for free and for any purpose. Moreover the authors of LameXP
<br>
207 currently do NOT accept any donations. Therefore you should NOT pay or donate any money in order to obtain
<br>
208 LameXP! However it was brought to our attention that some dubious third-party web-sites offer
"payed"<br>
209 downloads of LameXP and/or include Adware into the LameXP download. We do NOT cooperate with any of these
<br>
210 sites. So if you pay for the LameXP download, the authors of LameXP will not get a single cent! Instead you
<br>
211 should save your money and download LameXP from the official mirrors (
<a href=
"#8dba381f">see below
</a>), which is
100% free.
<br>
213 If you want to support the development of LameXP, you can do so by contributing translations or code :-)
<br><br>
217 <a name=
"054010d9"></a><b>MP3, AAC or Vorbis - What is the best compressed audio format?
</b><br>
219 This question can NOT be answered in general. The best audio format is the format that works best for you!
<br>
221 Having said that, there are a few things to consider. First of all: All output formats supported by LameXP,
<br>
222 except for FLAC and PCM/Wave, use a lossy(!) kind of compression. That applies to MP3 and AAC as well as
<br>
223 Vorbis. Consequently with these formats a certain quality loss is unavoidable when re-encoding/converting, no
<br>
224 matter what. This is called
"generation loss". Nonetheless all three formats (MP3, AAC and Vorbis) are able
<br>
225 to retain an EXCELLENT audio quality, given that the chosen bitrate (quality level) is sufficient/reasonable.
<br>
227 Secondly, the audio quality does not depend on the audio format and the chosen bitrate only. It also depends
<br>
228 greatly on the encoder software that is being used. LameXP uses the LAME MP3 encoder, probably the most
<br>
229 sophisticated MP3 encoder out there, the Nero AAC encoder, one of the best AAC encoders available, and the
<br>
230 aoTuV Vorbis encoder, an improved/tuned version of the reference Vorbis encoder. Consequently LameXP provides
<br>
231 you with state-of-the-art encoders, which ensures maximum encoding quality for ALL supported output formats.
<br>
233 Another thing to consider is hardware support, i.e. support on stand-alone and portable players. The MP3
<br>
234 format still has the best support on hardware players, but support for AAC/MP4 has become widespread too -
<br>
235 especially on portable devices. Hardware support for Vorbis is more limited, but growing. So if portability
<br>
236 is a priority, then MP3 is a good choice. However the MP3 format does NOT support multi-channel audio, which
<br>
237 means that you will have to use AAC or Vorbis for multi-channel files. Last but not least, if you prefer a
<br>
238 truly
"open" and patent-free audio format, then Vorbis will be the format of your choice!
<br>
240 Another resource you might find interesting are Sebastian's Public Listening Tests:
<br><ul>
241 <li><a href=
"http://listening-tests.hydrogenaudio.org/sebastian/mp3-128-1/results.htm" target=
"_blank">MP3 listening test @
128 kbps, includes MP3 encoders (like LAME) only
</a>
242 <li><a href=
"http://listening-tests.hydrogenaudio.org/sebastian/mf-128-1/results.htm" target=
"_blank">Multiformat listening test @
128 kbps, includes LAME MP3, Vorbis AoTuV and others
</a>
243 <li><a href=
"http://listening-tests.hydrogenaudio.org/sebastian/mf-64-1/results.htm" target=
"_blank">Multiformat listening test @
64 kbps, includes Vorbis AoTuV, Nero AAC and others
</a>
245 (However be aware that some of the results from these listening tests are not up-to-date anymore)
<br><br>
249 <a name=
"411d1257"></a><b>What is the difference between the CBR, VBR and ABR rate control modes?
</b><br>
251 CBR means
"constant bitrate" and, as the name implies, CBR mode allocates the bits at a constant rate. This
<br>
252 means that each part of the audio will get the same amount of bits, regardless of its content. Obviously this
<br>
253 will waste bits in parts of the audio that are easy to compress. At the same time the quality of parts of the
<br>
254 audio that are hard to compress will be degraded. Consequently using CBR mode is NOT a very good idea, unless
<br>
255 you really have to for some reason. However CBR mode has the advantage that the final size of the compressed
<br>
256 file is perfectly predictable. The resulting file size is defined simply as
"duration × fixed bitrate".
<br>
258 VBR means
"variable bitrate" and, in contrast to CBR mode, VBR mode allows the bitrate to vary/fluctuate.
<br>
259 Thus the VBR mode enables the encoder to adapt the bitrate with respect to the content of the audio. Parts of
<br>
260 the audio that are easy to compress will get a lower bitrate in order to safe bits. Parts of the audio that
<br>
261 are hard to compress will get a higher bitrate in order to avoid quality degradation. Or in other words: VBR
<br>
262 mode
"moves" the bits to the locations where they are actually needed. Therefore the VBR mode achieves a much
<br>
263 better compression efficiency than the CBR mode, i.e. with VBR mode you can get a better quality at the same
<br>
264 file size, or the same quality at a smaller file size (compared to CBR mode). One disadvantage of the VBR
<br>
265 mode is, however, that the final size of the compressed file can NOT be predicted. The resulting file size is
<br>
266 defined as
"duration × average bitrate", but the average bitrate can NOT be known beforehand. That's
<br>
267 because the average bitrate for a specific VBR quality level can vary greatly, depending solely on the
<br>
268 complexity of the individual audio. Nonetheless VBR mode generally should be the preferred encoding mode.
<br>
270 ABR means
"average bitrate". You can think of ABR mode as a compromise between the CBR and VBR mode. With ABR
<br>
271 mode the bitrate is allowed to vary/fluctuate, similar to VBR mode. However the ABR mode doesn't work with a
<br>
272 predefined/fixed quality level, as VBR mode does. Instead in ABR mode the encoder will continuously re-adjust
<br>
273 the quality level in order to hit the target average(!) bitrate. You can also think of ABR mode as a mode
<br>
274 that pre-allocates the bits in a CBR-like fashion and then redistributes the bits within a local neighborhood
<br>
275 as needed. Thus the ABR mode combines advantages of CBR mode (predictability) and VBR mode (good quality).
<br>
276 The final size of the encoded file is still defined as
"duration × average bitrate", but with ABR mode the
<br>
277 average bitrate *is* known beforehand. So if you need to hit a specific file size, ABR mode is the solution.
<br>
279 Hint: The Nero AAC encoder supports a variant of the ABR mode, the so-called
"2-Pass" mode. That mode scans
<br>
280 through the entire file once (first pass) before the actual encoding is performed (second pass). This way the
<br>
281 encoder is able to distribute the bits over the entire file and still hit the desired target average bitrate.
<br>
282 It should be obvious that the advantages of the
"2-Pass" mode come at the cost of increased encoding time.
<br>
284 Hint: A common mistake done by people comparing rate control modes is choosing a bitrate that is too high. Of
<br>
285 course only files of an identical (average) bitrate can be compared by quality. But if that bitrate is chosen
<br>
286 too high, you won't be able to draw any conclusions from the test. That's because at a certain bitrate even
<br>
287 the CBR mode will retain excellent quality. In that situation VBR mode or ABR mode can't give an even better
<br>
288 quality for obvious reasons. But drawing the conclusion that there is no difference between CBR mode and the
<br>
289 VBR/ABR modes would be very wrong! The differences will become significant when using a reasonable bitrate.
<br>
290 Another mistake is starting with a low-quality source file and concluding that all modes perform equally bad.
<br>
292 Summary of rate control modes:
<br><ul>
293 <li>Need to hit a specific fixed file size and still want to retain decent quality?
⇒ ABR mode
294 <li>Want to retain a certain level of quality and the file size doesn't matter that much?
⇒ VBR mode
295 <li>Avoid CBR mode by all means, unless there are crude restrictions that force you to use it!
</ul>
299 <a name=
"71a113b0"></a><b>How do I enable AAC/MP4/M4A output (encoding) in LameXP?
</b><br>
301 LameXP uses the Nero AAC Encoder for creating AAC/MP4/M4A files. The Nero AAC Encoder is available as a free
<br>
302 download. However the license doesn't allow redistribution! Therefore we can NOT ship the Nero encoder along
<br>
303 with LameXP. Instead you will have to obtain the Nero encoder as a separate download from the official
"Nero<br>
304 Digital" web-site. Currently you'll find the latest Nero AAC Encoder version at this location:
<br><ul>
305 <li><a href=
"http://www.nero.com/deu/downloads-nerodigital-nero-aac-codec.php" target=
"_blank">http://www.nero.com/deu/downloads-nerodigital-nero-aac-codec.php
</a>
306 <li><a href=
"http://ftp6.nero.com/tools/" target=
"_blank">http://ftp6.nero.com/tools/
</a></ul>
308 After you have downloaded the Nero AAC Encoder as a ZIP file, you must
"install" the encoder binaries, so
<br>
309 LameXP can use them. Simply unzip the files 'neroAacEnc.exe', 'neroAacDec.exe' as well as 'neroAacTag.exe' to
<br>
310 the same directory where your LameXP executable ('LameXP.exe') is located. For unzipping the ZIP file you can
<br>
311 use any suitable archiver, such as
<a href=
"http://rarlabs.com/download.htm" target=
"_blank">WinRAR
</a> or
<a href=
"http://sevenzip.sourceforge.net/" target=
"_blank">7-Zip
</a>. Once the required Nero encoder binaries are located in
<br>
312 the LameXP directory, the AAC encoding option should be
"enabled" on the next startup of LameXP.
<br>
317 Optionally LameXP supports the QAAC encoder, i.e. the AAC encoder used by QuickTime and iTunes. Just like the
<br>
318 Nero AAC encoder, the QAAC encoder can NOT be redistributed along with LameXP. Thus if you want to use the
<br>
319 QAAC encoder, then you have to install QuickTime v7.7
.1 (or newer). Alternatively iTunes v10.5 (or newer) can
<br>
320 be installed. Both, QuickTime and iTunes, can be
<a href=
"http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/" target=
"_blank">downloaded for free
</a> from the official Apple web-site.
<br>
322 In order to enable the QAAC Encoder support you will also need the 'QAAC Encoder Add-in' for LameXP:
<br><ul>
323 <li><a href=
"http://www.mediafire.com/file/ggq8vetr8fkfxkm/LameXP.qaac-addin.2012-03-06.zip" target=
"_blank">http://www.mediafire.com/file/uayr4fbbohx9544/LameXP.qaac-addin
.2012-
03-
06.zip
</a>
324 <li><a href=
"http://mulder.brhack.net/public/add-in/LameXP.qaac-addin.2012-03-06.zip" target=
"_blank">http://mulder.brhack.net/public/add-in/LameXP.qaac-addin
.2012-
03-
06.zip
</a></ul>
326 Please follow the install instructions that are included with the 'QAAC Encoder Add-in' download package!
<br>
327 Note that you do NOT need to install this Add-in, if you only want to use the Nero AAC Encoder.
<br>
332 Optionally LameXP also supports the FHG AAC Encoder now. Just like the Nero encoder, the FHG encoder can NOT
<br>
333 be redistributed along with LameXP. However the FHG AAC Encoder is included with Winamp v5.62, which is
<br>
334 available as a free download (you don't need to buy the
"Pro" version!) from the official Winamp web-site at:
<br><ul>
335 <li><a href=
"http://www.winamp.com/media-player/" target=
"_blank">http://www.winamp.com/media-player/
</a>
336 <li><a href=
"http://download.nullsoft.com/winamp/client/winamp5623_full_emusic-7plus_all.exe" target=
"_blank">http://download.nullsoft.com/winamp/client/winamp5623_full_emusic-
7plus_all.exe
</a></ul>
338 In order to enable the FHG AAC Encoder support you will also need the 'FHG AAC Encoder Add-in' for LameXP:
<br><ul>
339 <li><a href=
"http://www.mediafire.com/file/h8b6d518lb9vzfp/LameXP.fhgaacenc-addin.2011-08-22.zip" target=
"_blank">http://www.mediafire.com/file/on0m45l7z26fmch/LameXP.fhgaacenc-addin
.2011-
08-
22.zip
</a>
340 <li><a href=
"http://mulder.brhack.net/public/add-in/LameXP.fhgaacenc-addin.2011-08-22.zip" target=
"_blank">http://mulder.brhack.net/public/add-in/LameXP.fhgaacenc-addin
.2011-
08-
22.zip
</a></ul>
342 Please follow the install instructions that are included with the 'FHG AAC Encoder Add-in' download package!
<br>
343 Note that you do NOT need to install this Add-in, if you only want to use the Nero AAC Encoder.
<br><br>
347 <a name=
"126abc5a"></a><b>Is there a way to output
".m4a" or
".aac" files with LameXP?
</b><br>
349 LameXP uses the Nero AAC Encoder for AAC encoding. And the Nero encoder always puts the AAC streams into an
<br>
350 MP4 (MPEG-
4 Part
14) container - in almost any case that is exactly what you want/need! The one and only
<br>
351 "correct" file extension for MP4 files is '.mp4'. However sometimes the
"incorrect" file extension '.m4a' is
<br>
352 used to indicate
"audio-only" MP4 files. Even worse: There are some buggy (hardware) players that will
<br>
353 recognize MP4 audio file only with the
"incorrect" .m4a extension, but NOT with the
"correct" .mp4 extension.
<br>
354 Of course LameXP will save your MP4 files with the
"correct" .mp4 extension. But if you need your MP4 files
<br>
355 with an .m4a extension for some reason, you can simply rename(!) these files. Renaming isn't more or less
<br>
356 "incorrect" than saving the files as .m4a directly. After all, an MP4 file remains an MP4 file.
<br>
358 Warning: While renaming .mp4 files to .m4a (or vice versa) is safe, because both file extensions refer to MP4
<br>
359 files, you must NOT rename any .mp4/.m4a files to .aac (or the other way around). That's because the '.aac'
<br>
360 extension is used with
"raw" AAC streams (ADTS format), i.e. AAC streams that are explicitly NOT stored in an
<br>
361 MP4 container! Unfortunately the Nero AAC encoder has NO option to output
"raw" AAC streams. And usually you
<br>
362 don't need such streams. Still, if you really need to extract the
"raw" AAC stream (.aac) from an MP4 file,
<br>
363 you can simply use
<a href=
"http://www.videohelp.com/tools/mp4box" target=
"_blank">MP4Box
</a> for that purpose. Please note that
<a href=
"http://yamb.unite-video.com/">YAMB
</a> is a great MP4Box GUI created by Kurtnoise.
<br><br>
367 <a name=
"ebf016ab"></a><b>How do I enable WMA input (decoding) in LameXP?
</b><br>
369 LameXP now uses its
"built-in" WMA decoder, thanks to 'wma2wav'. However it has to be noted that the WMA
<br>
370 decoder relies on the Windows Media Format Runtime. All supported versions of Microsoft Windows should have
<br>
371 the Windows Media Format Runtime installed as part of the Windows Media Player. But Wine does not! In case
<br>
372 you encounter problems with the WMA decoder, try installing the
<a href=
"http://anonym.to/http://www.citizeninsomniac.com/WMV/wmfdist11.exe" target=
"_blank">Windows Media Format Runtime
</a> manually. This
<br>
373 should also work under Wine. The 'N' or 'KN' editions of Windows
7 need the
<a href=
"http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=16546" target=
"_blank">Windows Media Feature Pack
</a>.
<br><br>
377 <a name=
"9fd53558"></a><b>How can I use LameXP as a
"portable" application?
</b><br>
379 LameXP always is
"portable", in the sense that the application works out of the box: LameXP does NOT require
<br>
380 any additional software, such as codecs, encoders, decoders or runtime libraries, and it will NOT install
<br>
381 anything of that kind on your local computer! All the third-party tools used by LameXP are already built-in.
<br>
382 There currently are two notable exceptions: The Nero AAC encoder and the WMA decoder cannot be redistributed
<br>
383 along with LameXP for legal reasons. Therefore these tools have to be obtained as separate downloads.
<br>
385 Having said that, LameXP stores its configuration file in the
<a href=
"http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd378457(v=vs.85).aspx#FOLDERID_LocalAppData" target=
"_blank">%LOCALAPPDATA%
</a> folder on the local computer.
<br>
386 That's because on a modern multi-user operating this is the only
"correct" folder to store user-specific
<br>
387 configuration files. Also it's one of the few folders where an application is guaranteed to get write-access,
<br>
388 even when the application was launched by a
"normal" (non-admin) user and did not request elevated rights.
<br>
389 Storing the configuration file in the
"install" folder is antiquated and highly error-prone.
<br>
391 Still some users may want to store the configuration file in the same folder as the LameXP executable file,
<br>
392 e.g. when launching LameXP directly from their USB stick on different computers. For this purpose LameXP now
<br>
393 offers a
"true" portable mode. You can enable that mode simply by renaming the LameXP executable file to
<br>
394 "LameXP-Portable.exe". But be aware: When running LameXP in the
"portable" mode, the user(!) must ensure that
<br>
395 write-access is granted to the directory where the LameXP executable is located.
<br><br>
399 <a name=
"3d6684e9"></a><b>Is there a way to use custom tools (binaries) with LameXP instead of the
"built-in" ones?
</b><br>
401 LameXP uses a number third-party tools. All of these tools are already
"built-in" (with a few exceptions) and
<br>
402 thus it is NOT required to provide separate binaries. Usually it will NOT be necessary to replace any of
<br>
403 the
"built-in" tools with a custom (user-provided) binary. If, however, you need to replace/update/downgrade
<br>
404 one of the binaries for a good reason, the recommended method is re-building LameXP from the sources. If you
<br>
405 don't know how to build LameXP from the sources, then you probably shouldn't be trying to replace the binary.
<br>
407 Having said that, there now is a more convenient method for using a custom tool version (binary) instead of
<br>
408 the
"built-in" one. This method works WITHOUT re-building LameXP. However note that the following is intended
<br>
409 for testing and debugging purposes only! Also note that LameXP was specifically designed to work with the
<br>
410 "built-in" versions of the tools. It may not work properly or may not work at all with custom tool versions!
<br>
412 In order to replace a
"built-in" binary, simply put the user-provided binary to the following location:
413 <blockquote><install_folder
>\tools\
<build_number
>\
<tool_name
>.exe
</blockquote>
414 If, for example, you want to replace 'lame.exe' in Build #
666 of LameXP, you would put it to the this path:
415 <blockquote>C:\Path to your LameXP install folder\tools\
666\lame.exe
</blockquote>
416 (It is intended that the '
<build_number
>' part of the path has to be adjusted with every update of LameXP)
<br><br>
420 <a name=
"df406578"></a><b>The LameXP startup (splash screen) takes very long on my system. What can I do?
</b><br>
422 Starting up LameXP shouldn't take longer than approximately
10 seconds. However it was brought to our
<br>
423 attention that badly optimized anti-virus software can slow down the startup procedure a lot! On our test
<br>
424 system (Windows
7 running on an Intel Core2 Q6600 with
4 GB of RAM) starting up LameXP takes about
3 seconds
<br>
425 without an anti-virus software and about
6 seconds with the
"real-time protection" of Microsoft Security
<br>
426 Essentials enabled. With other anti-virus software the startup was delayed up to
20 seconds and more!
<br>
428 So if you think that LameXP is starting up too slow on your system, you should temporarily(!) disable or
<br>
429 uninstall your current anti-virus program and try again. Usually it should be sufficient to disable only the
<br>
430 "real-time protection",
"file system protection" or
"guard" feature of your anti-virus software. If it turns
<br>
431 out that the startup is significantly(!) faster WITHOUT the anti-virus software, please report the problem to
<br>
432 the developer of the anti-virus software. And, if they don't fix the problem, switch to a better product!
<br><br>
436 <a name=
"a923d407"></a><b>Why is there a time limit (expiration) in my version of LameXP?
</b><br>
438 LameXP is free software, released under the GPL. This means that you may use LameXP for free and without any
<br>
439 restrictions. More specifically, there is NO time limit (expiration) in any
"Release" versions of LameXP!
<br>
440 Nonetheless, the
"Beta" (pre-release) versions of LameXP will expire
30 days after build date. That's because
<br>
441 these
"Beta" versions are intended for testing and evaluation only. They are NOT intended for productive use.
<br>
442 After the
30 days have expired, you will have to update your
"Beta" version of LameXP to the latest version.
<br>
443 Usually there will be frequent updates for
"Beta" versions though. So, most of the time, a new update will be
<br>
444 available even before the previous build has expired. We highly recommend to install all updates as soon as
<br>
445 possible instead of waiting for the expiration. If you are NOT willing to update LameXP regularly, stick with
<br>
446 the
"Release" version. The
"Release" versions of LameXP are updated less frequently and they won't expire.
<br>
448 Note: We are well aware that the expiration mechanism implemented in LameXP can be circumvented quite easily,
<br>
449 if you really want to. But implementing a
"better" mechanism is pointless for an OpenSource software ;-)
<br><br>
453 <a name=
"900a2a6c"></a><b>Is there a way to hide/show the LameXP console (
"DOS Box") window?
</b><br>
455 It is common for many people to run an alleged
"DOS" program inside Windows, using a so-called
"DOS Box".
<br>
456 Everything works fine. But when you try to run such a program in DOS, you get an ugly message
"This program<br>
457 cannot be run in DOS mode". What's wrong? Well, the affected program is NOT a
"DOS" one. It is a Windows
<br>
458 Console program.
"DOS" is NOT a synonym of Console. And
"Windows" is NOT a synonym of GUI (Graphical User
<br>
459 Interface). Both, DOS and Windows programs, can be either Console or GUI. Actually Windows programs can be
<br>
460 Console *and* GUI at the same time, i.e. a Windows GUI program can have a Console attached.
<br>
462 LameXP is a GUI program for Windows. However it can have a
"Debug" console attached. The purpose of this
<br>
463 console is providing users an insight into what's happening behind the scenes. While the console is mainly
<br>
464 intended for developers, it may be helpful for
"regular" users too. Nonetheless you usually will NOT need the
<br>
465 console, unless something is going wrong. Therefore the LameXP console is disabled by default in all
<br>
466 "release" builds. You can enable the console by passing the
"--console" command-line parameter, if required.
<br>
467 At the same time the console is enabled by default in all
"beta" (pre-release) builds of LameXP. You can
<br>
468 still disable the console by passing the
"--no-console" command-line parameter, if you don't like it.
<br>
470 WARNING: Any attempt to close the LameXP console window will kill the application immediately !!!
<br><br>
474 <a name=
"9b0a5c32"></a><b>Why does application 'xyz' not open the Wave files created by LameXP?
</b><br>
476 Some of the decoders used in LameXP will insert an additional 'JUNK' chunk into the Wave/RIFF file, right
<br>
477 before the 'fmt' chunk (
"Wave header"). There are technical reasons why this 'JUNK' chunk (placeholder) might
<br>
478 be needed at the beginning of the file. The 'JUNK' type is a standard RIFF type and, by definition of the
<br>
479 RIFF file format specification, any reading application must ignore/skip all 'JUNK' chunks it may encounter!
<br>
480 Evidently most reading applications do so and thus will correctly open the Wave file. Unfortunately it was
<br>
481 brought to our attention that there are a few broken(!) applications, which reject Wave/RIFF files with an
<br>
482 additional 'JUNK' chunk in front of the 'fmt' chunk. It seems that these applications make false assumptions
<br>
483 and expect the 'fmt' chunk to be located at a fixed position, rather than parsing the RIFF structure.
<br>
485 While it is evident that applications, which reject the Wave/RIFF file because of the extra 'JUNK' chunk, are
<br>
486 broken with respect to the RIFF specification and should be fixed by the respective author, there is an easy
<br>
487 workaround: Re-saving the Wave/RIFF file with
<a href=
"http://sox.sourceforge.net/" target=
"_blank">SoX
</a> creates a file that even the broken applications seem to
<br>
488 accept, as SoX apparently doesn't insert any 'JUNK' chunks (although it would be free to do so!) Re-saving
<br>
489 your Wave file with SoX does NOT change the actual content at all, as long as no additional filters are used.
<br>
491 You can use a command-line like this:
<br>
492 <blockquote>sox.exe
"c:\some path\input.wav" "c:\some path\output.wav"</blockquote>
496 <a name=
"89cbd3d0"></a><b>Why does LameXP run (only) N instances/threads in parallel on my computer?
</b><br>
498 LameXP is able to run multiple instances of the encoder or decoder in parallel. This is done in order to
<br>
499 maximize the CPU utilization on modern
"multi-core" processors, which will significantly speed up the overall
<br>
500 encoding process. However be aware that LameXP uses file-based parallelization. This means that the maximum
<br>
501 number of instances that can run in parallel is limited by the number of files that are processed. If, for
<br>
502 example, you convert only a single file, then NO parallelization will be possible. If, instead, you convert
<br>
503 multiple files at once, then LameXP can run as many instances in parallel as files are being converted.
<br>
505 Within the aforementioned limitations, LameXP will selected the number of parallel instances based on the
<br>
506 number of available processors (CPU cores) on the individual system. However LameXP will NOT use a one-to-one
<br>
507 mapping! Instead a custom-made 'cubic spline' function is used to map the number of CPU cores to the maximum
<br>
508 number of instances. This function has the following properties: On systems with at most four CPU cores, the
<br>
509 maximum number of parallel instances will be identical to the number of CPU cores. On systems with eight CPU
<br>
510 cores, the maximum number of parallel instances is six. On systems with
16 cores, the maximum number of
<br>
511 parallel instances is eight. On systems with
32 cores, the maximum number of parallel instances is eleven.
<br>
512 And on systems with
64 cores, the maximum number of parallel instances is
16.
16 is the upper limit.
<br>
514 <a href=
"http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/1428/corestoinstancesbig.png" target=
"_blank"><img src=
"http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/1428/corestoinstancesbig.th.png" border=
"0" alt=
"thumb"></a><br>
516 You may wonder why LameXP doesn't always create one instance for each CPU core. In theory, the more instances
<br>
517 we run in parallel, the more CPU cores can be utilized - until all CPU cores are busy and the overall CPU
<br>
518 usage approaches
100%. In reality, however, there are some
"shared" resources on each computer. And, the more
<br>
519 instances we run in parallel, the more processes will be competing for these shared resources! Specifically,
<br>
520 the amount of main memory (RAM) is limited. Creating a huge number of instances in parallel can easily use up
<br>
521 all RAM, which will then cause the operating system to make heavy use of the page file. This can result in
<br>
522 HDD thrashing and hence may significantly hurt the overall performance! But even in case there is enough RAM
<br>
523 available on the system, each encoder or decoder instance needs to access the HDD quite frequently, e.g. for
<br>
524 reading from the input file and for writing to the output file. Thus running too many instances will generate
<br>
525 more I/O operations than the HDD can handle, which will result in an I/O bottleneck. In this situation the
<br>
526 processes will spend more and more time waiting for I/O operations to finish - rather then doing useful work.
<br>
528 In other words: There will always be some point at which creating even more instances will actually slow down
<br>
529 the overall process! On systems with many CPU cores, this point might be reached BEFORE all cores are busy.
<br>
530 Even on the Quadcore computer, which is used to develop/test LameXP and which runs
"only" four instances in
<br>
531 parallel, we sporadically notice significant drops of the CPU usage, obviously caused by HDD overstressing.
<br>
532 If, however, you think that LameXP's choice of the number of parallel instances is too conservative, you may
<br>
533 overwrite the number of parallel instances on the
"Advanced Options" tab - the upper limit is
16 for now.
<br>
534 Finally, note that LameXP only controls the number of instances that will run in parallel, but it does NOT
<br>
535 control how many threads an individual instance will create! Some encoders use
"built-in" multi-threading and
<br>
536 thus a single encoder instance may create several threads - LameXP has no control over that.
<br><br>
540 <a name=
"454e51dd"></a><b>Why does LameXP try to connect to the web-server at 'xyz.com' secretly?
</b><br>
542 LameXP does NOT connect to any web-server secretly! Of course the 'Auto Update' feature of LameXP unavoidably
<br>
543 has to connect to one of our update servers. However in no event LameXP will search for updates without your
<br>
544 agreement. Also LameXP will NOT send any personal information to the update server. It won't even send your
<br>
545 program version to the server. Instead the latest version number will be downloaded from the server first and
<br>
546 will then be compared to your current version number on the local computer. Moreover all information obtained
<br>
547 from the update server are protected with a digital signature (GnuPG) in order to prevent spoofing attacks.
<br>
549 Note: As LameXP is a non-profit project, we cannot afford a huge server infrastructure. Therefore the update
<br>
550 server may be overstrained or unavailable once in a while. As we need to be able to distinguish the case in
<br>
551 which our server is failing from the case in which your local internet connection has a problem, LameXP will
<br>
552 run a short connectivity test on your local system first. For this purpose LameXP contains a list of
64 known
<br>
553 hosts, taken (mostly) from the well-known Alexa 'top
500 sites on the web' listing. LameXP will assume that
<br>
554 your internet connection is working properly if a certain minimum number (currently four) of the known hosts
<br>
555 is reachable. That's also the reason why you may notice LameXP is trying to connect to a
"random" web-site.
<br><br>
559 <a name=
"12d077d5"></a><b>How can I force LameXP to create ID3 version
2 (ID3v2) tags?
</b><br>
561 The LAME encoder automatically chooses the proper ID3 tag version. By default it will create a version
1 tag,
<br>
562 if possible. Only if the information cannot be embedded into a version
1 tag (ID3v1), e.g. because the string
<br>
563 is too long or the string contains Unicode characters, a version
2 tag (ID3v2) will be added. This behavior
<br>
564 is advisable, because devices that support ID3v2 tags should also be able to read ID3v1 tags - but this
<br>
565 doesn't apply the other way around! Moreover embedding an ID3v1 and an ID3v2 tag at the same time, although
<br>
566 the information would have fit into a single ID3v1 tag, means an unnecessary redundancy!
<br>
568 If, however, you need to enforce the creation of an ID3v2 tag for some reason, you can use the
"--add-id3v2"<br>
569 parameter for that purpose. Simply add the parameter to the
"Custom Encoder Parameters" for LAME.
<br>
571 That's what the LAME help says about ID3 tags:
<br>
572 <blockquote>A version
2 tag will NOT be added unless one of the input fields
<br>
573 won't fit in a version
1 tag (e.g. the title string is longer than
30<br>
574 characters), or the '--add-id3v2' or '--id3v2-only' options are used,
<br>
575 or output is redirected to stdout.
</blockquote>
579 <a name=
"d83ab3c6"></a><b>Why does LameXP use LAME v3.99 rather than v3.98?
</b><br>
581 LAME v3.99 contains the latest improvements and bugfixes of the LAME mp3 encoder, but it's less tested than
<br>
582 the older
3.98 release series. The most important reason why LAME v3.99 is used in LameXP v4.xx is because
<br>
583 LameXP v4.xx focuses on proper Unicode support, but LAME v3.98 did NOT support Unicode filenames or Unicode
<br>
584 meta tags (through the CLI front-end, on the Windows platform). However LAME v3.99 finally does!
<br>
586 So far we have not encountered any noteworthy problems with LAME v3.99. If, however, you encounter a problem
<br>
587 with LAME v3.99, please report your finding to the
<a href=
"http://lame.sourceforge.net/contact.php" target=
"_blank">LAME development team
</a>. Do NOT submit any LAME-specific bug
<br>
588 reports to the LameXP developers, as we generally cannot analyze/fix problems specific to the LAME encoder.
<br>
590 [UPDATE] LAME v3.99 Final was release on
2011-
10-
15, so that is the official
"stable" version now! [/UPDATE]
<br><br>
594 <a name=
"4213adbc"></a><b>Can LameXP be used to convert/extract tracks from an Audio CD?
</b><br>
596 LameXP can be used to convert audio files that have been extracted from an Audio CD, but it can NOT extract
<br>
597 or read the audio tracks from the Audio CD directly (yet). Consequently you will have to extract (
"rip") the
<br>
598 audio tracks first, before you can convert them with LameXP. We recommend using the
<a href=
"http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/" target=
"_blank">Exact Audio Copy
</a> software
<br>
599 for that purpose. When ripping tracks from an Audio CD you should always save the tracks as uncompressed Wave
<br>
600 files or as lossless FLAC files! This will avoid a quality loss during the extraction/ripping process.
<br>
602 Warning: The Windows operating system will show CDA files (such as
"Track01.cda") on an Audio CD. These are
<br>
603 dummy/fake files! Actually an Audio CD does NOT contain a file system and thus there are NO files. There only
<br>
604 are audio tracks on an Audio CD. These audio tracks can be extracted as files (e.g. Wave Audio files) using a
<br>
605 ripping software and then the extracted files can be converted. At the same time any attempt to copy/convert
<br>
606 the '.cda' files directly is destined to fail (as the '.cda' files do NOT actually contain any audio data).
<br><br>
610 <a name=
"434f2578"></a><b>Why is the maximum normalization level limited to -
0.5 dB?
</b><br>
612 When an analogue [audio] signal is converted to the digital domain, the signal is sampled at a fixed rate
<br>
613 (e.g.
44100 samples per second) and each
"sample" value is stored with a fixed number of bits (e.g.
16 or
24<br>
614 bits per sample). Consequently [uncompressed] digital audio is represented as a sequence of binary sample
<br>
615 values. The range of possible sample values is determined by the word size (
"bits per sample"). For example
<br>
616 with a word size of
16 bit, the minimum value is
−32768 and the maximum value is
32767 - assuming the values
<br>
617 are signed. The range of the sample values corresponds to the voltage range of the electrical input signal.
<br>
618 The maximum digital sample value (i.e.
32767 at
16-Bit) often is referred to as
0dBFS (
0dB
"full scale").
<br>
620 Performing a Normalization in the digital domain seems straightforward: We simply multiply all sample values
<br>
621 with the same factor. And we choose this factor in such a way that the highest sample value(s) in the track
<br>
622 will become exactly
0dBFS after the normalization has been performed. However one needs to be aware that when
<br>
623 playing back the digital audio track, it needs to be converted back to an analogue signal. The D/A converter
<br>
624 will convert each sample from its binary representation to the corresponding voltage. Then a
"reconstruction"<br>
625 filter will be applied in order to recover a continuous signal from these individual voltages. And for the
<br>
626 reconstructed analogue signal it is possible to have voltages that are higher than the highest digital sample
<br>
627 in the audio track! This is illustrated in the following image (samples are represented as tiny squares):
<br>
629 <a target=
"_blank" href=
"http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/9153/sine0dbfs.png"><img src=
"http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/9153/sine0dbfs.th.png" border=
"0" alt=
"thumb"></a><br>
631 Consequently normalizing the sample values to
0dBFS is NOT a very good idea, as this may very well result in
<br>
632 a reconstructed analogue signal which exceeds(!)
0dBFS. And, as the analogue parts of the playback equipment
<br>
633 generally are NOT prepared for +
0dBFS voltages, this may cause problems, such as annoying distortions!
<br>
635 The help document of a well-known audio editing software contains the following advice:
<br>
636 <blockquote>If you're planning to put normalized audio on CD, you might want to normalize the waveforms to
<br>
637 no more than
96% [-
0.36 dB] as some audio compact disc players have problems accurately reproducing
<br>
638 bits that have been processed to
100% (maximum) amplitude [
0dBFS].
</blockquote>
639 For details please refer to the following article:
<br><ul>
640 <li><a href=
"http://www.audioholics.com/education/audio-formats-technology/issues-with-0dbfs-levels-on-digital-audio-playback-systems" target=
"_blank">http://www.audioholics.com/...issues-with-
0dbfs-levels-on-digital-audio-playback-systems
</a></ul>
644 <a name=
"9f8ff13a"></a><b>What do the different 'Equalization' modes do?
</b><br>
646 The
"equalization" modes control how the normalization filter will deal with multi-channel input files, i.e.
<br>
647 everything that is not Mono. The
"Peak Level" mode will normalize each channel according to its highest peak
<br>
648 (maximum sample value). This means that channels with a lower maximum sample value will be amplified stronger
<br>
649 than channels with a higher maximum sample value. Still all samples in a channel will be amplified by the
<br>
650 same factor, so dynamic range compression is NOT done. The
"RMS Level" mode works similar to the previous
<br>
651 mode, but the channels are amplified according to their peak RMS level (maximum energy), instead of their
<br>
652 maximum sample value. This may be used to correct stereo imbalance caused by an imperfect record turntable
<br>
653 cartridge. Last but not least, the
"None" mode will not euqalize the channels at all, i.e. all channles will
<br>
654 by amplified by the same factor. In the last mode, the highest peak of all(!) channels is used as threshold.
<br><br>
658 <a name=
"c6d9dfed"></a><b>Why does my encoded file come out slightly longer than the original?
</b><br>
660 Because of the way most (lossy) audio compressors work, a number of
"silent" samples have to be prepended to
<br>
661 the first input sample. Also a number of silent samples may be appended to the last input sample. Obviously
<br>
662 these additional
"padding" samples will make the encoded file longer than the original input. If the decoder
<br>
663 does not compensate for the padding samples that have been added by the encoder, the padding samples at the
<br>
664 beginning of the encoded file will cause a certain delay/shift, compared to the (uncompressed) original file.
<br>
665 Another effect is that there will be a
"gap" between the files, when playing multiple files in sequence.
<br>
667 It has to be noted that the padding is an inherent property of the audio compressor that can not be avoided.
<br>
668 But, as mentioned before, the padding samples can be removed by the decoder. In that case, the decoded output
<br>
669 will have the exactly same length (in samples) as the original file. However this can only be done, if the
<br>
670 decoder is able to determine the exact number of padding samples that had been added. While the Vorbis audio
<br>
671 format stores the number of padding samples in the stream and thus any compliant decoder will remove them,
<br>
672 the MP3 and AAC audio formats do NOT define an
"official" way to store the the number of padding samples!
<br>
674 Nonetheless, the LAME MP3 encoder, which is used by LameXP, uses its own
"non-standard" way to indicate the
<br>
675 exact number of padding samples. This is done by adding a so-called
"LAME header" to the MP3 file. Hence MP3
<br>
676 decoders, which recognize the LAME header, will be able to remove the padding samples. This feature often is
<br>
677 referred to as
"gapless" decoding/playback. The 'mpg123' decoder, which is used by LameXP, does support the
<br>
678 gapless decoding. This means that if you encode MP3 files with LameXP/LAME, then gapless decoding will be
<br>
679 possible. And if you decode these files with LameXP/mpg123 again, they will come out at the original length.
<br>
681 Still you have to be aware that NOT all MP3 decoders support the LAME header. So if you encode MP3 files with
<br>
682 LameXP and then decode them with an arbitrary MP3 decoder, they may come out at a
"wrong" length. And there
<br>
683 is absoloutely nothing that LameXP could do about that! Furthermore, if you decode a MP3 file in LameXP that
<br>
684 has been created with some MP3 decoder which did not add a LAME header, then it is impossible to remove the
<br>
685 padding samples. That's because in this situation there is NO way to know the number of padding samples!
<br>
687 Some more info on this topic can be found here:
<br><ul>
688 <li><a href=
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gapless_playback" target=
"_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gapless_playback
</a>
689 <li><a href=
"http://lame.sourceforge.net/tech-FAQ.txt" target=
"_blank">http://lame.sourceforge.net/tech-FAQ.txt
</a>
690 <li><a href=
"http://cas.web.cern.ch/cas/Denmark-2010/Caspers/Tektronix%20%20primer%20on%20overlapping%20FFT%20signals%202009%20CAS2010.pdf" target=
"_blank">Understanding FFT Overlap Processing
694 <a name=
"ed4d30ed"></a><b>Why is the Hibernation option disabled (greyed out) on my system?
</b><br>
696 In order to use
"Hibernation", your system must support the S4 power saving mode (aka
"Suspend-to-Disk") and
<br>
697 the hibernation file (
"hiberfil.sys") must be enabled. If these conditions are not met, then the Hibernation
<br>
698 option will be disabled in LameXP, for obvious reasons. Note that on older versions of Windows you can enable
<br>
699 or disable the hibernation file in the
"Power Options" dialog of the Control Panel (see
<a href=
"http://tothepc.com/img/2010/05/xp-hibernate-disable.png" target=
"_blank">here
</a>). On Windows
7<br>
700 and probably also on Vista, you have to do this from the Windows command interpreter. First open an elevated
<br>
701 command prompt by typing
"cmd" in the Startmenu (not
"Run" dialog!) and when
"cmd.exe" appears as suggestion,
<br>
702 then right-click on
"cmd.exe" and choose
"Run as administartor". After that you should see an
"Administrator"<br>
703 command prompt window. Here you can type
"powercfg -h on" (without the quotation marks!) and press Enter to
<br>
704 enable the hibernation file. You can disable the hibernation file again by typing
"powercfg -h off".
<br>
706 Note: The size of
"hiberfil.sys" is equal to your RAM size and it always is located on the system partition!
<br><br>
710 <a name=
"54150e92"></a><b>Why do random files fail with
"Not Found!" or
"Failed!" status?
</b><br>
712 If a file fails to convert with
"Not Found!" or
"Failed!" status, this usually has a reason! In that case you
<br>
713 can double-click on the failed item in order to view the log. The log will give detailed information about
<br>
714 the problem that has occured. In very rare cases, however, the following behavior has been observed by users:
<br>
715 When converting multiple files, some of the failes seem to fail at random. When the same files are converted
<br>
716 again later, some of the files that failed before will now succeed while some of the files that succeeded
<br>
717 before will now fail. This behavior has been tracked down to faultily
"anti-virus" software! So in case you
<br>
718 encounter the described behavior and if you use some anti-virus software with
"real-time scanner" or
"guard"<br>
719 functionality, then try to uninstall (or at least disable) the anti-virus software. If that resolves the
<br>
720 problem, then you know for sure that the anti-virus software was the cause of the problem. As the developers
<br>
721 of LameXP can NOT fix or workaround problems induced by faultily
"anti-virus" software, please report such
<br>
722 problems to the developer (or support team) of your anti-virus software! Or switch to a better a/v product...
<br><br>
726 <a name=
"3e999f02"></a><b>Why is
"Convert this file with LameXP" missing from the Explorer context menu somtimes?
</b><br>
728 The entry
"Convert this file with LameXP" will be available from the Windows Explorer context menu for all
<br>
729 files supported by LameXP, if (and only if) the LameXP Shell-Integration is enbaleld. You can enable or
<br>
730 disable the LameXP Shell-Integration at any time from the
"Tools > Configuration" menu within LameXP at any
<br>
731 time. However be aware that this option will NOT be available, if LameXP is running in portable mode. Also be
<br>
732 aware that if you select multiple files in Explorer, the LameXP context menu entry will only appear, if ALL
<br>
733 files in your selection are supported by LameXP. Last but not least, Windows will NOT show the LameXP context
<br>
734 menu entry, if more than
15 files are selected. That is a limitation of Windows Explorer! It is
"by design".
<br>
737 <a href=
"http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2022295/" target=
"_blank">Context menus are shortened when more than
15 files are selected
</a><br><br>
741 <a name=
"e7c9ae2b"></a><b>Why do I get the error 'Executable doesn't support Windows compatibility mode' on startup?
</b><br>
743 LameXP was designed to run on all supported platforms natively (except for Linux/Wine). If you see this error
<br>
744 message, that's probably because your system is configured to run LameXP in 'compatibility mode', i.e. your
<br>
745 system will pretend an older OS version than is actually running. In Windows Explorer you can disable(!) the
<br>
746 compatibility mode by right-clicking on the 'LameXP.exe' file, choosing 'Properties' from the context menu,
<br>
747 switching to the 'Compatibility' tab and un-checking the 'Run this program in compatibility mode' option.
<br><br>
751 <a name=
"328b0a18"></a><b>Why do I get the error 'Executable requires Windows
2000 or later' on startup?
</b><br>
752 <a name=
"3ffe490e"></a><b>Why do I get the error 'The procedure entry point
<Something
> could not be located' on startup?
</b><br>
753 <a name=
"01922741"></a><b>Why do I get the error 'LameXP.exe is not a valid Win32 application' on startup?
</b><br>
755 You are trying to run LameXP on a platform that is NOT supported, such as Windows
95, Windows
98, Windows
<br>
756 Millennium Edition, Windows NT
4.0. There is nothing you can do about that, except for updating to a less
<br>
757 antiquated OS. Running an outdated and unsupported OS is a severe security risk anyway!
<br>
759 Note: This error can also occur, if your system has been configured to run LameXP in
<a href=
"#e7c9ae2b">compatibility mode
</a>.
<br><br>
763 <a name=
"491aaad9"></a><b>Why do I get the error 'A device attached to the system is not functioning' on startup?
</b><br>
765 This error message from the Windows operating system is somewhat misleading. It often appears together with
<br>
766 a second error message and it means that Windows was unable to load/execute the program file. There are
<br>
767 various reasons why this error might occur, but usually it indicates that you are trying to run LameXP or the
<br>
768 LameXP setup/update program on a platform that is NOT supported, such as Windows
95, Windows
98, Windows
<br>
769 Millennium Edition, Windows NT
4.0. There is nothing you can do about that, except for updating to a less
<br>
770 antiquated OS. Running an outdated and unsupported OS is a severe security risk anyway!
<br><br>
774 <a name=
"a0fd5ae8"></a><b>Why do I get the error 'File
´tool_foobar.exe
´ could not be locked!' on startup?
</b><br>
776 This error indicates that LameXP was unable to open/read a required file - one that it just has extracted
<br>
777 itself. Generally this should never happen, but we have reports that some bogus
"anti-vrius" software might
<br>
778 trigger this kind of errors. Of course there is nothing we can do on our side, if the error is induced by
<br>
779 proprietary third-party software (such as faulty
"anti-virus" software). So please try to temporarily(!)
<br>
780 uninstall/disable your anti-virus software. If the problem goes away, you can be sure it was caused by the
<br>
781 anti-virus software. In that case report the bug to the support team of your anti-virus software as soon as
<br>
782 possible. Or, if they don't fix the bug (in due time), switch to a better anti-virus product!
<br>
785 <a href=
"#96205e91">My anti-virus program raises an alarm when I try to download/install/launch LameXP. Why is that?
</a><br><br>
789 <a name=
"f35cfa24"></a><b>How can I translate LameXP to my language or improve an existing translation?
</b><br>
791 Please see the guide for translators at:
<br><ul>
792 <li><a href=
"http://mulder.brhack.net/public/doc/lamexp_translate.html" target=
"_blank">http://mulder.brhack.net/public/doc/lamexp_translate.html
</a></ul>
796 <a name=
"8dba381f"></a><b>Where can I download the latest version of LameXP?
</b><br>
798 The latest
"official" release of LameXP can be found on the following mirrors:
<br><ul>
799 <li><a href=
"https://github.com/lordmulder/LameXP/downloads" target=
"_blank">https://github.com/lordmulder/LameXP/downloads
</a>
800 <li><a href=
"http://sourceforge.net/projects/lamexp/files/" target=
"_blank">http://sourceforge.net/projects/lamexp/files/
</a>
801 <li><a href=
"http://code.google.com/p/mulder/downloads/list" target=
"_blank">http://code.google.com/p/mulder/downloads/list
</a></ul>
805 <a name=
"9c2e273d"></a><b>Where can I submit bug reports or feature requests?
</b><br>
807 The preferred place to report bugs or request new features is the LameXP thread at Doom9's Forum:
<br><ul>
808 <li><a href=
"http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=157726" target=
"_blank">http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=
157726</a> (English)
809 <li><a href=
"http://forum.gleitz.info/showthread.php?t=37956" target=
"_blank">http://forum.gleitz.info/showthread.php?t=
37956</a> (German)
</ul>
811 Please do NOT send me E-Mail unless you really have to! I receive a LOT of E-Mail and your mail can get lost!
<br><br>
815 <a name=
"e5694e3e"></a><b>What programming language is LameXP written in?
</b><br>
817 While LameXP v3.xx and all earlier versions were written in Delphi/Pascal, starting with version
4.xx the
<br>
818 software has been re-written in the C++ programming language. LameXP v4.xx is based on the Qt cross-platform
<br>
819 application framework and offers full Unicode support. For the time being LameXP is Windows-only.
<br><br>
823 <a name=
"982cf1c0"></a><b>Where can I find the LameXP source code?
</b><br>
825 LameXP is developed using the
<a href=
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git_(software)" target=
"_blank">Git
</a> revision control system. The LameXP Git repository is mirrored at:
<br><ul>
826 <li><a href=
"git://github.com/lordmulder/LameXP.git" target=
"_blank">git://github.com/lordmulder/LameXP.git
</a> (
<a href=
"https://github.com/lordmulder/LameXP/commits/master" target=
"_blank">Log
</a>)
827 <li><a href=
"git://lamexp.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/lamexp/lamexp" target=
"_blank">git://lamexp.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/lamexp/lamexp
</a> (
<a href=
"http://lamexp.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=lamexp/lamexp;a=shortlog;h=HEAD" target=
"_blank">Log
</a>)
828 <li><a href=
"git://gitorious.org/lamexp/lamexp.git" target=
"_blank">git://gitorious.org/lamexp/lamexp.git
</a> (
<a href=
"http://gitorious.org/lamexp/lamexp/commits/master" target=
"_blank">Log
</a>)
</ul>
832 <a name=
"a0c1e92b"></a><b>What are the prerequisites to build LameXP from the sources?
</b><br>
834 LameXP is currently being developed using the following build environment:
<br><ul>
835 <li><a href=
"http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us" target=
"_blank">Visual Studio
2010</a> with Service Pack
1, running on Windows
7 with Service Pack
1
836 <li>Desktop Qt v4.8
.0 (MSVC
2010), included in
<a href=
"http://qt.nokia.com/products/qt-sdk" target=
"_blank">Qt SDK v1.2
</a>
837 <li><a href=
"http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=35AEDA01-421D-4BA5-B44B-543DC8C33A20" target=
"_blank">Windows Platform SDK v7.1
</a> (Windows SDK for Windows
7 and .NET Framework
4)
838 <li>The minimum supported build platform is Windows XP with Service Pack
2</ul>
840 Also note the following hints:
<br><ul>
841 <li>Run
"qtenv2.bat" before launching Visual Studio in order to set up the Qt environment
842 <li>Visual Studio
2008 solution/project files are still provided for people targeting Windows
2000
843 <li>In order to make a
"fully static" build of LameXP, you need to compile Qt as 'static' libraries
844 <li>The Windows Platform SDK v6.0A should work as well, but there may be a few limitations
845 <li>Only the
"fully static" builds may still run on Windows
2000, due to workarounds we implemented
846 <li>Support for the GNU Toolchain (GCC/MinGW + Make) is planned for a future version
</ul>
848 In order to use the LameXP deployment scripts you need the following tools:
<br><ul>
849 <li>Visual Studio
2010 with Service Pack
1 with Desktop Qt v4.8
.0
850 <li><a href=
"http://www.7-zip.org/" target=
"_blank">7-Zip
</a> - file archiver with a high compression ratio
851 <li><a href=
"http://www.scratchpaper.com/" target=
"_blank">NSIS
</a> - Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (Unicode Version)
<ul>
852 <li><a href=
"http://nsis.sourceforge.net/StdUtils_plug-in" target=
"_blank">StdUtils plug-in
</a>
853 <li><a href=
"http://nsis.sourceforge.net/LockedList_plug-in" target=
"_blank">LockedList plug-in
</a>
854 <li><a href=
"http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Inetc_plug-in" target=
"_blank">Inetc plug-in
</a>
855 <li><a href=
"http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=329990" target=
"_blank">Aero plug-in
</a></ul>
856 <li><a href=
"http://upx.sourceforge.net/" target=
"_blank">UPX
</a> - the Ultimate Packer for eXecutables
857 <li><a href=
"http://www.matcode.com/mpress.htm" target=
"_blank">MPRESS
</a> - high-performance executable packer for PE32/PE32+
858 <li><a href=
"ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/binary/" target=
"_blank">GnuPG
</a> - the GNU Privacy Guard v1.4.x
<div style=
"height:7px"></div>
859 <li>NOTE: Copy 'buildenv.template.txt' to 'buildenv.txt' and edit the paths as needed!
</ul>
861 Instructions to build Qt as 'static' libraries:
<br><ul>
862 <li>Make sure Visual Studio
2010 and Strawberry Perl for Windows are installed
863 <li>Install the Qt SDK v1.1 and choose to install the Qt
4.7.3 Sources
864 <li>Open a new command window (cmd.exe)
865 <li>Add Strawberry Perl to your PATH (e.g. 'set PATH=C:\strawberry\perl\bin;%PATH%')
866 <li>Now run 'vcvarsall.bat' form your Visual C++ install directory - within the same console!
867 <li>Change the current directory to the Qt Sources path (e.g. 'C:\QtSDK\QtSources\
4.7.3')
868 <li>Finally run 'configure.exe -release -static -ltcg
<more options
>' and wait for completion
869 <li>You can now open and build the solution files (e.g. 'src\corelib\QtCore.sln' in Visual Studio
870 <li>Make sure you select the
"Release" configuration for your builds!
871 <li>It is also required to change
"Code Generation ⇒ Runtime Library" to
"/MT" for all projects!
872 <li>Libraries you need to build for LameXP include the following:
<ul>
878 <li>plugins\imageformats\qgif.lib
879 <li>plugins\imageformats\qico.lib
880 <li>plugins\imageformats\qsvg.lib
</ul>
881 <li>Put the static *.lib files into the 'LameXP\etc\Prerequisites\qt4_static\lib' directory
882 <li>ImageFormat plugins go to 'LameXP\etc\Prerequisites\qt4_static\plugins\imageformats'
</ul>