[Resolved] Losslessly convert downloaded vids and AAC files

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webfork
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[Resolved] Losslessly convert downloaded vids and AAC files

#1 Post by webfork »

I've been pulling a lot of can't-find-anywhere-else music from Youtube (via Youtube Downloader HD), which is always outputting to AAC format using Pazera Audio Extractor. Unfortunately, not many programs know what to do with this (apart from VLC) so I went looking for a way to losslessly convert to MP4. Since they use the same codecs, my understanding is that the "MP4" bit is just a container format for what is essentially the same file. Not surprisingly, there's an FFmpeg method: http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread. ... AAC-to-MP4 via the command-line but I have quite a few of these and looking to do something via a graphical interface.

Any suggestions?
Last edited by webfork on Sat Dec 06, 2014 6:59 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Reason: (added bit about youtube downloader for reference, changed title)

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Userfriendly
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Re: Losslessly convert AAC to MP4

#2 Post by Userfriendly »

TAudioConverter can straight up extract and convert the AAC file into M4A (same thing as MP4, just different file extension name). Choose 'Method: Copy Audio'.
http://taudioconverter.sourceforge.net/
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/ind ... opic=98327
http://www.portablefreeware.com/forums/ ... =4&t=20209

By the way, what kind of music is it? I'm always interested in listening to some good stuff that's obscure or hard to find.

freakazoid
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Re: Losslessly convert AAC to MP4

#3 Post by freakazoid »

You should be able to just rename AAC to MP4/M4A.

Also, make sure your audio player has the appropriate plugin to play AAC. I recommend XMPlay; make sure you download its AAC plugin.
is it stealth? ;)

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Userfriendly
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Re: Losslessly convert AAC to MP4

#4 Post by Userfriendly »

AAC is a raw audio file and M4A/MP4 is a container format. Can't just rename it because some hardware/software media players are not able to recognize raw AAC. Putting AAC inside an M4A/MP4 container will let you use tags, album art, and allow proper playback on music players.

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Checker
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Re: Losslessly convert AAC to MP4

#5 Post by Checker »

If you only need the audio and AAC is your problem, then try File Blender.
Launch it, than drag and drop your video file on it. You can extract to MP3.

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webfork
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Re: Losslessly convert AAC to MP4

#6 Post by webfork »

Checker wrote:If you only need the audio and AAC is your problem, then try File Blender.
Launch it, than drag and drop your video file on it. You can extract to MP3.
Thanks for the suggestion, but that would involve re-encoding and a noticeable quality change.
Userfriendly wrote:TAudioConverter can straight up extract and convert the AAC file into M4A (same thing as MP4, just different file extension name).
I tested this program last week and was getting some kind of 7-zip error, but just retried today and ran into another issue: it wouldn't let me add .AAC audio. I tried converting the original .MP4 video file, but the program crashed.

I'll keep looking.
Userfriendly wrote:By the way, what kind of music is it? I'm always interested in listening to some good stuff that's obscure or hard to find.
I've been listening to quite a few live music sets up on Youtube. This is based mainly on the fact that where I work it's ideal to listen to:
  • Long stretches of music without words
  • Something uptempo and reasonably exciting without going over the top (not much in the way of ambient
Suggestions along these lines are welcome. A few real finds :

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Userfriendly
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Re: Losslessly convert AAC to MP4

#7 Post by Userfriendly »

You're right, the latest version 7.2 is bugged. However the previous build 7.1 does work though. As for converting raw aac to mp4, other than ffmpeg with a batch file, maybe a frontend like WinFF would work.

edit:
Yes, I know. But until I find a way to embed artwork to output file, this is the solution I could find.

Also if you guys get "Invalid floating point operation" after updating to 0.7.2, you can go to settings window and uncheck "Extract and save artwork to output" checkbox. It looks like there is a bug with MediaInfo.
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/ind ... t&p=820377
Seems like the developer is aware of bug and has a workaround. Since it's in active development, you could probably request some features that you might want.

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Midas
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Re: mp4UI

#8 Post by Midas »

Not sure if this is an answer to the original query, but whenever I want to get the audio from something on Youtube, this is what I use:

http://mp4ui.sourceforge.net/
mp4UI is an easy-to-use software for opening, creating and modifying MP4 files. It comes with a nice GUI and among others it lets you import, export, delete and hint tracks, edit properties and metadata and view information.
Image

Ruby
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Re: Losslessly convert AAC to MP4

#9 Post by Ruby »

Pazera uses FFmpeg and when extracting/copying AAC audio -by default- results in an ADTS (Audio Data Transport Stream) file, however you can use the FFmpeg force format (-f mp4) resulting in an MPEG-4 (Base Media) compliant AAC file of the ORIGINAL (read: no conversion) AAC audio.

Add this to the 'Additional FFmpeg command-line parameters' field:

Code: Select all

-vn -acodec copy -f mp4
Image

Before the additional command-line:
Image
After the additional command-line:
Image

~Ruby

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Re: Losslessly convert AAC to MP4

#10 Post by Midas »

Thanks. Great info, Ruby (as usual)! 8)

freakazoid
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Re: Losslessly convert AAC to MP4

#11 Post by freakazoid »

Userfriendly wrote:AAC is a raw audio file and M4A/MP4 is a container format. Can't just rename it because some hardware/software media players are not able to recognize raw AAC. Putting AAC inside an M4A/MP4 container will let you use tags, album art, and allow proper playback on music players.
Glad to be wrong! :)

Recently encountered this issue when I needed to tag my AAC files and realized they weren't wrapped around a container!

To convert my AAC files over to M4A, I used MP4Box with Open++:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7051 ... -container
is it stealth? ;)

Marc
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Re: Losslessly convert AAC to MP4

#12 Post by Marc »

I'm not sure if any of these would help
MP4Box GUI
My MP4Box GUI is a Graphical User Interface for the well-known command line tool mp4box. My MP4Box GUI, like mp4box, is freeware. MP4Box is an MP4 muxer. It can import MPEG-4 video (H.264 or ASP, encoded for example with x264, DivX, Xvid, 3ivx or FFmpeg) and audio streams into the MP4 container. The end result is ISO compliant MP4 streams.
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/My-MP4Box-GUI
taked from How to put aac files into an mp4 container losslessly on commandline in linux http://skralljt.info/?p=654

A very old thread http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/ind ... opic=14115
Does Foobar convert it lossyly?

Also, so basically the idea is to convert lossy codecs losslessly, given that mp4 is a video format (aac audio) that can contain aac streams.

Edit: Added description.

Ruby
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Re: Losslessly convert AAC to MP4

#13 Post by Ruby »

@freakazoid

First of all (I'm being pedantic here) you are not 'converting' to M4A ; m4a is only a file extension not a format/container. MPEG-4 Part 14 (MP4) is the (Multimedia) container format.

Now to your initial reply: "You should be able to just rename AAC to MP4/M4A."

In some cases this is true IF the file format/container is MP4

As an example (and much to my surprise) Foobar2000 will fail to open an AAC (MP4 encoded) file with a [.aac] file extension.
Rename/change the extension, e.g. [.aac > .mp4] and Foobar2000 will then work with it.

Here's another tidbit of info:

1by1 will not only open/play all variants discussed here, i.e. AAC ADTS with [.aac] or [.mp4] or AAC MPEG 4 with [.aac] or [.mp4] file extensions BUT will also convert to MP4 format:

Image

~Ruby

freakazoid
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Re: Losslessly convert AAC to MP4

#14 Post by freakazoid »

@Ruby - No problem! Wrong choice of words.

Good to know that 1by1 has such an option.
is it stealth? ;)

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Re: Losslessly convert AAC to MP4

#15 Post by webfork »

Due to some machine issues this took longer than expected to test out ...
Ruby wrote:Add this to the 'Additional FFmpeg command-line parameters' field:

Code: Select all

-vn -acodec copy -f mp4
Thanks for the suggestion, but no luck with Pazera - could I perhaps be missing a codec? It seems to run but the file it generates can't be viewed by Foobar. (VLC can read it but VLC could view the original AAC file as well.)
Marc wrote:MP4Box
Looks good -- I'll give that a try in the coming week.

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