dBpoweramp Codec Central

Codec Central contains a wide selection of audio codecs. Codec is short for compression and decompression, adding extra reading (decoding) and writing (encoding) abilities to dBpoweramp.

There are two types of encoder:

• Lossy: where audio quality is lost whilst encoding in order to create smaller files,
• Lossless: no audio quality is lost (like zip compression).

Refer to Spoon's Audio Guide for details and help choosing the right audio codec to suit your needs.


Which Codec Should I Choose?

Here is a short guide - make sure your intended player supports your chosen type:

• Highest Quality: lossless, no quality is lost,
• Most Compatible: mp3 is king, it plays on everything, AAC (in the m4a container) is a close 2nd.

Additional Utility Codecs perform useful actions on existing audio files (such as rename based upon ID Tag).


Included with dBpoweramp Reference

	AIFF	Uncompressed Apple Format  [.aif .aiff]
	AAC	Advanced Audio Compression (LC, HE, HEv2)  [.m4a]
	Apple Lossless	Apple's own Lossless (ALAC)  [.m4a]
	CDA	Audio CDs  [.cda]
DSD	DSD	Direct Stream Digital  [.dsf]
	FLAC	Popular Lossless  [.flac]
	mp3	dBpoweramp uses the excellent mp3 Lame    [.m2a  .mp1  .mp2  .mp3  .mpga  .mpa  .mpx  .mpg]
	Monkeys Audio	Lossless codec  [.ape]
	Ogg Vorbis	Open source, high quality  [.ogg]
	Opus	New internet delivery codec  [.opus]
	Wave	Windows wave  [.wav]
	Wavpack	Lossless codec  [.wv  .wvc]
	Windows Media Audio (WMA)	Microsoft V10 Pro, standard, lossless & voice. Windows Only  [.wma, .asf, .wmv]
	[ID Tag Update]	Update tag version, manipulate or delete ID Tags without re-encoding, process whole library in a batch
	[Multi Encoder]	Encode to two formats simultaneously
	[ReplayGain]	Non-destructive volume normalization calculation (requires compatible player)

Additional Codecs Note codecs listed here are for the Windows version of dBpoweramp only.

AC3	AC3	Dobly Digital  [.ac3]
	m4a QAAC iTunes Encoder	Advanced Audio Compression  [.m4a]
	Broadcast Wave Format (BWF)	Professional codec  [.wav]
	CLI Encoder	Encode to any Command Line Interface (CLI) encoder
	Dalet	Radio Automation system  [.snd]
DX	DirectShow Decoder	Decode from any DirectX DirectShow installed decoder
	Midi	Musical Instrument Digital Interface  [.mid  .rmi]
	mp2	Professional broadcast  [.mp2]
	Musepack	High quality lossy codec above 128Kbps  [.mpc,  .mp+,  .mpp]
	Ogg Vorbis	Tuned auToV encoder  [.ogg]
	Wave64	Sony extension to the wave format  [.w64]

Utility Codecs for Music Converter

Utility Codecs do not compress or read audio, rather perform useful actions.

	Audio Info	Extract audio details to list, or a tab delimiter table (for Excel)
	Arrange Audio	Arrange audio tracks based on ID Tags (Requires Reference)
	Calculate Audio CRC	Compare tracks for differences in the audio component
	Channel Split	Extract multi-channel audio to single files
	Length Split	Split tracks into smaller chunks
	Tag From Filename	Set ID tags from filename or folder names

32 Bit Windows Only Codecs   (view 64/32 bit compatibility)

	mp3 Helix	Incredible 100x encoding speed (2 GHz Dual Core CPU), 4x faster than Lame  [.mp3]
	mp3 Fraunhofer IIS	From the designers & creators of mp3  [.mp3]
	OptimFROG	Lossless codec  [.ofr  .ofs]
	Real Audio Helix	Real Audio  [.ra, .rm, .ram, .rmvb]
	Shorten	Lossless codec  [.shn]
	Speex	Speech Only Codec  [.spx]
	The True Audio	Lossless codec  [.tta]