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).


Codecs 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]
	Core Audio Format	Uncompressed fsApple Format (decoder)  [.caf]
DSD	DSD	Direct Stream Digital  [.dsf]
	FLAC	Popular Lossless  [.flac]
	m4a	Container format (AAC, Apple's own Lossless)  [.m4a]
	mp3	dBpoweramp uses the excellent mp3 Lame    [.m2a  .mp1  .mp2  .mp3  .mpga  .mpa  .mpx  .mpg]
	Monkeys Audio	Lossless codec  [.ape]
	Musepack	High quality lossy codec above 128Kbps (decoder)  [.mpc,  .mp+,  .mpp]
	Ogg Vorbis	Open source, high quality  [.ogg]
	Opus	New internet delivery codec  [.opus]
	Speex	Speech Only Codec (deocder)  [.spx]
	Wave	Windows wave  [.wav]
	Wavpack	Lossless codec  [.wv  .wvc]
	Windows Media Audio (WMA)	Microsoft V10 Pro, standard, lossless & voice. Windows Only  [.wma, .asf, .wmv]

Utility Codecs Included with dBpoweramp Reference

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

	[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
	[ID Tag Update]	Update tag version, manipulate or delete ID Tags without re-encoding, process whole library in a batch
	[Length Split]	Split tracks into smaller chunks
	[Multi Encoder]	Encode to two formats simultaneously
	[ReplayGain]	Non-destructive volume normalization calculation (requires compatible player)
	[Tag From Filename]	Set ID tags from filename or folder names

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]

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]