Please note that conversion to a lossless codec (mp3) inevitably will lead to (not necessarily audible) quality loss. To convert with a specified bitrate ( In your case it looks like 71.1Kbps with a max of 93.8Kbps - I'm not sure what will happen if trying to use the max vs the Overall bit rate, unfortunately), we run: ffmpeg -i show.m4a -b:a 71100 newFileName.mp3 I would then type: cd Desktopįollowing, now we type: ffmpeg -i show.m4a newFileName.mp3 Lets say my files are in the Desktop folder. SumDocument Downloads mozilla.pdf Public Videos $ lsīackup.log Desktop sktop Music snapīranches-tutorial Documents flick Pictures Templates If you need help finding the directory use the ls command. Navigate to the directory your audio files are in with the cd command. We can see what formats are acceptable by typing: ffmpeg -formats Give this a try: sudo apt-get install ffmpeg Especially note the VBR mapping table marked 'LAME Bitrate Overview'.

FFmpeg MP3 Encoding Guide: FFmpeg Trac's great guide to encoding to mp3.Whatever sounds best on your playback hardware. Some experimentation might be in order with good choices for the bitrate being taken from the following LAME 'allowable' standards: 64k, 80k, 96k, 112k. Since your input file has an overall bitrate of 71.7 Kbps and a maximum bitrate of 93.8 Kbps we could perhaps fudge the numbers a little and use the following: ffmpeg -i show.m4a -c:a libmp3lame -b:a 96k output.mp3

Encoding to MP3 with a variable bitrate of 70-105 Kbps can be mapped to FFmpeg with the -q:a 8 option as below: ffmpeg -i show.m4a -c:a libmp3lame -q:a 8 output.mp3Īnd I suspect that this is your best option with your input file.Ĭonstant Bitrate (CBR) Encoding is a little over-used IMHO but if this suits your playback equipment best then it is a valid choice. This would be my own choice if only for the reason that the original AAC file is also a VBR file. And FFmpeg is certainly the best tool for both of these! So you actually have two reasonable choices: encode to a Variable Bitrate MP3 file or simply decide on a suitable bitrate for Constant Bitrate (CBR) MP3 encoding. I note that your input file is actually a Variable Bitrate (VBR) AAC file with an overall bitrate of 71.7 Kbps and a maximum bitrate of 93.8 Kbps.

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