Why can't I go higher than AAC 180kbps in Foobar2000 ?

2020-10-03 16:21:16

I'm trying to convert FLAC to AAC-LC using FDK Encoder.
With EZ CD Audio Converter I can select AAC-LC VBR Q8 250-340kbps.

But with Foobar2000 I can't go higher than AAC-LC VBR 5 180kbps.

Why ?

(See those screenshots for better understanding.)

Re: Why can't I go higher than AAC 180kbps in Foobar2000 ?

Reply #1 – 2020-10-03 16:47:13

You are comparing most likely two different things. The converter preset in foobar2000 is for fdkaac, a tool made using publicly available FDK AAC encoding library taken from Android sources. What foobar2000 shows you are the options the library supports.

EZ CD Audio Converter is a commercial product and most likely uses a different, commercially licensed encoder library from Fraunhofer directly.

Re: Why can't I go higher than AAC 180kbps in Foobar2000 ?

Reply #2 – 2020-10-05 12:02:09

Also the fdkaac bitrate estimate for vbr is per channel. For stereo files you'll likely hit that 250-300 kbps range, higher if there are more than 2 channels, and lower if it's just mono.
As a side note, the fdkaac encoder will scream at you if you try to feed it a mono stream using HE-AACv2 because parametric stereo requires more than 1 channel.

Re: Why can't I go higher than AAC 180kbps in Foobar2000 ?

Reply #3 – 2020-10-05 17:51:30

You can if you use Apple or Nero Digital's AAC encoders through foobar. Anyway, just use Musepack, Opus or Ogg if you want higher bitrates, as those are open source codecs and not limited by these silly restrictions.