[FFmpeg-user] What is the state of AAC in FFmpeg?

[Carl Eugen Hoyos]

Werner Robitza <werner.robitza <at> gmail.com> writes:

> FFmpeg has been confusing me a little lately. I used 
> to use "libfaac" most of the time, but then I learned 
> some static builds like Zeranoe don't include it at all.

It is not legal to distribute GPL'd FFmpeg binaries containing 
libfaac (iow, you cannot have x264 and faac in one executable 
and distribute it).

> Before FFmpeg 1.0, "libvo_aacenc" seemed to be available, 
> but now it doesn't appear to exist anymore.

(Why do you think so?)
libvo_aacenc is still available, some people claim its 
quality is worse than the native encoder (I don't know).

> "aac" still works with the "strict" flag though.

Note that small improvements were made, so it could be 
seen less experimental than in the past.

> To summarize:
> 
> - Which AAC encoders are available and supported?

(Please see configure --help)
native, faac, libvo_aac, libaacplus and libfdk_aac

> - Which ones are enabled by default?

Only the native encoder.
(This has nothing to do with aac, all external codec 
libraries are optional).

> - What are the differences and why should one choose 
> one over the other?

For some encoders, you will have to use high bitrate to 
get acceptable results.

Carl Eugen