[FFmpeg-user] Problems with Audio Codec: almost solved it

[Robert Krüger]

On Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 6:48 PM, James Board <jpboard2 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>What exactly does ffmpeg output when you do ffmpeg -i <your-input-file>?
>
>
> For the audio code, it displays: audio pcm_s16le 48000 Hz s1g, 1536 kb/s.
>
> I guess that means I should use '-c:a pcm_s16le'.

exactly

>
> Is there an ffmpeg option that tells it to use whatever audio codec
> that the input file used?

no, not that I know of.

>
> Alternatively, if I want to compress the audio, what is a good suggestion
> for an audio codec that is most widely supported?  I want to ensure it
> works with mencoder, mplayer, and whatever tool I might use in the
> future.  What's the best bet?  '-c:a mp2'?  I use Linux machines almost
> exclusively.

what container format will you use for the files? That might constrain
your choices although mp2 should be rather conservative.