[MEncoder-users] Converting ape and flac files to mp3

[Andrew Berg]

JD wrote:
> Dear All,
> I would like to convert a collection of audio files,
> some of which are encoded in flac and others in ape,
> to mp3.
> I would like to use maximum constant bitrate of 320
> or higher.
> Could someone please show the command line to do so?
I've always had trouble getting MEncoder to process only audio (without
using -of rawaudio, which wouldn't work for this anyway). You're better
off using FFmpeg and piping the output to a CLI MP3 encoder (lame or
whatever's out there; I rarely ever encode to MP3, since I prefer AAC
for lossy audio). If your Monkey's Audio files were encoded with a
version higher than 3.99, FFmpeg probably won't decode them properly, in
which case, you'll likely need to use the CLI from the Monkey's Audio
website (and use Wine). There may be a Monkey's Audio decoder that can
handle the new format, but I don't know of any.

Something like this:

ffmpeg -i file.flac -f wav - | lame -b 320 - file.mp3
or
flac -d file.flac -c | lame -b 320 - file.mp3


wine mac.exe file.ape file.wav -d
lame -b 320 file.wav file.mp3
(the Monkey's audio tool doesn't seem to support writing to stdout)