MAC(1)

NAME
mac - decode/encode Monkey's Audio codec files

SYNOPSIS

mac [input-file] [output-file] [ [-c | -n ] level ]

mac [input-file] [ -d | -v | -q ]

DESCRIPTION

Monkey's Audio (aka APE) is a lossless audio compression format, similar to FLAC. mac is a console frontend to Monkey's Audio, able to encode and decode APE audio files.

If you encode a WAV file to APE, then decode it back to WAV, the audio in the decoded WAV file will be byte-for-byte identical to the original (although any extra data such as tags/comments in the RIFF header will not be preserved).

OPTIONS

Note: Only one of the options below can be given, and it must occur last on the command line (after the filename(s)). Spaces are not allowed between the -c or -n option and its level argument.

-c[level]
    Compress (encode). input-file must be a WAV file with 16-bit samples. output-file will be an APE audio file. Higher levels result in better compression, at the expense of longer encoding time. The supported levels are:

1000
    (fast), usually around 45%-50% compression ratio.

2000
    (normal), usually around 40%-45% compression ratio.

3000
    (high), only slightly better than 2000 (usually by 1% or so).

4000
    (very high), probably the point of diminishing returns.

5000
    (insane), takes around 3x as long as 4000, may not compress any better.

-n[level]
    Convert (recompress). As -c, but input-file must be an APE audio file.

-d  Decompress (decode). input-file must be an APE audio file. output-file will be a WAV file.

-v  Verify. input-file must be an APE audio file. It will be decoded, and any errors will be displayed, but the decoded audio won't be saved.

-q  Quick verify. Just checks that input-file has a valid APE header.

--help
    Show built-in usage message (same as running mac with no arguments).

EXAMPLES

Compress
    mac "Metallica - One.wav" "Metallica - One.ape" -c2000

Decompress
    mac "Metallica - One.ape" "Metallica - One.wav" -d

Verify
    mac "Metallica - One.ape" -v

Quick verify
    mac "Metallica - One.ape" -q

    Note that filenames with spaces and punctuation should be put inside quote, as usual.

NOTES

mac can only handle WAV files with 8- or 16-bit samples, not e.g. 24-bit or floating point. If needed, you can convert to 16-bit with a command like: $ sox -G input.wav -b16 output.wav

WAV files must have 1 or 2 channels (mono or stereo; quad/surround/5.1/etc are not supported). Any sampling rate is supported.

ffmpeg(1) can decode and convert APE files, though it cannot encode to APE.

mplayer(1) and audacious(1) can play APE files.

file(1) knows about APE files. Example: $ file test.ape

test.ape: Monkey's Audio compressed format version 3990 with normal compression, stereo, sample rate 48000

COPYRIGHT

See the file /usr/doc/mac-3.99_u4_b5_s7/License.htm for license information.

AUTHORS

The original Monkey's Audio Codec was written by Matthew T. Ashland. It was ported to Linux by Frank Klemm and SuperMMX, then enhanced and bugfixed by Jason Jordan.

This man page written for the SlackBuilds.org project by B. Watson, and is licensed under the WTFPL.

SEE ALSO

ffmpeg(1), mplayer(1), audacious(1), flac(1), shorten(1), sox(1)

The Monkey's Audio Codec homepage: http://www.monkeysaudio.com/