TooLAME
Encyclopedia
TooLAME is a free software
MPEG-1 Layer II (MP2) audio encoder written primarily by Mike Cheng. While there are innumerable MP2 encoders, TooLAME is well-known and widely used for its particularly high audio quality. It has been unmaintained since 2003, but is directly succeeded by the TwoLAME code fork (the latest version, TwoLAME 0.3.13, was released January 21, 2011). The name TooLAME is a play on LAME
and Layer II.
project, Mike Cheng decided to redirect his efforts towards the MP2 format. This was in part due to concern with looming legal threats to those distributing software for the widespread MP3
format, due to patents held by Fraunhofer
and Thomson
, while use of MP2 audio was basically unrestricted. For more, see: LAME#Patents and legal issues.
The first release of TooLAME (v0.1) was November 7, 1998.
He originally based his work on mpegaudio.tar. In October 1999, he started over from scratch, instead basing TooLAME on the more capable ISO Dist10 reference implementation, and substantial code from LAME. He aimed for higher audio quality and improved encoding performance. Achieving high performance, "About 4 times faster than ISO code."
TooLAME was mainly a standalone audio encoder, accepting PCM files in RAW/AIFF/WAV format. However, in the final TooLAME release from Cheng (TooLAME 0.2 m beta 8), support for use as a library
was included. Cheng repeatedly resisted the addition of features like libsndfile
integration for support of a much wider variety of input formats.
, but applied to MP2 audio encoding, instead.
Includes a rather complex, rarely used, and poorly supported (by MP2 players) variable bitrate
(VBR) mode.
Frame CRC
s, and Broadcast Wave Format (BWF) output was added for Digital Audio Broadcasting
(DAB) use.
MPlayer
/Mencoder
includes support for TooLAME (and TwoLAME) audio encoding.
MCTooLAME: TooLAME fork with MPEG Multichannel
5.1-channel surround sound
encoding: http://mctoolame.sourceforge.net/
Windows DLLs: http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_name=BB6FAF8F.40CB%25steve%40prx.org&forum_name=toolame-devel http://www.fmjsoft.com/addons.html
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
MPEG-1 Layer II (MP2) audio encoder written primarily by Mike Cheng. While there are innumerable MP2 encoders, TooLAME is well-known and widely used for its particularly high audio quality. It has been unmaintained since 2003, but is directly succeeded by the TwoLAME code fork (the latest version, TwoLAME 0.3.13, was released January 21, 2011). The name TooLAME is a play on LAME
LAME
LAME is a free software codec used to encode/compress audio into the lossy MP3 file format.-History:The name LAME is a recursive acronym for "LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder". Around mid-1998, Mike Cheng created LAME 1.0 as a set of modifications against the "8Hz-MP3" encoder source code...
and Layer II.
History
After leaving leadership of the LAMELAME
LAME is a free software codec used to encode/compress audio into the lossy MP3 file format.-History:The name LAME is a recursive acronym for "LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder". Around mid-1998, Mike Cheng created LAME 1.0 as a set of modifications against the "8Hz-MP3" encoder source code...
project, Mike Cheng decided to redirect his efforts towards the MP2 format. This was in part due to concern with looming legal threats to those distributing software for the widespread MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format, due to patents held by Fraunhofer
Fraunhofer
Fraunhofer, , may refer to:*Joseph von Fraunhofer , German physicist*Fraunhofer , a lunar crater*Fraunhofer Society , a large German research organization with 59 institutes throughout Germany...
and Thomson
Thomson SA
Technicolor SA , formerly Thomson SA and Thomson Multimedia, is a French international provider of solutions for the creation, management, post-production, delivery and access of video, for the Communication, Media and Entertainment industries. Technicolor’s headquarters are located in Issy les...
, while use of MP2 audio was basically unrestricted. For more, see: LAME#Patents and legal issues.
The first release of TooLAME (v0.1) was November 7, 1998.
He originally based his work on mpegaudio.tar. In October 1999, he started over from scratch, instead basing TooLAME on the more capable ISO Dist10 reference implementation, and substantial code from LAME. He aimed for higher audio quality and improved encoding performance. Achieving high performance, "About 4 times faster than ISO code."
TooLAME was mainly a standalone audio encoder, accepting PCM files in RAW/AIFF/WAV format. However, in the final TooLAME release from Cheng (TooLAME 0.2 m beta 8), support for use as a library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
was included. Cheng repeatedly resisted the addition of features like libsndfile
Libsndfile
libsndfile is a widely-used C library written by Erik de Castro Lopo for reading and writing audio files. It supports a wide variety of audio encodings and sound file formats and will convert automatically from one to another...
integration for support of a much wider variety of input formats.
TwoLAME
Nicholas Humfrey made significant modifications to tooLAME, and released it publicly. At Mike Cheng's request he renamed it to TwoLAME to avoid confusion.Technical details
TooLAME utilizes the highly tuned psychoacoustic model developed for LAMELAME
LAME is a free software codec used to encode/compress audio into the lossy MP3 file format.-History:The name LAME is a recursive acronym for "LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder". Around mid-1998, Mike Cheng created LAME 1.0 as a set of modifications against the "8Hz-MP3" encoder source code...
, but applied to MP2 audio encoding, instead.
Includes a rather complex, rarely used, and poorly supported (by MP2 players) variable bitrate
Variable bitrate
Variable bitrate is a term used in telecommunications and computing that relates to the bitrate used in sound or video encoding. As opposed to constant bitrate , VBR files vary the amount of output data per time segment...
(VBR) mode.
Frame CRC
CRC
- Organizations :* California Rehabilitation Center, a state prison in the USA* Cambridge Regional College, a further education college* Cambridge Regional College F.C., a semi-professional football club in England* Canada Research Chair* Capital Research Center...
s, and Broadcast Wave Format (BWF) output was added for Digital Audio Broadcasting
Digital audio broadcasting
Digital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....
(DAB) use.
Popularity
MJPEGTools documentation recommends the use of TooLAME instead of their included mp2enc.MPlayer
MPlayer
MPlayer is a free and open source media player. The program is available for all major operating systems, including Linux and other Unix-like systems, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Versions for OS/2, Syllable, AmigaOS and MorphOS are also available. The Windows version works, with some minor...
/Mencoder
MEncoder
MEncoder is a free command line video decoding, encoding and filtering tool released under the GNU General Public License. It is a close sibling to MPlayer and can convert all the formats that MPlayer understands into a variety of compressed and uncompressed formats using different codecs.MEncoder...
includes support for TooLAME (and TwoLAME) audio encoding.
Code Forks
TwoLAME: Mainly code clean-up, API change, performance improvements: http://www.twolame.org/MCTooLAME: TooLAME fork with MPEG Multichannel
MPEG Multichannel
MPEG Multichannel is an extension to the MPEG-1 Layer II audio compression specification, as defined in the MPEG-2 Audio standard , which allows it provide up to 5.1-channels of audio...
5.1-channel surround sound
Surround sound
Surround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...
encoding: http://mctoolame.sourceforge.net/
Windows DLLs: http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_name=BB6FAF8F.40CB%25steve%40prx.org&forum_name=toolame-devel http://www.fmjsoft.com/addons.html
External links
- http://toolame.sourceforge.net/ TooLAME Official Web Page