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Re: reasons for split of libavcodec54 and libavcodec-extra-54, missing codecs and a metapackage.



Quoting Reinhard Tartler (2014-11-18 01:25:18)
> On Mon, Nov 17, 2014 at 5:53 PM, Andreas Cadhalpun
>> However, I wonder if the few additional codecs in the extra package 
>> are worth all the additional complexity. How many actually use these 
>> codecs?
>
> We used to ship x264 in the -extra- package, which is very popular. I 
> suppose that many users are very interested in the AAC encoders, 
> because the native encore inside libavcodec is of rather poor quality. 
> Also, AMR seems also be rather popular if you own a device that 
> requires that codec. I would say that effort is very much worth it!

As I understand the situation, the builtin AAC encoder is actually 
slightly _better_ than the alternative GPL one:

Libav says little about quality of the alternative AAC encoder: 
<https://wiki.libav.org/Encoding/aac>, but FFMpeg has more info 
<https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/AAC#libvo_aacenc>.

I lost the URL but investigating this a few weeks ago I found some 
judging LAME to produce better result than either of the free AAC 
encoders, and I have so far come to the conclusion that I will use AAC 
only when really necessary¹ and then use the builtin one.

Some may be mislead by the internal encoder being flagged as 
experimental while the alternative one isn't.  That flag does not, I 
believe, properly reflect reality, and e.g. MLT framework routinely 
silences the flag.

 - Jonas

¹some sources state that the web browser Safari - even though supporting 
both AAC and MP3 - fails to decode MP3 in WebM container.  I have yet to 
test if that's true or not (I forgot to test when I last week visited my 
mother who has a MacBook Air running MacOS X).

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

 [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private

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