dBpoweramp Codec Central

Codec Central contains a wide selection of audio codecs. Codec is short for compression and decompression, adding extra reading (decoding) and writing (encoding) abilities to dBpoweramp.

There are two types of encoder:

Lossy: where audio quality is lost whilst encoding in order to create smaller files,
Lossless: no audio quality is lost (like zip compression).

Which Codec Should I Choose?

Here is a short guide - make sure your intended player supports your chosen type:

Highest Quality: lossless, no quality is lost, FLAC is popular outside of Apple, or Apple Lossless,
Most Compatible: mp3 is king, however AAC (in a m4a file) has good support and has higher quality.

Codecs Included with dBpoweramp Reference

	AIFF	Uncompressed Apple Format [.aif .aiff]
	AAC	Advanced Audio Compression (LC, HE, HEv2) [.m4a]
	Apple Lossless	Apple's own Lossless (ALAC) [.m4a]
	CDA	Audio CDs [.cda]
	Core Audio Format	Uncompressed Apple Format (decoder) [.caf]
DSD	DSD	Direct Stream Digital [.dsf]
	FLAC	Popular Lossless [.flac]
	m4a	Container format (AAC, Apple's own Lossless) [.m4a]
	mp3	dBpoweramp uses the excellent mp3 Lame [.m2a .mp1 .mp2 .mp3 .mpga .mpa .mpx .mpg]
	Monkeys Audio	Lossless codec [.ape]
	Musepack	High quality lossy codec above 128Kbps (decoder) [.mpc, .mp+, .mpp]
	Ogg Vorbis	Open source, high quality [.ogg]
	Opus	New internet delivery codec [.opus]
	Speex	Speech Only Codec [.spx]
	Wave	Windows wave [.wav]
	Wavpack	Lossless codec [.wv .wvc]
	Windows Media Audio (WMA)	Microsoft V10 Pro, standard, lossless & voice. Windows Only [.wma, .asf, .wmv]

Utility Codecs Included with dBpoweramp Reference

These Codecs do not compress or read audio, rather perform useful actions, on tags, filenames or audio.

	[Arrange Audio]	Arrange audio tracks based on ID Tags (Requires Reference)
	[Audio Info]	Extract audio details to list, or a tab delimiter table (for Excel)
	[Calculate Audio CRC]	Compare tracks for differences in the audio component
	[Channel Split]	Extract multi-channel audio to single files
	[ID Tag Update]	Update tag version, manipulate or delete ID Tags without re-encoding, process whole library in a batch
	[Length Split]	Split tracks into smaller chunks
	[Multi Encoder]	Encode to two formats simultaneously
	[ReplayGain]	Non-destructive volume normalization calculation (requires compatible player)
	[Tag From Filename]	Set ID tags from filename or folder names

Additional Codecs

Note codecs listed here are for the Windows version of dBpoweramp only.

AC3	AC3	Dobly Digital [.ac3]
	m4a QAAC iTunes Encoder	Advanced Audio Compression [.m4a]
	Broadcast Wave Format (BWF)	Professional codec [.wav]
	CLI Encoder	Encode to any Command Line Interface (CLI) encoder
	Dalet	Radio Automation system [.snd]
DX	DirectShow Decoder	Decode from any DirectX DirectShow installed decoder
	Midi	Musical Instrument Digital Interface [.mid .rmi]
	mp2	Professional broadcast [.mp2]
	Ogg Vorbis auToV	Tuned auToV encoder [.ogg]
	Wave64	Sony extension to the wave format [.w64]

32 Bit Windows Only Codecs (view 64/32 bit compatibility)

	mp3 Helix	Incredible 100x encoding speed (2 GHz Dual Core CPU), 4x faster than Lame [.mp3]
	mp3 Fraunhofer IIS	From the designers & creators of mp3 [.mp3]
	OptimFROG	Lossless codec [.ofr .ofs]
	Real Audio Helix	Real Audio [.ra, .rm, .ram, .rmvb]
	Shorten	Lossless codec [.shn]
	The True Audio	Lossless codec [.tta]