FAQ

Q: What is AudioBookConverter?

A: AudioBookConverter is Open Source software to convert different audio formats to AudioBooks. Primary goal was to support m4b format, but currently AudioBookConverter supports other formats and could be used as Audio Converter tool.

Q: What input formats and codec are supported as input?

A: mp3, m4a, m4b (aac/alac, with chapters information), flac (with track information from .cue), ogg (vorbis/opus), wma.

Q: What output format and codec are supported?

A: m4b (aac), mp3, ogg (opus)

Q: Can i create audiobook for ipod/iphone and how to upload it?

A: Yes, select m4b as output format create book, import to iTunes and sync iTunes with you device automatically or manually.

Q: What is the best format(codec) for audibooks?

A: Comparing quality to size: ogg (opus) will show the better quality then other codecs?

Q: Why all my processors/cores are loaded to 100% while encoding.

A: I did specific focus on reducing encoding time by using all available cores and planning encoding tasks to minimize total time of encoding. I may add feture of limiting load in the future, but on my PC books are typically encoded during 2-3 minutes, so I don't consider this an issue.

Q: How art work is supported?

A: AudioBookConverter check all incoming media files and tries to extract art work from them, then it check all dirrectories where source media files are located and load all images from them, then you could manually Add artwork file from file or Paste from the buffer (you could just do screenshot or copy image from web). Program verify checksum of immages to avoid duplicate, please note similar images or same image in different formats will look like duplicates - so, you have delete them manually.

Q: Is national characters are supported?

A: Generally yes, but you still could find very old mp3 file where meta information was in local language which will not be imported correctly as program can't guess which codepage was used by the person who created those files.

Q: What operating systems are supported? Why not others.

A: Installer is only for Windows 64-bits. Program should work on most of operating systems (32-bit Windows, Linux, Mac) if you build it for yourself and get binaries for ffmpeg and mp4v2. I'm lazy to create package for Lunix and MacOs, if you think it's needed, please create an issue in the tracker.

Q: Where to create feture request or report bug?

A: Just here https://github.com/yermak/AudioBookConverter/issues

Q: What bitrate should I use?

A: For m4b for most of the users and books 96kbps will be enough, for ogg - 64kbps could be enough.

Q: Do I need to use the same bitrate as in source file to keep the quality on the same level?

A: No, going from mp3->aac (m4a/m4b)->opus (ogg) - you could significanly reduce bitrate (and this will reduce size) and you won't notice the difference.

Q: What is cutoff?

A: Cutoff will remove frequencies higher then set in congiration, as most of the voice book won't use those frequences.

Q: Can i convert existing m4b back to mp3?

A: Yes, select m4b file as input, import chapters, select "split by chapter", press start, select mp3 as output format. Book will be split by chapters into mp3 files.

Q: Can I encode book from audio CD with maximum quality?

A: Use 3rd party software to rip disk to flac. Select flac file as input (.cue file should be in same folder with the same name), import chapters, select "split by chapter", press start, select ogg as output format. Book will be encoding with maximum quality for the bitrate you set.

Q: Does AudioBookConverter always re-encode? Is it possible to transcode w/o loosing quality.

A: AudioBookConverer tries to transcode if source codec and target default codec for selected format are same. I.e. m4a will likely be transcoded to m4b without re-encoding, however, if you select m4b wich is encoded with alac codec AudioBookConverter will re-encode it to aac even if you selected m4b as output. I'm still considering how to make transcoding/re-encoding more transparent to use.

Q: What are "Parts" and "Chapters"?

A: To split book file into smaller size you could use parts - this is standart way of deviding audiobook. Chapters are used to store meta infromation - title of chapter and start/end time to enable easy navigation in your audiobookplayer. For compatibily you could set to split book into chapters this will result set of smaller files, this could be useful for legacy players or for some software like Plex (which does not handle effectivly chapters information and operates with smaller files more efficiently).

Q: Is it possible to split parts by size automaticilly?

A: In theory yes, I don't see the point in implementing this. I prefer to use parts to encode series of books.

Q: Do I need to use chapters and all this complex staff to create a book?

A: No. Just add mp3 files and press start.

Q: Can I edit chapters of existing audio books?

A: Partially yes, select m4b files as source (if your book is already split by several parts, i recommend to process all of them in single go), import chapters, combine/merge parts if needed, select chapter, press edit and give chapter name you want, repeat with other chapters. Press start, select output format. Book will be encoded/transcoded with new meta information.

Q: Can I do advanced customisation of chapter naming?

A: Yes, you can. Open file C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\AudioBookConverter-[VERSION]\AudioBookConverter-[VERSION].properties find field chapter_format edit tempate followind documentation here https://github.com/antlr/stringtemplate4/blob/master/doc/index.md. If you broke syntax and application does not work - delete the file - application will restore it.