title: Encoding formats

h3. Presentation

Encoders are used to define formats into which raw sources should be encoded by 
an output. Syntax for encoder is: @%encoder(parameters...)@ or, if you use
default parameters, @%encoder@.

h4. Formats determine the stream content

In most liquidsoap scripts, the encoding format determines what
kind of data is streamed.

The type of an encoding format depends on its parameter.
For example, @%mp3@ has type @format(audio=2,video=0,midi=0)@
but @%mp3(mono)@ has type @format(audio=1,video=0,midi=0)@.

The type of an output like @output.icecast@
or @output.file@ is something like
@(...,format('a),...,source('a))->source('a)@.
This means that your source will have to have the same type as your format.

For example if you write
@output.file(%mp3,"/tmp/foo.mp3",playlist("~/audio"))@
then the playlist source will have to stream stereo audio.
Thus it will reject mono and video files.

Liquidsoap provides operators that can be used to convert sources 
into a format acceptable for a given encoder. For instance, the @mean@
operator transforms any audio source into a mono source and the @audio_to_stereo@
operator transforms any audio source into a stereo source.

h4. Format variables (or lack of, rather..)

You can store an atomic format in a variable, it is a value like another:
@fmt = %mp3@. However, an atomic format is an atomic constant despite its
appearance. You cannot use a variable for one of its parameters: for
example
%%
x = 44100
%vorbis(samplerate=x)
%%
is not allowed,
you must write @%vorbis(samplerate=44100)@.

If you really need to use variables in encoder, for instance if bitrate is given by 
a user's configuration, you may alleviate that by generating a pre-defined list of possible
encoders and include it on top of your script using the @%include@ directive.

h3. List of formats and their syntax

All parameters are optional, and the parenthesis are not needed
when no parameter is passed. In the following default values
are shown.
As a special case, the keywords @mono@ and @stereo@ can be used to indicate
the number of channels (whether is is passed as an integer or a boolean).

h4. MP3

Mp3 encoder comes in 3 flavors:

* @%mp3@ or @%mp3.cbr@: Constant bitrate encoding
* @%mp3.vbr@: Variable bitrate, quality-based encoding.
* @%mp3.abr@: Average bitrate based encoding.

Parameters common to each flavor are:

* @stereo=true/false@, @mono=true/false@: Encode stereo or mono data (default: @stereo@).
* @stereo_mode@: One of: @"stereo"@, @"joint_stereo"@ or @"default"@ (default: @"default"@)
* @samplerate=44100@: Encoded data samplerate (default: @44100@)
* @internal_quality=2@: Lame algorithms internal quality. A value between @0@ and @9@, @0@ being highest quality and @9@ the worst (default: @2@).
* @id3v2=true@: Add an @id3v2@ tag to encoded data (default: @false@). This option is only valid if liquidsoap has been compiled with taglib support.   

Parameters for @%mp3@ are:
* @bitrate@: Encoded data fixed bitrate

Parameters for @%mp3.vbr@ are:
* @quality@: Quality of encoded data; ranges from @0@ (highest quality) to @9@ (worst quality).

Parameters for @%mp3.abr@ are:
* @bitrate@: Average bitrate
* @min_bitrate@: Minimun bitrate
* @max_bitrate@: Maximun bitrate
* @hard_min@: Enforce minimal bitrate

Examples:

* Contstant @128@ kbps bitrate encoding: @%mp3(bitrate=128)@
* Variable bitrate with quality @6@ and samplerate of @22050@ Hz: @%mp3.vbr(quality=7,samplerate=22050)@
* Average bitrate with mean of @128@ kbps, maximun bitrate @192@ kbps and @id3v2@ tags: @%mp3.abr(bitrate=128,max_bitrate=192,id3v2=true)@

Optionally, liquidsoap can insert a message within mp3 data. You can set its value using the @msg@ parameter.
Setting it to @""@ disables this feature. This is its default value.

h4. WAV

%%
%wav(stereo=true, channels=2, samplesize=16, header=true, duration=10.)
%%

If @header@ is @false@, the encoder outputs raw PCM. @duration@ is optional
and is used to set the WAV length header.

Because Liquidsoap encodes a possibly infinite stream, there
is no way to know in advance the duration of encoded data. Since WAV header
has to be written first, by default its length is set to the maximun possible 
value. If you know the expected duration of the encoded data and you actually 
care about the WAV length header then you should use this parameter.

h4. Ogg

The following formats can be put together in an Ogg container.
The syntax for doing so is @%ogg(x,y,z)@ but it is also
possible to just write @%vorbis(...)@, for example, instead
of @%ogg(%vorbis(...))@.

All ogg encoders have a @bytes_per_page@ parameter, which can be used to
try to limit ogg logical pages size. For instance:
%%
# Try to limit vorbis pages size to 1024 bytes
%vorbis(bytes_per_page=1024, ...)
%%

h5. Vorbis

%%
# Variable bitrate
%vorbis(samplerate=44100, channels=2, quality=0.3)
% Average bitrate
%vorbis.abr(samplerate=44100, channels=2, bitrate=128, max_bitrate=192, min_bitrate=64)
# Constant bitrate
%vorbis.cbr(samplerate=44100, channels=2, bitrate=128)
%%

Quality ranges from -0.2 to 1,
but quality -0.2 is only available with the aotuv implementation of libvorbis.

h5. Opus

Opus is a lossy audio compression made especially suitable for interactive real-time applications 
over the Internet. Liquidsoap supports Opus data encapsulated into Ogg streams.

The encoder is named @%opus@ and its parameters are as follows. Please refer
to the "Opus documentation":http://www.opus-codec.org/docs/ for information about
their meanings and values.
* @vbr@: one of @"none"@, @"constrained"@ or @"unconstrained"@
* @application@: One of @"audio"@, @"voip"@ or @"restricted_lowdelay"@
* @complexity@: Integer value between @0@ and @10@.
* @max_bandwidth@: One of @"narrow_band"@, @"medium_band"@, @"wide_band"@, @"super_wide_band"@ or @"full_band"@
* @samplerate@: input samplerate. Must be one of: @8000@, @12000@, @16000@, @24000@ or @48000@
* @frame_size@: encoding frame size, in milliseconds. Must be one of: @2.5@, @5.@, @10.@, @20.@, @40.@ or @60.@. 
* @bitrate@: encoding bitrate, in @kbps@. Must be a value between @5@ and @512@. You can also set it to @"auto"@.
* @channels@: currently, only @1@ or @2@ channels are allowed.
* @mono@, @stereo@: equivalent to @channels=1@ and @channels=2@.
* @signal@: one of @"voice"@ or @"music"@


h5. Theora

%%
%theora(quality=40,width=w,height=h,
        picture_width=w,picture_height=h,
        picture_x=0, picture_y=0,
        aspect_numerator=1, aspect_denominator=1,
        keyframe_frequency=64, vp3_compatible=false,
        soft_target=false, buffer_delay=0.1,
        speed=0)
%%

You can also pass @bitrate=x@ explicitly instead of a quality.
The default dimensions are liquidsoap's default,
from the settings @frame.video.height/width@.

h5. Dirac

%%
%dirac(quality=35,width=w,height=h,
       picture_x=0, picture_y=0,
       aspect_numerator=1, aspect_denominator=1)
%%

h5. Speex

%%
%speex(stereo=false, samplerate=44100, quality=7,
       mode=[wideband|narrowband|ultra-wideband],
       frames_per_packet=1,
       complexity=none)
%%

You can also control quality using @abr=x@ or @vbr=y@.

h5. Flac

The flac encoding format comes in two flavors:
* @%flac@ is the native flac format, useful for file output but not for streaming purpose
* @%ogg(%flac,...)@ is the ogg/flac format, which can be used to broadcast data with icecast

The parameters are:
%%
%flac(samplerate=44100, 
      channels=2, 
      compression=5, 
      bits_per_sample=16)
%%

@compression@ ranges from 0 to 8 and @bits_per_sample@ should be one of: @8@, @16@ or @32@.

h4. AAC

The syntax for the internal AAC encoder is:
%%
%aac(channels=2, samplerate=44100, bitrate=64, adts=true)
%%

h4. AAC+

The syntax for the internal AAC+ encoder is:
%%
%aacplus(channels=2, samplerate=44100, bitrate=64)
%%

h4. FDK-AAC

This encoder can do both AAC and AAC+. It is projected to
replace both encoders in a future release.

Its syntax is:
%%
%fdkaac(channels=2, samplerate=44100, aot="mpeg2_he_aac_v2", transmux="adts", transmux=true, sbr_mode=false)
%%

Where @aot@ is one of: @"mpeg4_aac_lc"@, @"mpeg4_he_aac"@, @"mpeg4_he_aac_v2"@,
@"mpeg4_aac_ld"@, @"mpeg4_aac_eld"@, @"mpeg2_aac_lc"@, @"mpeg2_he_aac"@ or
@"mpeg2_he_aac_v2"@

And @transmux@ is one of: @"raw"@, @"adif"@, @"adts"@, @"latm"@, @"latm_out_of_band"@ or
@"loas"@.

You can consult fdk-aac's "github repository":https://github.com/mstorsjo/fdk-aac for more details
on configuration values and meanings.
h4. Gstreamer

The @%gstreamer@ encoder can be used to encode streams using the @gstreamer@ multimedia framework.
This encoder extends liquidsoap with all available GStreamer formats which includes most, if not all,
formats available to your operating system.

The encoder's parameters are as follows:

%%
%gstreamer(channels=2,
           audio="lamemp3enc",
           has_video=true,
           video="x264enc",
           muxer="mpegtsmux",
           metadata="metadata",
           log=5,
           pipeline="")
%%

Please refer to the "Gstreamer encoder":gstreamer_encoder.html page for a detailed explanation
of this encoder.

h4. External encoders

For a detailed presentation of external encoders, see "this page":external_encoders.html.

%%
%external(channels=2,samplerate=44100,header=true,
          restart_on_crash=false,
          restart_on_metadata,
          restart_after_delay=<int>,
          process="")
%%

Only one of @restart_on_metadata@ and @restart_after_delay@ should
be passed. The delay is specified in seconds.
The encoding process is mandatory, and can also be passed directly
as a string, without @process=@.
