Best he-aac encoder on linux?

Question

I need an encoder that can convert mp3 files to he-aac (aka aac+). So far the best one I have found is nero aac encoder . I have two problemes with it : - Only one input format : wav . It is a little bit slow to transform mp3 files to wav and then to he-aac. - a free license for non commercial use.

Too bad ffmpeg does not support he-aac ... There is a commercial solution, on2 flix, but it seems to be a golden hammer for the simple task I need to do.

Answer 1

Nero AAC is the only one as far as I know. Even if FAAC supported HE-AAC it would be useless, since as an encoder its pretty awfully designed and its quality is not even competitive with LAME, let alone a good AAC encoder.

Kostya on the FFMPEG team is currently working on an AAC encoder but it has a long way to go--its not ready for primetime with LC-AAC, let alone HE-AAC (its not even committed to the repository yet). The first step before anything will be to get the ffmpeg decoder to support HE-AAC; currently it can only be decoded through FAAD.

I don't believe there is any HE-AAC encoder on any platform with a more permissive license than Nero's at this point in time.