flacthis

A multithreaded and multi-platform, BSD-licensed, Python-based command line utility that converts lossless FLAC or WAV audio files to MP3s, AAC, or Ogg and preserves the directory structure.

I created this when I didn't want to use the Mono libraries needed to use other alternatives and wanted something easy to run in a cronjob.

This has been designed to be as modular as possible. Any type of codec that supports writing to/from stdin/out can be added with minimal effort. I've supported the majority of mainstream codecs, but if there are others you want added, please email me!

NOTE: No files or directories will ever be deleted. Only new directories and files are created. The purpose of this utility is to be able to run it on a regular basis and only needing to encode new content.

Installation

Install flacthis from Github using git:

git clone https://github.com/precurse/flacthis.git

Install module requirements using pip, a package manager for Python.

pip install -r requirements.txt

or

pipenv install

Need pip? Try installing it by running the following from the command line:

$ curl https://raw.github.com/pypa/pip/master/contrib/get-pip.py | python

Command Line Usage

usage: flacthis.py [-h] [-i {flac,wav,winwav}]
                   [-o {mp3,ogg,aac,fdkaac,avconv-fdkaac,ffmpeg-fdkaac}]
                   [-t THREADS] [--noid3] [--noartwork] [--noop] [--debug]
                   source_dir dest_dir

positional arguments:
  source_dir            Input (lossless) directory
  dest_dir              Output (lossy) directory

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -i {flac,wav,winwav}, --input_codec {flac,wav,winwav}
                        Input (lossless) codec (default: flac)
  -o {mp3,ogg,aac,fdkaac,avconv-fdkaac,ffmpeg-fdkaac}, --output_codec {mp3,ogg,aac,fdkaac,avconv-fdkaac,ffmpeg-fdkaac}
                        Output (lossy) codec (default: mp3)
  -t THREADS, --threads THREADS
                        Force specific number of threads (default: auto)
  --noid3               Disable ID3 file tagging (remove requirement for
                        Mutagen)
  --noartwork           Disable copy of artwork (default: copy artwork)
  --noop                Don't write files. Only show files that will be
                        (default: write files)
  --debug               Enable debugging

Module Import Usage

When importing flacthis as a module into your existing codebase the module requires, at minimum, the source and destination directories. You can pass these directly to the constructor (see the code below).

import flacthis

ft = flacthis.main(['source_dir', 'dest_dir'])

If you wish to use optional arguments like --input-codec, you must maintain the positional directory arguments as shown below:

import flacthis

ft = flacthis.main(['i', 'flac', 'o', 'mp3', '--debug', 'source_dir', 'dest_dir'])

Supported Codecs

Codec: (Command used)

• FLAC decoder: (flac)

• WAV decoder: ('cat' in *nix and 'type' in Windows)

• MP3 encoder: (lame)

• AAC encoder: (faac)

• FDKAAC encoder: (fdkaac)

• ffmpeg or libav encoder for Fraunhofer AAC support: (ffmpeg or avconv)

  • Fraunhofer codec: http://sourceforge.net/projects/opencore-amr/files/fdk-aac/
  • Both must be compiled with "--enable-libfdk-aac".

• Ogg encoder: (oggenc)

Most of these can be downloaded easily from rarewares.org on Windows, or installed from your friendly neighbourhood package manager (Linux, BSD).

Requirements

• Python 2.7+ (automated tests run on 2.7, 3.5, 3.6, and 3.7)

• A supported decoder from above list

• A supported encoder from above list

• Mutagen Python Library (Optional, but highly recommended)

  • Used for ID3 tagging, but requirement can be disabled with --noid3 flag
  • https://bitbucket.org/lazka/mutagen

Running Tests

Ensure you have flac, lame, fdkaac, and oggenc installed before running tests:

pip install -r dev_requirements.txt

make test

or

make test3 # python3

or

py.test tests/test_flacthis.py

Benchmarks

System: Intel i5-750 w/ Intel 520 120GB SSD
Command: Using Linux time command and flacthis -t 1,2,3,4, or 5 (lame encoder with -V 0 flags):

3 albums (39 songs)
Input: 1.7GB
Output: 471.5MB

1 Thread:
    real    7m33.512s
    user    7m20.371s
    sys    0m8.363s

2 Threads:
    real    4m5.559s
    user    7m37.347s
    sys    0m7.729s

3 Threads:
    real    2m59.474s
    user    8m2.432s
    sys    0m7.150s

4 Threads:
    real    2m9.415s
    user    8m3.955s
    sys    0m6.166s

5 Threads:
    real    2m5.893s
    user    8m3.455s
    sys    0m6.090s

Run, and enjoy. If any issues are encountered, please contact me at andrewklaus@gmail.com.