[gentoo-user] OT: what audio file format / container to play on Android.

[gentoo-user] OT: what audio file format / container to play on Android.

[Stroller]

I've only recently started using my Android device for playing audio.

About once a week I listen to a podcast, which is usually an MP3 I've downloaded from NPR.org.

On my laptop I copy these to Google Drive (big shout to net-misc/drive) and then I can access then via Drive on my Android phone.

Google Drive on Android seems to play these audio files on a built-in player; its only controls are to skip forwards or backwards 30 seconds, but this is adequate for podcasts. 

I have here a BBC radio show that I downloaded a couple of weeks ago with net-misc/youtube-dl.

When downloaded it saves as an .mp4 file. I have also tried renaming it to .m4a but, either way, Google Drive complains "unable to process this video".

How do I need to process this audio to get it to play, please?

I'd obviously prefer to keep the same audio stream, rather than transcoding it. I assume that the player can handle AAC (??), it just needs to be in another container.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions,

Stroller.



Details:


$ youtube-dl http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07fl5bh
[bbc.co.uk] b07fl5bh: Downloading video page
[bbc.co.uk] b07fl2qw: Downloading media selection XML
[bbc.co.uk] b07fl2qw: Downloading m3u8 information
[bbc.co.uk] b07fl2qw: Downloading m3u8 information
[bbc.co.uk] b07fl2qw: Downloading m3u8 information
[hlsnative] Downloading m3u8 manifest
[hlsnative] Total fragments: 390
[download] Destination: The Bronze Age Collapse, In Our Time - BBC Radio 4-b07fl2qw.mp4
[download] 100% of 40.56MiB in 01:42
[ffmpeg] Fixing malformated aac bitstream in "The Bronze Age Collapse, In Our Time - BBC Radio 4-b07fl2qw.mp4"
$ file The\ Bronze\ Age\ Collapse\,\ In\ Our\ Time\ -\ BBC\ Radio\ 4-b07fl2qw.mp4
The Bronze Age Collapse, In Our Time - BBC Radio 4-b07fl2qw.mp4: ISO Media, MP4 Base Media v1 [IS0 14496-12:2003]
$ midentify The\ Bronze\ Age\ Collapse\,\ In\ Our\ Time\ -\ BBC\ Radio\ 4-b07fl2qw.mp4
ID_AUDIO_ID=0
ID_AID_0_LANG=eng
ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME0=major_brand
ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE0=isom
ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME1=minor_version
ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE1=512
ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME2=compatible_brands
ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE2=isomiso2mp41
ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME3=encoder
ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE3=Lavf56.25.101
ID_CLIP_INFO_N=4
ID_FILENAME=The\ Bronze\ Age\ Collapse,\ In\ Our\ Time\ -\ BBC\ Radio\ 4-b07fl2qw.mp4
ID_DEMUXER=lavfpref
ID_AUDIO_FORMAT=MP4A
ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=128000
ID_AUDIO_RATE=48000
ID_AUDIO_NCH=2
ID_START_TIME=0.00
ID_LENGTH=2495.91
ID_SEEKABLE=1
ID_CHAPTERS=0
ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=128000
ID_AUDIO_RATE=48000
ID_AUDIO_NCH=2
ID_AUDIO_CODEC=ffaac
ID_EXIT=EOF
$

Re: [gentoo-user] OT: what audio file format / container to play on Android.

[Willie M]

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On 07/01/2016 03:10 PM, Stroller wrote:
> I've only recently started using my Android device for playing audio.
> 
> About once a week I listen to a podcast, which is usually an MP3 I've downloaded from NPR.org.
> 
> On my laptop I copy these to Google Drive (big shout to net-misc/drive) and then I can access then via Drive on my Android phone.
> 
> Google Drive on Android seems to play these audio files on a built-in player; its only controls are to skip forwards or backwards 30 seconds, but this is adequate for podcasts. 
> 
> I have here a BBC radio show that I downloaded a couple of weeks ago with net-misc/youtube-dl.
> 
> When downloaded it saves as an .mp4 file. I have also tried renaming it to .m4a but, either way, Google Drive complains "unable to process this video".
> 
> How do I need to process this audio to get it to play, please?
> 
> I'd obviously prefer to keep the same audio stream, rather than transcoding it. I assume that the player can handle AAC (??), it just needs to be in another container.
> 
> Thanks in advance for any suggestions,
> 
> Stroller.
> 
> 
> 
> Details:
> 
> 
> $ youtube-dl http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07fl5bh
> [bbc.co.uk] b07fl5bh: Downloading video page
> [bbc.co.uk] b07fl2qw: Downloading media selection XML
> [bbc.co.uk] b07fl2qw: Downloading m3u8 information
> [bbc.co.uk] b07fl2qw: Downloading m3u8 information
> [bbc.co.uk] b07fl2qw: Downloading m3u8 information
> [hlsnative] Downloading m3u8 manifest
> [hlsnative] Total fragments: 390
> [download] Destination: The Bronze Age Collapse, In Our Time - BBC Radio 4-b07fl2qw.mp4
> [download] 100% of 40.56MiB in 01:42
> [ffmpeg] Fixing malformated aac bitstream in "The Bronze Age Collapse, In Our Time - BBC Radio 4-b07fl2qw.mp4"
> $ file The\ Bronze\ Age\ Collapse\,\ In\ Our\ Time\ -\ BBC\ Radio\ 4-b07fl2qw.mp4
> The Bronze Age Collapse, In Our Time - BBC Radio 4-b07fl2qw.mp4: ISO Media, MP4 Base Media v1 [IS0 14496-12:2003]
> $ midentify The\ Bronze\ Age\ Collapse\,\ In\ Our\ Time\ -\ BBC\ Radio\ 4-b07fl2qw.mp4
> ID_AUDIO_ID=0
> ID_AID_0_LANG=eng
> ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME0=major_brand
> ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE0=isom
> ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME1=minor_version
> ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE1=512
> ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME2=compatible_brands
> ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE2=isomiso2mp41
> ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME3=encoder
> ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE3=Lavf56.25.101
> ID_CLIP_INFO_N=4
> ID_FILENAME=The\ Bronze\ Age\ Collapse,\ In\ Our\ Time\ -\ BBC\ Radio\ 4-b07fl2qw.mp4
> ID_DEMUXER=lavfpref
> ID_AUDIO_FORMAT=MP4A
> ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=128000
> ID_AUDIO_RATE=48000
> ID_AUDIO_NCH=2
> ID_START_TIME=0.00
> ID_LENGTH=2495.91
> ID_SEEKABLE=1
> ID_CHAPTERS=0
> ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=128000
> ID_AUDIO_RATE=48000
> ID_AUDIO_NCH=2
> ID_AUDIO_CODEC=ffaac
> ID_EXIT=EOF
> $
> 
> 

You can just have youtube-dl download just the audio of the youtube video.

youtube-dl -x --audio-format mp3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07fl5bh

You can also set other formats for the audio

"best", "aac", "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", or "wav"

-- 

Willie Matthews
matthews.willie80@gmail.com


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Re: [gentoo-user] OT: what audio file format / container to play on Android.

[Mick]

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On Friday 01 Jul 2016 15:52:49 Willie M wrote:
> On 07/01/2016 03:10 PM, Stroller wrote:
> > I've only recently started using my Android device for playing audio.
> > 
> > About once a week I listen to a podcast, which is usually an MP3 I've
> > downloaded from NPR.org.
> > 
> > On my laptop I copy these to Google Drive (big shout to net-misc/drive)
> > and then I can access then via Drive on my Android phone.
> > 
> > Google Drive on Android seems to play these audio files on a built-in
> > player; its only controls are to skip forwards or backwards 30 seconds,
> > but this is adequate for podcasts.
> > 
> > I have here a BBC radio show that I downloaded a couple of weeks ago with
> > net-misc/youtube-dl.
> > 
> > When downloaded it saves as an .mp4 file. I have also tried renaming it to
> > .m4a but, either way, Google Drive complains "unable to process this
> > video".
> > 
> > How do I need to process this audio to get it to play, please?
> > 
> > I'd obviously prefer to keep the same audio stream, rather than
> > transcoding it. I assume that the player can handle AAC (??), it just
> > needs to be in another container.
> > 
> > Thanks in advance for any suggestions,
> > 
> > Stroller.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Details:
> > 
> > 
> > $ youtube-dl http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07fl5bh
> > [bbc.co.uk] b07fl5bh: Downloading video page
> > [bbc.co.uk] b07fl2qw: Downloading media selection XML
> > [bbc.co.uk] b07fl2qw: Downloading m3u8 information
> > [bbc.co.uk] b07fl2qw: Downloading m3u8 information
> > [bbc.co.uk] b07fl2qw: Downloading m3u8 information
> > [hlsnative] Downloading m3u8 manifest
> > [hlsnative] Total fragments: 390
> > [download] Destination: The Bronze Age Collapse, In Our Time - BBC Radio
> > 4-b07fl2qw.mp4 [download] 100% of 40.56MiB in 01:42
> > [ffmpeg] Fixing malformated aac bitstream in "The Bronze Age Collapse, In
> > Our Time - BBC Radio 4-b07fl2qw.mp4" $ file The\ Bronze\ Age\ Collapse\,\
> > In\ Our\ Time\ -\ BBC\ Radio\ 4-b07fl2qw.mp4 The Bronze Age Collapse, In
> > Our Time - BBC Radio 4-b07fl2qw.mp4: ISO Media, MP4 Base Media v1 [IS0
> > 14496-12:2003] $ midentify The\ Bronze\ Age\ Collapse\,\ In\ Our\ Time\
> > -\ BBC\ Radio\ 4-b07fl2qw.mp4 ID_AUDIO_ID=0
> > ID_AID_0_LANG=eng
> > ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME0=major_brand
> > ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE0=isom
> > ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME1=minor_version
> > ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE1=512
> > ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME2=compatible_brands
> > ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE2=isomiso2mp41
> > ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME3=encoder
> > ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE3=Lavf56.25.101
> > ID_CLIP_INFO_N=4
> > ID_FILENAME=The\ Bronze\ Age\ Collapse,\ In\ Our\ Time\ -\ BBC\ Radio\
> > 4-b07fl2qw.mp4 ID_DEMUXER=lavfpref
> > ID_AUDIO_FORMAT=MP4A
> > ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=128000
> > ID_AUDIO_RATE=48000
> > ID_AUDIO_NCH=2
> > ID_START_TIME=0.00
> > ID_LENGTH=2495.91
> > ID_SEEKABLE=1
> > ID_CHAPTERS=0
> > ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=128000
> > ID_AUDIO_RATE=48000
> > ID_AUDIO_NCH=2
> > ID_AUDIO_CODEC=ffaac
> > ID_EXIT=EOF
> > $
> 
> You can just have youtube-dl download just the audio of the youtube video.
> 
> youtube-dl -x --audio-format mp3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07fl5bh
> 
> You can also set other formats for the audio
> 
> "best", "aac", "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a", "opus", or "wav"


Since the youtube-dl can only download the audio stream as suggested above, 
you don't need to transcode with ffmpeg - although it is not difficult to do so 
for streams you have already downloaded:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -q:a 0 -map a output.mp3

or output.m4a if you prefer.


As an alternative for BBC you could also use get_iplayer:

get_iplayer --get XXXX --radiomode=flashaachigh --
flvstreamer="/usr/bin/flvstreamer"

-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] OT: what audio file format / container to play on Android.

[Stroller]

> On 2 Jul 2016, at 10:43, Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Since the youtube-dl can only download the audio stream as suggested above, 
> you don't need to transcode with ffmpeg - although it is not difficult to do so 
> for streams you have already downloaded:
> 
> ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -q:a 0 -map a output.mp3

Yeah, but I'd obviously prefer not to transcode, because that's lossy.

> or output.m4a if you prefer.

Well, I tried that.

   youtube-dl -x --audio-format best http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07fl5bh

This gives an .m4a file which also does not play on the device.

The question may boil down to the Google Drive audio / video player, and its (in)ability to play AAC audio. But that would be surprising, don't you think?

> As an alternative for BBC you could also use get_iplayer:
> 
> get_iplayer --get XXXX --radiomode=flashaachigh --
> flvstreamer="/usr/bin/flvstreamer"

I'm reluctant to do that at present, because I have a "perfectly good" audio stream already.

The .mp4 or .m4a files I have play just fine in VLC or Quicktime Player.

I assumed that it should only be necessary to repack the audio into a different container to get it to play.

In my experience most players conform to Postel's Principle, being liberal in the input they'll accept. When I've had media playback problems before, I think it's usually been a container issue.

Stroller.

Re: [gentoo-user] OT: what audio file format / container to play on Android.

[Willie M]

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On 07/02/2016 05:30 AM, Stroller wrote:
> 
>> On 2 Jul 2016, at 10:43, Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Since the youtube-dl can only download the audio stream as suggested above, 
>> you don't need to transcode with ffmpeg - although it is not difficult to do so 
>> for streams you have already downloaded:
>>
>> ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -q:a 0 -map a output.mp3
> 
> Yeah, but I'd obviously prefer not to transcode, because that's lossy.
> 
>> or output.m4a if you prefer.
> 
> Well, I tried that.
> 
>    youtube-dl -x --audio-format best http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07fl5bh
> 
> This gives an .m4a file which also does not play on the device.
> 
> The question may boil down to the Google Drive audio / video player, and its (in)ability to play AAC audio. But that would be surprising, don't you think?
> 
>> As an alternative for BBC you could also use get_iplayer:
>>
>> get_iplayer --get XXXX --radiomode=flashaachigh --
>> flvstreamer="/usr/bin/flvstreamer"
> 
> I'm reluctant to do that at present, because I have a "perfectly good" audio stream already.
> 
> The .mp4 or .m4a files I have play just fine in VLC or Quicktime Player.
> 
> I assumed that it should only be necessary to repack the audio into a different container to get it to play.
> 
> In my experience most players conform to Postel's Principle, being liberal in the input they'll accept. When I've had media playback problems before, I think it's usually been a container issue.
> 
> Stroller.
> 
> 

I also tried to download it and play it using best but it would not
play. You best bet is to just extract the audio as mp3 using the command
I showed you.

youtube-dl -x --audio-format mp3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07fl5bh

I had no problem at all playing it.
-- 

Willie Matthews
matthews.willie80@gmail.com
(702) 659-9966


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Re: [gentoo-user] OT: what audio file format / container to play on Android.

[Stroller]

> On 4 Jul 2016, at 22:56, Willie M <matthews.willie80@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I also tried to download it and play it using best but it would not
> play. You best bet is to just extract the audio as mp3 using the command
> I showed you.

Just top be clear: I'm pretty sure that's not _extracting_ the audio, but _transcoding_ it.

The midentify output in my original post shows the audio to be AAC.

Stroller.

Re: [gentoo-user] OT: what audio file format / container to play on Android.

[Adam Carter]

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>
> Just top be clear: I'm pretty sure that's not _extracting_ the audio, but
> _transcoding_ it.
>
> The midentify output in my original post shows the audio to be AAC.


Extraction is;
ffmpeg -i "input file.mp4" -acodec copy "output file.aac"

Man page;
"   Stream copy
       Stream copy is a mode selected by supplying the "copy" parameter to
the
       -codec option. It makes ffmpeg omit the decoding and encoding step
for
       the specified stream, so it does only demuxing and muxing. It is
useful
       for changing the container format or modifying container-level
       metadata. "

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Re: [gentoo-user] OT: what audio file format / container to play on Android.

[Willie M]

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On 07/02/2016 05:30 AM, Stroller wrote:
> 
>> On 2 Jul 2016, at 10:43, Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Since the youtube-dl can only download the audio stream as suggested above, 
>> you don't need to transcode with ffmpeg - although it is not difficult to do so 
>> for streams you have already downloaded:
>>
>> ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -q:a 0 -map a output.mp3
> 
> Yeah, but I'd obviously prefer not to transcode, because that's lossy.
> 
>> or output.m4a if you prefer.
> 
> Well, I tried that.
> 
>    youtube-dl -x --audio-format best http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07fl5bh
> 
> This gives an .m4a file which also does not play on the device.
> 
> The question may boil down to the Google Drive audio / video player, and its (in)ability to play AAC audio. But that would be surprising, don't you think?
> 
>> As an alternative for BBC you could also use get_iplayer:
>>
>> get_iplayer --get XXXX --radiomode=flashaachigh --
>> flvstreamer="/usr/bin/flvstreamer"
> 
> I'm reluctant to do that at present, because I have a "perfectly good" audio stream already.
> 
> The .mp4 or .m4a files I have play just fine in VLC or Quicktime Player.
> 
> I assumed that it should only be necessary to repack the audio into a different container to get it to play.
> 
> In my experience most players conform to Postel's Principle, being liberal in the input they'll accept. When I've had media playback problems before, I think it's usually been a container issue.
> 
> Stroller.
> 
> 

I also tried to download it and play it using best but it would not
play. You best bet is to just extract the audio as mp3 using the command
I showed you.

youtube-dl -x --audio-format mp3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07fl5bh

I had no problem at all playing it.
-- 

Willie Matthews
matthews.willie80@gmail.com


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Re: [gentoo-user] OT: what audio file format / container to play on Android.

[David Haller]

Hello,

On Sat, 02 Jul 2016, Stroller wrote:
>Well, I tried that.
>
>   youtube-dl -x --audio-format best http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07fl5bh
>
>This gives an .m4a file which also does not play on the device.

Have you tried mkv? E.g. download to m4a as above and then do a quick

    mkvmerge -o output.mkv input.m4a

or use youtube-dl / ffmpeg like this:

    youtube-dl -x --audio-format best \
        --recode-video mkv --postprocessor-args "-acodec copy" URL

Both give me a mkv containing the unaltered aac stream and plays well
with mplayer, vlc, xine, 

-dnh

-- 
Shh! Be vewy quiet, I'm hunting wuntime errors!

Re: [gentoo-user] OT: what audio file format / container to play on Android.

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Sat, 2 Jul 2016 13:30:16 +0100, Stroller wrote:

> The question may boil down to the Google Drive audio / video player,
> and its (in)ability to play AAC audio. But that would be surprising,
> don't you think?

Possibly, but easy to test. Download the file from drive to local
storage then try to play it with another player.

If the problem is a limitation of the Drive player, maybe the best
approach is to not use drive and use something like Syncthing to keep
directories on your computer and phone in sync.

I use Syncthing on several computers and Android devices and it does a
very good job of keeping things in sync. It has the added benefit of not
needed connectivity when you want to listen to the files as they will be
synced while the phone is connected to your home network.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to
build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the universe trying to
produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the universe is winning." --
Rich Cook

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Re: [gentoo-user] OT: what audio file format / container to play on Android.

[Stroller]

> On 5 Jul 2016, at 23:33, Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote:
> On Sat, 2 Jul 2016 13:30:16 +0100, Stroller wrote:
> 
>> The question may boil down to the Google Drive audio / video player,
>> and its (in)ability to play AAC audio. But that would be surprising,
>> don't you think?
> 
> Possibly, but easy to test. Download the file from drive to local
> storage then try to play it with another player.
> 
> If the problem is a limitation of the Drive player, maybe the best
> approach is to not use drive and use something [else]

It was lazy of me not to download and test it myself, I do admit.

I didn't expect this question to cause such consternation.

Stroller.

Re: [gentoo-user] OT: what audio file format / container to play on Android.

[wabe]

Stroller <stroller@stellar.eclipse.co.uk> wrote:

> I've only recently started using my Android device for playing audio.
> 
> About once a week I listen to a podcast, which is usually an MP3 I've
> downloaded from NPR.org.
> 
> On my laptop I copy these to Google Drive (big shout to
> net-misc/drive) and then I can access then via Drive on my Android
> phone.
> 
> Google Drive on Android seems to play these audio files on a built-in
> player; its only controls are to skip forwards or backwards 30
> seconds, but this is adequate for podcasts. 
> 
> I have here a BBC radio show that I downloaded a couple of weeks ago
> with net-misc/youtube-dl.
> 
> When downloaded it saves as an .mp4 file. I have also tried renaming
> it to .m4a but, either way, Google Drive complains "unable to process
> this video".
> 
> How do I need to process this audio to get it to play, please?
> 
> I'd obviously prefer to keep the same audio stream, rather than
> transcoding it. I assume that the player can handle AAC (??), it just
> needs to be in another container.
> 
> Thanks in advance for any suggestions,
> 
> Stroller.
> 
> 
> 
> Details:
> 
> 
> $ youtube-dl http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07fl5bh
[...]

I've downloaded the file, renamed it to 
The_Bronze_Age_Collapse_-_In_Our_Time_-_BBC_Radio.mp4 and copied it to
the SD-card of my phone (Android 6.0.1). I can play it without problems
with the "Vanilla Music" app (haven't tested other apps).

I don't know anything about Google Drive (don't use any cloud services)
so I cannot say if this would work on my device.

If you wanna put the audio data into another container without recoding
it, you can use for example something like that:

ffmpeg -i filename.mp4 -acodec copy filename.m4a

--
Regards
wabe

Re: [gentoo-user] OT: what audio file format / container to play on Android.

[R0b0t1]

There is a VLC port in the Play Store. You can check F-Droid as well.
Also consider Termux although it has out of date repos.

Re: [gentoo-user] OT: what audio file format / container to play on Android.

[Stroller]

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> On 5 Jul 2016, at 16:54, wabe <wabenbau@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> If you wanna put the audio data into another container without recoding
> it, you can use for example something like that:
> 
> ffmpeg -i filename.mp4 -acodec copy filename.m4a

This has worked. Many thanks for your help.

I did not actually expect this, as I thought .mp4 and .m4a were the same thing (see links below) and renaming the .mp4 to .m4a  did not have any effect.

ffmpeg did, however, seem to do no more than copy the stream (it took only a second or so), so presumably it has marked the container differently somehow. See attached, anyone who's interested.

I appreciate the contributions of all who've replied,

Stroller.



[1] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9412384/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-4_Part_14#.MP4_versus_.M4A
[3] https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/MP4_and_M4A_File_Support



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$ youtube-dl http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07fl5bh
[bbc.co.uk] b07fl5bh: Downloading video page
[bbc.co.uk] b07fl2qw: Downloading media selection XML
[bbc.co.uk] b07fl2qw: Downloading m3u8 information
[bbc.co.uk] b07fl2qw: Downloading m3u8 information
[bbc.co.uk] b07fl2qw: Downloading m3u8 information
[hlsnative] Downloading m3u8 manifest
[hlsnative] Total fragments: 390
[download] Destination: The Bronze Age Collapse, In Our Time - BBC Radio 4-b07fl2qw.mp4
[download] 100% of 40.56MiB in 01:36
[ffmpeg] Fixing malformated aac bitstream in "The Bronze Age Collapse, In Our Time - BBC Radio 4-b07fl2qw.mp4"
$ ffmpeg -i The\ Bronze\ Age\ Collapse\,\ In\ Our\ Time\ -\ BBC\ Radio\ 4-b07fl2
qw.mp4 -acodec copy The\ Bronze\ Age\ Collapse\,\ In\ Our\ Time\ -\ BBC\ Radio\
4\ \[b07fl2qw\].m4a
ffmpeg version 2.6.3 Copyright (c) 2000-2015 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 4.8.5 (Gentoo 4.8.5 p1.3, pie-0.6.2)
  configuration: --prefix=/usr --libdir=/usr/lib64 --shlibdir=/usr/lib64 --mandir=/usr/share/man --enable-shared --cc=x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc --cxx=x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-g++ --ar=x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-ar --optflags=' ' --disable-static --enable-avfilter --enable-avresample --disable-stripping --enable-nonfree --enable-version3 --enable-nonfree --disable-indev=v4l2 --disable-outdev=v4l2 --disable-indev=alsa --disable-indev=oss --disable-indev=jack --disable-outdev=alsa --disable-outdev=oss --disable-outdev=sdl --enable-version3 --enable-bzlib --disable-runtime-cpudetect --disable-debug --disable-doc --disable-gnutls --enable-gpl --enable-hardcoded-tables --enable-iconv --enable-lzma --enable-network --enable-openssl --enable-postproc --disable-libsmbclient --disable-ffplay --disable-vaapi --disable-vdpau --disable-xlib --disable-libxcb --disable-libxcb-shm --disable-libxcb-xfixes --enable-zlib --enable-libcdio --disable-libiec61883 --disable-libdc1394 --disable-libcaca --disable-openal --disable-opengl --disable-libv4l2 --disable-libpulse --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopencore-amrnb --disable-libfdk-aac --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libbluray --disable-libcelt --disable-libgme --enable-libgsm --disable-libmodplug --disable-libopus --disable-libquvi --enable-librtmp --enable-libssh --enable-libschroedinger --disable-libspeex --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --disable-libzvbi --disable-libbs2b --disable-libflite --disable-frei0r --disable-libfribidi --disable-fontconfig --disable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libfreetype --enable-libsoxr --enable-pthreads --enable-libvo-aacenc --disable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libaacplus --disable-libfaac --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --disable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --disable-x11grab --disable-avx --disable-avx2 --disable-fma3 --disable-fma4 --disable-ssse3 --disable-sse4 --disable-sse42 --disable-xop --cpu=host
  libavutil      54. 20.100 / 54. 20.100
  libavcodec     56. 26.100 / 56. 26.100
  libavformat    56. 25.101 / 56. 25.101
  libavdevice    56.  4.100 / 56.  4.100
  libavfilter     5. 11.102 /  5. 11.102
  libavresample   2.  1.  0 /  2.  1.  0
  libswscale      3.  1.101 /  3.  1.101
  libswresample   1.  1.100 /  1.  1.100
  libpostproc    53.  3.100 / 53.  3.100
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'The Bronze Age Collapse, In Our Time - BBC Radio 4-b07fl2qw.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : isom
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2mp41
    encoder         : Lavf56.25.101
  Duration: 00:41:35.92, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 129 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(eng): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 128 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : SoundHandler
Output #0, ipod, to 'The Bronze Age Collapse, In Our Time - BBC Radio 4 [b07fl2qw].m4a':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : isom
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2mp41
    encoder         : Lavf56.25.101
    Stream #0:0(eng): Audio: aac (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, 128 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      handler_name    : SoundHandler
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (copy)
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
size=   39457kB time=00:41:35.91 bitrate= 129.5kbits/s
video:0kB audio:38999kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 1.174792%
$

Re: [gentoo-user] OT: what audio file format / container to play on Android.

[Mick]

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On Wednesday 06 Jul 2016 16:07:17 Stroller wrote:
> > On 5 Jul 2016, at 16:54, wabe <wabenbau@gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> > If you wanna put the audio data into another container without recoding
> > it, you can use for example something like that:
> > 
> > ffmpeg -i filename.mp4 -acodec copy filename.m4a
> 
> This has worked. Many thanks for your help.
> 
> I did not actually expect this, as I thought .mp4 and .m4a were the same
> thing (see links below) and renaming the .mp4 to .m4a  did not have any
> effect.

They are not exactly the same thing, in the sense that m4a ought to only have 
an audio stream in it, but mp4 may have more streams (audio and video).


> ffmpeg did, however, seem to do no more than copy the stream (it took only a
> second or so), so presumably it has marked the container differently
> somehow. See attached, anyone who's interested.

If you notice youtube-dl used ffmpeg after it downloaded your file to fix 
something in the aac bitstream, which it considered 'malformated':

[download] Destination: The Bronze Age Collapse, In Our Time - BBC Radio 4-
b07fl2qw.mp4
[download] 100% of 40.56MiB in 01:36
[ffmpeg] Fixing malformated aac bitstream in "The Bronze Age Collapse, In Our 
Time - BBC Radio 4-b07fl2qw.mp4"

If you run ffprobe on the partly downloaded mp4 file before youtube-dl completes 
and has a chance to use ffmpeg, you can compare its output with the 'fixed' mp4 
file and then your own m4a audio extract to see what the differences might be.

> I appreciate the contributions of all who've replied,
> 
> Stroller.
> 
> 
> 
> [1] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9412384/
> [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-4_Part_14#.MP4_versus_.M4A
> [3] https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/MP4_and_M4A_File_Support

-- 
Regards,
Mick

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