Software » Audio Encoders » fre:ac 1.1.7

Version 1.1.7 (March 2023)

- New features

- added a tool for splitting output by various parameters (e.g. duration or number of files)
- added support for dithering when reducing sample resolution
- added a matrix surround decoder DSP component
- added a volume adjustment DSP component

- Improvements

- added support for WavPack Hybrid Lossless compression with correction files
- added support for decoding MPEG-4 DASH files
- added support for opening WebM audio files with the .weba extension
- added support for downmixing 6.1 channel audio
- added support for MusicBrainz metadata in ID3v2, MP4, Vorbis Comment, APEv2 and WMA tags
- added support for sort order fields in ID3v2, MP4, Vorbis Comment, APEv2 and WMA tags
- added support for rating field in Vorbis Comment, APEv2, MP4 and LIST INFO tags
- added rating field to the tag editor
- added optional release year column to the joblist
- changed <disc> filename placeholder to resolve to 1 if disc number is not set
- improved compatibility with applications writing non-compliant LIST INFO tags (e.g. Traktor)
- added an option to use source file names as output file names if no metadata is present
- added an option to control extraction of missing metadata from file names
- added an option to restrict file names for reading cover art
- added an option to disable intensity stereo phase inversion to Opus settings
- added AccurateRip notification options for successful verification and missing database entries
- sample rate conversion no longer converts to 32 bit float when the source rate matches the target
- added negative exit codes to indicate errors when running freaccmd
- added support for KDE color schemes (including dark mode)
- improved HiDPI scale factor detection in KDE desktop environments
- respect text scaling factor in addition to font size setting on X11 based systems

- Bug fixes

- fixed crashes when decoding ALAC files (especially with the Windows Store version)
- fixed failure (hang and abort after several seconds) to decode chapters from ALAC files
- fixed interoperability issues of HE- and HEv2-AAC files created with FDK-AAC with foobar2000
- fixed incorrect gapless information when creating HE- and HEv2-AAC files with FDK-AAC
- fixed incorrect index times in cuesheets for very long multi-track files
- fixed incorrect inclusion of data tracks in the audio track count of CD offset strings
- fixed old data remaining in place after updating WMA file tags
- fixed selected format resetting to first entry when opening WMA config dialog
- fixed excessive bitrate when encoding Vorbis on non-x86 LP64 systems
- fixed decoding of MP4 files with a single chunk taking excessively long
- fixed HDCD detection for tracks starting with more than about one second of silence
- fixed floating point samples being converted to integer when creating WavPack files
- fixed inability to close cover art popup window on Linux
- fixed long paths being converted to 8.3 format on recent versions of Windows
- fixed inability to handle long network paths on some versions of Windows
- fixed disc insert and removal detection working unreliably on Windows

- Updated codecs

- updated ALAC decoder for security fixes and improved performance
- updated FFmpeg to version 6.0
- updated Monkey's Audio to version 9.20
- updated WavPack to version 5.6.0
- updated Tom's Audiokompressor to version 2.3.3
- updated FLAC to version 1.4.2
- updated Speex to version 1.2.1
- updated MP4v2 to version 2.1.2
- updated mpg123 to version 1.31.2
- updated libsndfile to version 1.2.0

- Updated translations

- updated Greek translation


Version 1.1.6 (January 2022)

added native support for Windows on the ARM64 architecture

New features

added support for editing lyrics in the tag editor
added support for creating cue sheets and playlists with freaccmd
Improvements

improved performance of adding video and proprietary audio files (DTS, DSD etc.) to the joblist
playlists can now be added to the joblist by drag & drop
added and placeholders for use in filename patterns
added optional composer, conductor, tempo, musical key and ISRC columns to the joblist
added initial key field to tag editor
added support for lyrics in ID3v2, MP4, Vorbis Comment, APEv2 and WMA tags
added support for parsing OverDrive MediaMarkers in ID3v2 tags
added support for the pre-emphasis flag in cue sheets
Bug fixes

fixed possible crash upon querying the CDDB database
fixed possible crash in FAAD2 decoder when trying to open unsupported files
fixed faulty decoding of certain AAC files caused by a bug in the FDK-AAC decoder
fixed possible faulty output when decoding from non-zero positions using external decoders
fixed issue ripping CD tracks when output filename pattern is
fixed AccurateRip reporting verification errors for hidden track one audio
fixed setting to replace spaces not being respected when writing cover art and log files
fixed setting to suppress Unicode characters not being respected when writing cover art and log files
fixed tag editor fields for media type, catalog number and barcode being limited to 12 characters
fixed freeze when decoding certain WMA files on Windows
fixed drag & drop not working after online update on Windows
New and updated codecs

added native Apple Lossless decoder
updated FFmpeg to version 5.0
updated Monkey's Audio to version 7.23
updated mpg123 to version 1.29.3
updated libsamplerate to version 0.2.2
New translations

added Swedish and Portuguese (Brazilian) manuals


Version 1.1.5 (June 2021)

New features

added support for AccurateRip verification
Improvements

improved DSP processing performance by up to 70%
added frequency bandwidth setting to FDK-AAC encoder configuration dialog
added an option to toggle logging of complete paths in log files
added options for specifying cover art files to freaccmd
added support for reading Shift_JIS encoded CD-Text
added support for writing album and track comments to cue sheets
added support for ID3v2 tags in RF64 files
added support for updating Vorbis Comment tags
added support for updating ID3v2 tags in RIFF and AIFF files
added support for updating LIST INFO tags in RIFF, RF64 and Wave64 files
added support for ensemble field in Vorbis Comment and APEv2 tags
added support for movement field in ID3v2, Vorbis Comment, APEv2 and MP4 tags
added support for additional URL fields in APEv2 tags
added a tag editor option to keep album artist even if identical to track artist
added media type field to tag editor
Bug fixes

fixed hotspot for genre edit field utility menu not covering the whole width of the field
fixed occasional crashes when selecting codec subformat using the "Start encoding with" menu
fixed chapter marks being offset by a few seconds when using DSP processing
fixed playback not working when using certain combinations of DSP processors
fixed incompatibility of FDK-AAC encoded HE and HEv2 AAC files with iTunes
fixed issue decoding FLAC files with unknown length
fixed glitches decoding transients in some Vorbis files
fixed possible crashes when decoding Opus files
fixed possible crashes when failing to configure WMA encoder
fixed rare crashes in LAME encoder component
fixed strings read from ID3v2 tags being limited to 1024 characters
fixed crash when reading malformed CD-Text genre IDs
fixed failure ripping with negative read offset
fixed disc eject not working on macOS
fixed crash when closing fre:ac via dock command on macOS
fixed UI glitches and crashes on exit when running in a Wayland session
fixed popup menu and dropdown list closing behavior on non-Windows platforms
fixed issues with custom DPI settings on Xfce desktops
fixed drag & drop working unreliably on X11 based systems
fixed Windows online updater not working with the 64 bit version
Updated codecs

updated FFmpeg to version 4.4
updated Monkey's Audio to version 6.29
updated Tom's Audiokompressor to version 2.3.1
updated mpg123 to version 1.28.0
updated libfdk-aac to version 2.0.2
updated libogg to version 1.3.5
updated libsndfile to version 1.0.31
updated libsamplerate to version 0.2.1
Updated translations

updated Norwegian translation
updated Russian manual


Version 1.1.4 (February 2021)

Improvements

improved support for reading CD-Text
added an HDCD decoder DSP filter
added catalog number and barcode fields to tag editor
added file type associations to macOS app, so fre:ac is offered for opening audio files
added quality (VBR) setting to FDK-AAC configuration dialog
improved MP3, AAC and Opus encoding performance by up to 30%
improved multi-monitor support on X11 based systems
discs of multi-disc albums are now shown separately in tag editor album mode
update only changed fields when making edits in tag editor album mode
added support for Replay Gain values in MP4 and WMA metadata
do not override settings with default values when using freaccmd's --config option
Bug fixes

fixed invalid length written to very long Opus and Speex files (longer than 12 ½ hours at 48 kHz)
fixed decoding of some very short Opus, Vorbis and Speex files
fixed written MP4 chapters being invisible to some applications when using Nero AAC
fixed hang/crash when opening WavPack, Musepack, TAK and OptimFROG files with chapters
fixed issues submitting CDDB information for new CDs (without existing entries)
fixed issues handling long path/file names on Windows
fixed output sample rate being limited to 192 kHz
fixed freaccmd randomly failing to process files in rare cases
fixed bad user interface colors on some Linux distributions
Updated codecs

switched from FAAC to FDK-AAC for AAC encoding
updated Monkey's Audio to version 6.11
updated WavPack to version 5.4.0
updated mpg123 to version 1.26.4
updated FAAD2 to version 2.10.0
Updated translations

updated Romanian translation
updated Portuguese (Brazilian) translation


Version 1.1.3 (October 2020)

added support for macOS 11.0 Big Sur

switched to using GNUdb as the default CDDB database service

Improvements

command line codec configuration now allows specifying additional arguments
improved detection of cue sheet encoding to support system codepage and UTF-8 without BOM
freaccmd now splits cue sheets to individual tracks unless an output file is specified using the -o option
freaccmd now supports a --split-chapters option to split files with chapter tags into individual chapters
added placeholder for use in output folder configuration setting, resolving to user profile folder
added file type associations to Linux/FreeBSD and Windows Store app, so fre:ac is offered for opening audio files
added audio CD association to Linux/FreeBSD and Windows Store app, so fre:ac can be started when inserting a CD
added an option to suppress "No entry found" messages for automatic CDDB queries
improved detection of sampler CDs when querying CDDB information
Bug fixes

fixed possible conversion thread hangs when using external encoders
fixed possible crash related to drag & drop handling on Windows
fixed crash when writing fields containing only whitespace to Vorbis Comment, APEv2, WMA or RIFF tags
fixed possible glitches in WAV/AIFF output when processing float samples outside the -1.0/+1.0 range
fixed possible hangs when opening WAV/AIFF files larger than 2 GB or with a broken chunk structure
fixed inability to open WAV/AIFF files with long paths on Windows
fixed writing wrong offsets to single file cue sheets when the resampling DSP filter is enabled
fixed writing invalid chapter offsets to Opus files with source material sample rates other than 48 kHz
fixed writing invalid MP3 bitstreams in rare cases in SuperFast mode
fixed wrong length detection for MP3 files with invalid chapter data
fixed parsing of cue sheets with minute/second indications missing leading zeros and/or duration longer than 99 minutes
fixed parsing of embedded cue sheets without FILE designations
fixed ripping progress for other drives stalling while one drive is ejecting
fixed inability to pause or stop single output file verification
fixed log files being archived despite disabling the corresponding option
fixed various issues with multi-monitor support on macOS
fixed user interface glitches after closing dialogs in tabbed mode on macOS
fixed Shift+Pos1/End shortcuts being interpreted by the joblist and edit fields at the same time
Updated codecs

switched from libav 12.3 to FFmpeg 4.3.1 for auxiliary format support
added support for using the Core Audio codec of iTunes 12.10.9 and later
updated Vorbis to version 1.3.7 (plus aoTuV b6.03 and Lancer optimizations)
updated Monkey's Audio to version 5.55
updated mpg123 to version 1.26.3
New translations

added Hindi translation


Version 1.1.2b (July 2020)

- Bug fixes

- fixed crash when decoding MP3 files on x64 Windows systems without AVX support

- Updated codecs

- updated mpg123 to version 1.26.2 (plus Windows x64 ASM patch)


Version 1.1.2a (June 2020)

- Bug fixes

- fixed font scaling with high DPI settings on Windows


Version 1.1.2 (June 2020)

Improvements

scale UI to adjust to system font size by default
added support for theme colors and dark mode on Linux/FreeBSD
improved handling of maximized window state on Linux/FreeBSD and macOS
try to keep the selected encoder the same when upgrading from fre:ac 1.0.x
removed non-working option to not lock CD trays while ripping
stop ripping before trying to eject a disc
write audio data CRC to log files when ripping
write MD5 checksums to log files when verifying files
write log entries when replacing existing files
Bug fixes

fixed length of last chapter of some audio books being detected as 0:00
prevent interpreting numerical IDs or dates at the beginning of file names as track numbers
fixed a possible source of random crashes when adding files to the joblist
fixed possible crash when importing MP4/M4A files
fixed possible crash when encoding in SuperFast mode
fixed some graphics glitches on macOS
Updated codecs

updated Monkey's Audio to version 5.44
updated mpg123 to version 1.26.1
updated FAAD2 to version 2.9.2
updated CDRip to version 2.4


Version 1.1.1 (April 2020)

Improvements

improved file size and bitrate calculation for chapters and cue sheet tracks
added placeholder for use in filename patterns
added an optional disc ID column to the joblist
added an option to eject the disc after ripping to freaccmd
allow specifying device path instead of drive number in freaccmd
Bug fixes

fixed crash of freaccmd when querying CDDB while DISPLAY variable is not set
fixed ripping of first CD track in paranoia mode on Windows
fixed several issues creating CBR MP3 files in SuperFast mode
fixed calculation of track conversion speed factor in log files
Updated codecs

updated Monkey's Audio to version 5.33
updated WavPack to version 5.3.0
Updated translations

updated Portuguese (Brazilian) translation


Version 1.1 (March 2020)

Bug fixes

Fixed parallel processing being active for CD track reference files on Windows
Fixed freaccmd ejecting the CD after ripping 1 track with eject option is enabled in fre:ac
Fixed crash of freaccmd when DISPLAY variable is not set on Linux/FreeBSD


Version 1.1 RC 2 (March 2020)

Bug fixes

Fixed inability to read raw AAC files with the FAAD2 decoder
Fixed inability to create WMA files with long path names
Fixed cursor positioning and text selection in right-to-left mode
Fixed cursor position calculation not respecting kerning on Windows 10
Updated codecs

updated Monkey's Audio to version 5.24
Updated translations

updated Serbian translations


Version 1.1 RC 1 (March 2020)

Improvements

now passing float samples to LAME encoder directly if sample format is float
made automatic ripping work when using the single output file option
added options to control chapter information and cover art to freaccmd
handle Ctrl+C in freaccmd to clean up temporary files when aborted
respect colorization tint color on Windows Vista, 7 and 8/8.1
improved HiDPI detection on Linux/FreeBSD systems
log CDDB information when ripping
Bug fixes

fixed drag & drop not accepting long file paths on Windows
fixed file modification time stamp getting lost when output verification is active
fixed file creation time stamp not being preserved despite option being enabled
fixed freaccmd not correctly handling relative output folders
fixed black title bar color on Windows Vista, 7 and 8/8.1
fixed online updater not working


Version 1.0.33 (February 2020)

Improvements

the fre:ac installer is now digitally signed
prepared for freedb.org shutdown on 31st March 2020
rip only tracks from the newly inserted disc when auto-ripping
do not start ripping automatically if no freedb entry is found
improved compatibility with ADTS AAC files
use high resolution icons from fre:ac 1.1 branch
Bug fixes

fixed compatibility issues with Windows 10 UTF-8 codepage setting
fixed hangs when trying to open some Windows Wave files
fixed setup not running with elevated rights on non-administrator accounts
fixed freaccmd issues with files without metadata
Updated codecs

upgraded FLAC to version 1.3.3
upgraded FAAC to version 1.30
upgraded FAAD2 to version 2.9.1
upgraded mpg123 to version 1.25.13
upgraded Vorbis to version 1.3.6 + aoTuV beta 6.03
upgraded Ogg library to version 1.3.4
Updated translations

updated Chinese (simplified), Croatian, Danish, Portuguese, Spanish (Latin American) and Ukrainian translations
added Bulgarian translation for the installer
updated Spanish user guide


Version 1.1 Beta 3 (February 2020)

Improvements

added support for dark mode on Windows 10
prepared for freedb.org shutdown on 31st March 2020
the fre:ac installer is now digitally signed
added separate Windows Wave File Output entry to encoder list
display current signal processing settings in status area
added a toolbar button to configure signal processing
added new tips to Tip of the Day dialog
Bug fixes

fixed compatibility issue with Windows 10 UTF-8 codepage setting
fixed FLAC decoding on macOS
fixed issues opening Opus files with a .ogg extension
fixed Monkey's Audio encoder not showing up in 64 bit builds
fixed some issues with freaccmd command line interface
Updated codecs

updated Monkey's Audio to version 5.18
Updated translations

updated Chinese (simplified) translation


Version 1.1 Beta 1 (December 2019)

- implemented an extension component framework to modularize fre:ac

- ported to macOS, Linux and BSD operating systems
- added native 64 bit Windows platform support

- Multi threading support

- conversions are now done in parallel if possible
- integrated SuperFast encoding technology for multi-threaded processing
- adding files to the joblist can now use multiple threads

- Major new features

- added support for multi-channel audio
- added support for verifying lossless input and output files
- added support for processing input with DSP filters
- added support for writing conversion log files
- added support for managing multiple configurations
- added a tag editor component
- added multi encoder component for simultaneous output to multiple formats

- User interface improvements

- completely reworked configuration dialog
- added support for editing configurations during conversions
- added the ability to sort the joblist by clicking headers
- allow format selection from the encode menu for encoders supporting multiple formats
- new dialog to confirm overwriting of existing files before conversion
- redesigned progress display area
- added a button to open the output folder
- the time left indicator now shows hours if necessary
- the five last used output folders are now saved for later use
- the five last used file name patterns are now saved for later use

- File conversion improvements

- added support for automatic sample format conversions to match encoder requirements
- added support for joining tracks with different sample formats into a single output file
- added options for playing notification sounds on finished conversions
- added an option to append sequential numbers to otherwise identical filenames
- added <composer>, <conductor> and <disc> filename patterns
- added configuration option to keep converted tracks in joblist
- added configuration option to add encoded files to joblist
- added a warning when converting from lossy to lossless formats
- skipping tracks is no longer possible when converting to a single file
- conversion progress is now shown in the taskbar on Windows 7 and later
- added support for setting process priority on Windows

- CD ripping improvements

- added support for ripping hidden tracks (HTOA)
- added support for reading ISRC codes from CDs
- added CD read offset configuration option
- upgraded CDRip to version 2.3 (with cdparanoia III version 10.2)

- CDDB support improvements

- added preview to CDDB match selection dialog
- added an option to automatically select the first CDDB match
- added support for CDDB queries using HTTP GET
- allow CDDB queries even when no CD drive is present
- allow CDDB dialogs to be resized

- Playback improvements

- allow playback while a conversion is running
- added a slider for seeking during playback
- the button to open the CD tray now closes it if already open

- New and updated codecs

- added support for command line encoders/decoders
- added Core Audio AAC/ALAC encoder
- added Opus audio encoder/decoder
- added Speex speech encoder/decoder
- added Monkey's Audio encoder/decoder
- added Musepack encoder/decoder
- added WavPack encoder/decoder
- added OptimFROG encoder/decoder
- added TAK lossless encoder/decoder
- added support for the Fraunhofer FDK AAC encoder/decoder
- added support for the VisualOn AAC encoder
- added support for the TwinVQ VQF decoder
- added support for Ogg FLAC files
- added support for RF64 and Wave64 files
- added support for libsndfile for reading simple audio files
- added support for reading and writing Vorbis files with .oga extension

- New DSP components

- added DSP components for resampling, channel up-/downmixing and sample format conversion
- added RNNoise speech noise reduction DSP component
- added Rubber Band time stretching DSP component

- Tagging improvements

- added support for chapters in ID3v2, MP4, WMA and Vorbis Comment tags
- added support for handling gapless playback information
- added support for changing album art
- added support for MCDI frame in ID3v2 tags
- added support for ID3v1 tags in AAC files
- added RIFF tagging support (using LIST INFO and Cart chunks)
- improved metadata extraction from path names
- improved title info editing user friendliness
- added context menu for text edit fields
- greatly improved case conversion functions
- the FLAC encoder now writes seektable metadata blocks

- Playlist and cue sheet improvements

- added support for XSPF, Windows Media and PLS playlists
- added support for creating one playlist or cue sheet per album in a single conversion
- fixed creation of cue sheets for multiple tracks in a single file
- added support for loading cue sheets

- freaccmd improvements

- completely reworked arguments of freacmd
- added support for selecting configuration in freaccmd
- added support for encoding to a single file with freaccmd


Version 1.1 Alpha (April 2019)

- ported to macOS, Linux and BSD operating systems
- implemented an extension component framework to modularize fre:ac
- completely reworked configuration dialog
- added support for multiple configurations
- added multi encoder hub component
- integrated SuperFast encoding technology for multi-threaded processing
- conversions are now done in parallel if possible
- redesigned progress display area
- new dialog to confirm overwriting of existing files before conversion
- allowed format selection from the encode menu for encoders supporting multiple formats
- added support for editing configurations during conversions
- added support for verifying lossless input and output files
- added support for processing input with DSP filters
- added DSP components for resampling, channel up-/downmixing and sample format conversion
- added support for automatic sample format conversions to match encoder requirements
- added support for joining tracks with different sample formats into a single output file
- added a simple tag editor
- added options for playing notification sounds on finished conversions
- added Monkey's Audio encoder/decoder
- added Speex speech encoder/decoder
- added Opus audio encoder/decoder
- added Core Audio AAC/ALAC encoder
- added support for command line encoders/decoders
- added TwinVQ VQF decoder support
- added support for the VisualOn AAC encoder
- added support for the Fraunhofer FDK AAC encoder/decoder
- added support for reading simple audio files using libsndfile
- added support for ID3v2, MP4, WMA and Vorbis Comment chapters
- added support for MCDI frame in ID3v2 tags
- added support for ID3v1 tags in AAC files
- added support for RF64 and Wave64 files
- added RIFF tagging support (using LIST INFO and Cart chunks)
- added support for Ogg FLAC files
- the FLAC encoder now writes seektable metadata blocks
- completely reworked arguments of freacmd
- added support for selecting configuration in freaccmd
- added support for encoding to single file with freaccmd
- added an option to append sequential numbers to otherwise identical filenames
- added <composer>, <conductor> and <disc> patterns
- allow CDDB queries even when no CD drive is present
- allow CDDB dialogs to be resized
- added preview to CDDB match selection dialog
- added an option to automatically select the first CDDB match
- added support for CDDB queries using HTTP GET
- added context menu for text edit fields
- added support for reading ISRC codes from CDs
- added support for ripping hidden tracks (HTOA)
- added CD read offset configuration option
- added configuration option to keep converted tracks in joblist
- added configuration option to add encoded files to joblist
- added support for loading cue sheets
- added support for reading and writing Vorbis files with .oga extension
- added support for XSPF, Windows Media and PLS playlists
- added a slider for seeking during playback
- allow playback while a conversion is running
- added a warning when converting from lossy to lossless formats
- added the ability to sort the joblist by clicking headers
- added basic multi-channel audio support
- added support for setting process priority on Windows
- added a button to open the output folder
- added support for creating one playlist or cue sheet per album in a single conversion
- added RNNoise speech noise reduction DSP component
- added Rubber Band time stretching DSP component
- the time left indicator now shows hours if necessary
- the five last used output folders are now saved for later use
- the five last used file name patterns are now saved for later use
- the button to open the CD tray now closes it if already open
- greatly improved case conversion functions
- conversion progress is now shown in the taskbar on Windows 7 and later
- skipping tracks is no longer possible when converting to a single file
- fixed creation of cue sheets for multiple tracks in a single file
- improved title info editing user friendliness
- improved metadata extraction from paths
- added native x64 platform support
- upgraded CDRip to version 2.2 (with cdparanoia III version 10.2)


fre:ac v1.0.32
Tuesday, 13 March 2018 19:32

This release includes some changes to improve usability and fixes several minor issues:

changed default output pattern to <artist> - <album> - <track> - <title>
improved behaviour of bitrate selection controls
show joblist duration in hours if longer than 1 hour
fixed issues with encoding to single file when suggested file name becomes too long
fixed handling of empty track metadata field
fixed handling of invalid Xing/LAME tags
fixed FAAC quality setting
fixed missing album art mimetype in MP4 metadata
fixed TwinVQ and WMA encoders being mixed up in config dialog


Version 1.1 Alpha (March 2018)

- ported to macOS, Linux and BSD operating systems
- implemented an extension component framework to modularize fre:ac
- completely reworked configuration dialog
- added support for multiple configurations
- added multi encoder hub component
- conversions are now done in parallel if possible
- redesigned progress display area
- new dialog to confirm overwriting of existing files before conversion
- allowed format selection from the encode menu for encoders supporting multiple formats
- added support for editing configurations during conversions
- added support for verifying lossless input and output files
- added support for processing input with DSP filters
- added DSP components for resampling, channel up-/downmixing and sample format conversion
- added support for automatic sample format conversions to match encoder requirements
- added support for joining tracks with different sample formats into a single output file
- added a simple tag editor
- added Monkey's Audio encoder/decoder
- added Speex speech encoder/decoder
- added Opus audio encoder/decoder
- added Core Audio AAC/ALAC encoder
- added support for command line encoders/decoders
- added TwinVQ VQF decoder support
- added support for the VisualOn AAC encoder
- added support for the Fraunhofer FDK AAC encoder/decoder
- added support for reading simple audio files using libsndfile
- added support for ID3v2, MP4, WMA and Vorbis Comment chapters
- added support for MCDI frame in ID3v2 tags
- added support for ID3v1 tags in AAC files
- added support for RF64 and Wave64 files
- added RIFF tagging support (using LIST INFO and Cart chunks)
- added support for Ogg FLAC files
- the FLAC encoder now writes seektable metadata blocks
- completely reworked arguments of freacmd
- added support for selecting configuration in freaccmd
- added support for encoding to single file with freaccmd
- added an option to append sequential numbers to otherwise identical filenames
- added <composer>, <conductor> and <disc> patterns
- allow CDDB queries even when no CD drive is present
- allow CDDB dialogs to be resized
- added preview to CDDB match selection dialog
- added an option to automatically select the first CDDB match
- added support for CDDB queries using HTTP GET
- added context menu for text edit fields
- added support for reading ISRC codes from CDs
- added support for ripping hidden tracks (HTOA)
- added CD read offset configuration option
- added configuration option to keep converted tracks in joblist
- added configuration option to add encoded files to joblist
- added support for loading cue sheets
- added support for reading and writing Vorbis files with .oga extension
- added support for XSPF, Windows Media and PLS playlists
- added a slider for seeking during playback
- added a warning when converting from lossy to lossless formats
- added the ability to sort the joblist by clicking headers
- added basic multi-channel audio support
- added support for setting process priority on Windows
- added a button to open the output folder
- added support for creating one playlist or cue sheet per album in a single conversion
- added RNNoise speech noise reduction DSP component
- added Rubber Band time stretching DSP component
- the time left indicator now shows hours if necessary
- the five last used output folders are now saved for later use
- the five last used file name patterns are now saved for later use
- the button to open the CD tray now closes it if already open
- greatly improved case conversion functions
- conversion progress is now shown in the taskbar on Windows 7 and later
- skipping tracks is no longer possible when converting to a single file
- fixed creation of cue sheets for multiple tracks in a single file
- improved title info editing user friendliness
- improved metadata extraction from paths
- added native x64 platform support
- upgraded CDRip to version 2.2 (with cdparanoia III version 10.2)


Version 1.0.31a (November 2017)

- updated Bulgarian translation
- updated FAAC encoder to fix Joint Stereo bug

Version 1.0.31 (November 2017)

- updated Italian translation
- changed default output pattern to <artist> - <album><artist> - <album> - <track> - <title>
- default to using WMA 9.2 instead of WMA 10 Pro
- added support for reading WAV files with unknown length
- fixed rare crash when decoding certain Ogg Vorbis files
- fixed some freedb connection issues
- upgraded CDRip to version 1.27 to fix detection of USB drives
- upgraded LAME to version 3.100
- upgraded FAAC to version 1.29.9.2
- upgraded FAAD2 to version 2.8.6
- upgraded mpg123 to version 1.25.7
- upgraded Ogg library to version 1.3.3


Version 1.1 Alpha (November 2017)

- ported to macOS, Linux and BSD operating systems
- implemented an extension component framework to modularize fre:ac
- completely reworked configuration dialog
- added support for multiple configurations
- added multi encoder hub component
- conversions are now done in parallel if possible
- redesigned progress display area
- new dialog to confirm overwriting of existing files before conversion
- allowed format selection from the encode menu for encoders supporting multiple formats
- added support for editing configurations during conversions
- added support for verifying lossless input and output files
- added support for processing input with DSP filters
- added a simple tag editor
- added Monkey's Audio encoder/decoder
- added Speex speech encoder/decoder
- added Opus audio encoder/decoder
- added Core Audio AAC/ALAC encoder
- added support for command line encoders/decoders
- added TwinVQ VQF decoder support
- added support for the VisualOn AAC encoder
- added support for the Fraunhofer FDK AAC encoder/decoder
- added support for reading simple audio files using libsndfile
- added support for ID3v2, MP4, WMA and Vorbis Comment chapters
- added support for MCDI frame in ID3v2 tags
- added support for ID3v1 tags in AAC files
- added support for RF64 and Wave64 files
- added RIFF tagging support (using LIST INFO and Cart chunks)
- added support for Ogg FLAC files
- the FLAC encoder now writes seektable metadata blocks
- completely reworked arguments of freacmd
- added support for selecting configuration in freaccmd
- added support for encoding to single file with freaccmd
- added an option to append sequential numbers to otherwise identical filenames
- added <composer>, <conductor> and <disc> patterns
- allow CDDB queries even when no CD drive is present
- added preview to CDDB match selection dialog
- added an option to automatically select the first CDDB match
- added support for CDDB queries using HTTP GET
- added context menu for text edit fields
- added support for reading ISRC codes from CDs
- added support for ripping hidden tracks (HTOA)
- added CD read offset configuration option
- added configuration option to keep converted tracks in joblist
- added configuration option to add encoded files to joblist
- added support for loading cue sheets
- added support for reading and writing Vorbis files with .oga extension
- added support for XSPF, Windows Media and PLS playlists
- added a slider for seeking during playback
- added a warning when converting from lossy to lossless formats
- added the ability to sort the joblist by clicking headers
- added basic multi-channel audio support
- added support for setting process priority on Windows
- added a button to open the output folder
- added support for creating one playlist or cue sheet per album in a single conversion
- the time left indicator now shows hours if necessary
- the five last used output folders are now saved for later use
- the five last used file name patterns are now saved for later use
- the button to open the CD tray now closes it if already open
- greatly improved case conversion functions
- conversion progress is now shown in the taskbar on Windows 7 and later
- skipping tracks is no longer possible when converting to a single file
- fixed creation of cue sheets for multiple tracks in a single file
- improved title info editing user friendliness
- improved metadata extraction from paths
- added native x64 platform support
- upgraded CDRip to version 2.2 (with cdparanoia III version 10.2)
- upgrade to MP4v2 v2.0.0


Version 1.0.30 (September 2017)

- minor improvements for CDDB submit dialog
- guard against disc insert notification being received multiple times
- upgraded FAAC to version 1.29.7.4


Version 1.0.29 (August 2017)

- now using the mpg123 library for MP3 decoding
- changed default FLAC blocksize to 4096 samples to match official FLAC tools
- removed support for obsolete Main and LTP AAC profiles
- fixed progress not being updated for long running conversions
- fixed handling of stray tabs in title info
- upgraded CDRip to version 1.26 to fix handling of drives with letter A:
- upgraded FAAC to version 1.29.7
- upgraded FAAD2 to version 2.8.1


Version 1.0.28 (February 2017)

- updated Chinese (traditional) translation
- configuration is now saved in freac.xml
- fixed crash on some invalid cover art
- upgraded FLAC to version 1.3.2


Version 1.0.27 (December 2016)

- added Cantonese (Hong Kong) and Corsican language support
- minor improvements for CDDB submit dialog
- improved detection of cover art mime types
- display error message only once when adding multiple files while converting
- fixed erroneous message about non existing folder if it is drive's root
- fixed issues handling CDDB entries with line breaks
- fixed inability to send new CDDB entries when there was a disc-id collision
- fixed CDDB query dialog appearing off screen when main window is minimized


Version 1.0.26 CVS (October 2015)

- updated Serbian (Latin and Cyrillic) translations
- improved detection of concatenated MP3 files
- sped up opening and saving Ogg Vorbis files with cover art
- read non-standard TOTALTRACKS and TOTALDISCS Vorbis Comment fields
- fill number of tracks metadata field when ripping audio CDs
- do not crash when Vorbis encoder fails to initialize
- fixed crash when trying to open invalid Ogg Vorbis files
- fixed crash when trying to create Ogg Vorbis files with very large cover art
- fixed crash when scrolling joblist while a tooltip is visible
- fixed Xing/LAME MP3 information tag parsing
- fixed edit box text disappearing in some cases in scaled mode


Version 1.0.25 CVS (September 2015)

- updated Italian, Swedish, Basque and Valencian translations
- added MP4/AAC and Ogg Vorbis cover art support
- recognize decimal VBR quality values in LAME settings
- save playlists and cuesheets along with output file in single file mode
- fixed existing files being overwritten in "Output to input folder" mode
- fixed LAME encoder not accepting arbitrary sample rates in auto resampling mode
- fixed possible crash during CDDB queries
- fixed crashes in MAD and FLAC decoder components
- fixed crash when trying to decode WMA files without duration field set
- fixed cover art not being written to WMA files without a description present
- upgraded CDRip to version 1.25 to fix drive detection issues


Version 1.0.24 (July 2015)

- added mouse jitter tolerance for tooltips
- added sample rate check to FAAC encoder
- do not eject discs when user stopped conversion
- retain disc number info when converting
- fixed visual glitches on Windows 8.x and 10
- flat titlebar style on Windows 8.x and 10
- made CDDB query dialog modal again
- upgraded Vorbis to version 1.3.5 + aoTuV beta 6.03 (2014)


Version 1.0.23 (November 2014)

- added Basque and Serbian (Cyrillic) language support
- updated Chinese (traditional) and Czech translations
- added Basque user guide
- added support for reading Windows Wave files in IEEE float format
- added additional genres as defined by Winamp 5.6
- the main window is no longer closed when pressing escape
- fixed stability issues when decoding MP3 files
- fixed crash when writing cover art to WMA tags
- fixed drag & drop target area not matching joblist
- fixed failure to delete read-only files with "Delete files after encoding" option
- fixed interpretation of non-standard UTF-16 strings in ID3v2 tags
- upgraded FLAC to version 1.3.1


Version 1.0.22 (July 2014)

- added Afrikaans language support
- updated Spanish, Slovak, Serbian and Lithuanian translations
- added support for disc drives with drive letters A: and B:
- fixed decoding of MAIN profile AAC files
- fixed last track of CD-Extra discs being two seconds too long
- fixed writing invalid genre value to ID3v1 tags
- fixed CJK editor appearing offset in Windows Vista/7/8 default designs
- fixed crash when selecting output plugin
- fixed crash when encountering malformed Vorbis comments
- fixed blurry GUI with high resolution displays
- fixed screen artifacts left by tooltips when removing tracks
- fixed uninstaller not working when run directly
- upgraded Vorbis to aoTuV beta 6.03 (2014)
- upgraded Ogg library to version 1.3.2
- upgraded CDRip to version 1.24


Version 1.0.21a (July 2013)

- fixed WMA output files being deleted after encoding
- fixed edit field menu buttons being non-clickable
- fixed rare FLAC encoder problem at compression levels 7 and 8
- fixed online updater not working after smooth library upgrade
- fixed compilation with Microsoft Visual C++


Version 1.0.21 (July 2013)

- updated Romanian and Swedish translations
- changed default settings for FLAC


Version 1.0.21 Beta 1 (June 2013)

- updated Russian translation
- added support for large fonts
- fixed ID3v2 cover data not being displayed in iTunes
- fixed random crashes at program exit
- fixed WMA decoder not using the best output format available
- fixed ASPI error message being displayed on systems without optical drives
- upgraded FLAC to version 1.3.0
- upgraded Ogg library to version 1.3.1
- upgraded to smooth v0.8.71.0
- some minor fixes


Version 1.0.20a (March 2012)

- fixed unintended dependency on Intel runtime libraries
- fixed bogus error messages on AMD CPUs


Version 1.0.20 (March 2012)

- added Bulgarian language support
- added Spanish user guide
- updated Polish and Romanian translations
- upgraded LAME to version 3.99.5
- upgraded Ogg library to version 1.3.0
- some minor fixes


Version 1.0.19 (May 2011)

- updated Serbian translation
- fixed possible MP3 decoder crashes
- upgraded Ogg Vorbis to aoTuV beta 6.03
- minor other fixes


Version 1.0.18 (April 2011)

- updated French, Czech, Dutch and Finnish translations
- added CD text support for sampler CDs
- added support for gapless MP3 decoding
- added support for decoding uncompressed AIFF-C files
- changed default output directory to "My Music" folder
- fixed skipping of first few seconds of some MP3s and raw AAC files
- fixed and improved decoding of raw audio formats WAVE, AIFF and AU
- upgraded Ogg library to version 1.2.2
- upgraded Ogg Vorbis to aoTuV beta 6.02
- some minor fixes


Released fre:ac v1.0.17a hotfix for MP3 decoder issue.


Version 1.0.17 of fre:ac has been released today.

The new release reflects the project name change from BonkEnc to fre:ac. It includes translation updates and fixes some bugs found in previous versions.


Version 1.0.16 (August 2010)

- updated Dutch translation
- added Dutch and Czech translations for the installer
- select a reasonable WMA codec by default
- fixed problems with text edit fields
- raised maximum file name length on NT systems
- some minor fixes


Version 1.0.15 (July 2010)

- added Windows Media Audio encoder/decoder
- added support for wildcards in arguments to BEcmd
- added ripping speed configuration option
- added <filetype> file name pattern
- updated most translations
- added several translations for the installer
- added Portuguese user guide
- improved GUI performance especially on Windows Vista and Windows 7
- fixed handling of garbage data before the first MP3 frame
- fixed LAME ABR preset configuration
- fixed problem opening MP3 and FLAC files on Windows 9x with Unicows
- fixed CD ripping problems on some Windows 7 x64 systems
- upgraded LAME to version 3.98.4
- upgraded CDRip to version 1.23
- upgraded Ogg library to version 1.2.0
- some minor fixes


Version 1.0.14 (October 2009)

- added Hebrew language support
- updated Vietnamese and Czech translations
- now using the MAD decoder for MP3
- interface language is now selected automatically at first startup
- added total time and progress display
- added support for LAME info tags
- added Vietnamese translation for the installer
- fixed automatic reading of CD contents on disc insert
- fixed several problems regarding Winamp input plugins
- fixed icon display on Windows Vista and Windows 7
- fixed freeze-ups on Windows 7
- fixed possible freeze-up at program startup
- significant encoding speed improvements
- upgrade to MP4v2 v1.9.1
- some minor bug fixes


Version 1.1 CVS (August 2009)

- added Estonian, Croatian, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Catalan, Valencian and Galician language support
- added German, Italian, Russian, Czech and Greek user guides
- added German and Japanese translations for the installer
- converted input and output filters to BoCA components
- implemented new configuration dialog
- redesigned progress display area
- completely reworked LAME configuration dialog
- added a simple tag editor
- added Monkey's Audio encoder/decoder
- added Speex speech encoder/decoder
- added Windows Media Audio encoder/decoder
- added support for command line encoders/decoders
- added support for the MAD MP3 decoder
- added TwinVQ VQF decoder support
- added support for AAC synchronizing (needed to read ripped AAC streams)
- added support for reading simple audio files using libsndfile
- added support for cover art in MP4 files
- added support for MCDI frame in ID3v2 tags
- added <directory> pattern to allow preserving existing directory structures
- added <filetype> pattern
- added <installdrive> pattern for use in output directory name
- label/publisher and ISRC information is now preserved during conversion
- added support for reading ISRC codes from CDs
- making better use of multi-core CPUs when encoding/decoding
- miscellaneous other speed optimizations
- the five last used file name patterns are now saved for later use
- greatly improved case conversion functions
- fixed writing of bad ID3v2 tags when iconv.dll is not available
- fixed ID3lib to read and write correct ID3v2.4 tags
- fixed writing of ID3v1 tags when encoding VBR or ABR MP3s
- fixed creation of cuesheets for multiple tracks in a single file
- fixed total progress bar not working correctly with many tracks in joblist
- fixed crash when encoding to single MP4 file
- fixed unwanted downsampling when encoding to low bitrate MP3
- fixed Vorbis (and FLAC) comment tag reading
- fixed not writing Xing header when using LAME presets
- fixed crash when trying to open unsupported Sun Audio (.au) files
- fixed encoding empty tracks when no CD is inserted
- fixed various CDDB issues
- fixed HTTP proxy authentication
- fixed BEcmd crashes
- fixed support for various artists CDs
- improved CDDB data sanity check
- improved support for network files and directories
- NT SCSI mode is now used by default to access CD drives on NT systems
- installer improvements
- lots of fixes to the command line encoder
- added native x64 platform support
- upgraded Bonk to version 0.12
- upgraded FLAC to version 1.2.1
- upgraded FAAC to version 1.28
- upgraded FAAD2 to version 2.7
- upgraded LAME to version 3.98.3
- upgraded Ogg Vorbis to aoTuV beta 5.7
- upgraded Ogg library to version 1.1.4
- upgraded CDRip to version 1.21 (with cdparanoia III version 10.2)
- upgrade to MP4v2 v2.0
- lots of other fixes


Version 1.0.13 (July 2009)

- added Vietnamese and Galician language support
- added Czech user guide
- updated Chinese (traditional), Czech and Serbian translations
- making better use of multi-core CPUs when encoding/decoding
- miscellaneous other speed optimizations
- removed outdated presets for LAME encoder
- fixed a possible crash at the end of encoding using LAME
- fixed a possible crash opening Bonk files
- fixed BEcmd argument handling
- fixed problems with easyUpdate
- upgraded Ogg library to version 1.1.4


Version 1.0.12 (May 2009)

- added Croatian language support
- updated Japanese and Russian translations
- fixed CDDB querying when both, local and remote CDDB are enabled
- fixed problems with easyUpdate running on Windows Vista
- fixed problems starting BonkEnc on Windows NT 4.0
- disabled compression of all executables to fix incorrect threat warnings from virus scanners
- upgraded Ogg Vorbis to aoTuV beta 5.7