How to set audio bitrate in ffmpeg?

quickquestion111 · 05-27-2020, 01:25 AM

Im modding a game (command and conquer 1) to add some music to it, and in their mod wiki they say you need to convert your audio files to 16-bit 22050 Hz WAV with a program of your choice. So im trying to do this with ffmpeg, but not sure if im doing it right. The command I used is as follows:

Code:

ffmpeg -i rick-roll.mp3 -b:a 16 -ar 22050 rickroll.wav

Does that look right to you? Cause when I check the audio properties (via a simple file manager) the Hz value (aka sample rate) is correct, but the bitrate says 705kbps (and not 16 bits)...

pan64 · 05-27-2020, 02:01 AM

probably: https://superuser.com/questions/6753...for-vbr/675647

quickquestion111 · 05-27-2020, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pan64

probably: https://superuser.com/questions/6753...for-vbr/675647

Thanks the command I put above works, so I guess the game does not strictly require a 16b bitrate.. But ffmpeg does give a warning saying "16b is extremely low and that you probably meant 16k", so it does that without giving me a choice. The game is from 1995 so I think the 16b recommendation from the game's wiki was accurate.. Do u know how to force ffmpeg to use the 16b? At this point it's just out of curiosity though, since it works reguardless.

Madhu Desai · 05-28-2020, 07:29 AM

Code:

ffmpeg -i rick-roll.mp3 -c:a pcm_s16le -ar 22050 -f wav rickroll.wav

pan64 · 05-28-2020, 07:51 AM

I'm not really sure, but I think 16b is not supported.

ondoho · 05-28-2020, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by quickquestion111

Im modding a game (command and conquer 1) to add some music to it, and in their mod wiki they say you need to convert your audio files to 16-bit 22050 Hz WAV with a program of your choice. So im trying to do this with ffmpeg, but not sure if im doing it right. The command I used is as follows:

Code:

ffmpeg -i rick-roll.mp3 -b:a 16 -ar 22050 rickroll.wav

Does that look right to you? Cause when I check the audio properties (via a simple file manager) the Hz value (aka sample rate) is correct, but the bitrate says 705kbps (and not 16 bits)...

ffmpeg's -b option refers to bits per second; your game's need to have 16-bit WAV is of a different kind.
ffmpeg is right to tell you that 16 bit per second is way too low to get any sort of usable audio from it. Did you listen to the result?

Actually, mddnix's answer appears to be the correct one.