Change FLAC encoder quality to 8

[nicolaidenmark]

Hi all,

Been using the software for years but I don't know how to adjust the FLAC profile to get compression level 8 instead of the default "Fast level 5".

I found the xmlp file but can't really edit it. By default opens in a browser and not a text editor.

I tried copying the contains to a normal notepad .txt file and change all "-fast" text to "best and all "12" to "8"

But I cannot copy the new file into the MAKEMKV app.tar folder (maybe because this folder is compressed?)

I know MAKEMKV goes to 12 for compression but 8 is preferable for maximum compatibility between players / devices.

Expert Mode is on but can't adjust this through the GUI.

Any help would be appreciated.

[dcoke22]

Probably the easiest thing to do is make a new conversion profile with whatever flac settings you want.

Conversion Profile

On the fly audio conversion

.xml files are just text files, editable in your favorite text editor.

Your new conversion profile does not have to go back into app.tar. You can put it in MakeMKV's data directory. The General tab of MakeMKV's preferences will tell you where that is on your system. When you start MakeMKV, it'll pick up any conversion profiles that are in the data directory.

As an experiment, I duplicated the FLAC profile from my MakeMKV install and called this one 'flac8.mmcp.xml'

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<profile>
    <!-- profile name - Default -->
    <name lang="eng">FLAC8</name>

    <!-- Common MKV flags -->
    <mkvSettings 
        ignoreForcedSubtitlesFlag="true"
        useISO639Type2T="false"
        setFirstAudioTrackAsDefault="true"
        setFirstSubtitleTrackAsDefault="true"
        setFirstForcedSubtitleTrackAsDefault="true"
        insertFirstChapter00IfMissing="true"
    />

    <!-- Output formats currently supported by MakeMKV -->
    <outputSettings name="copy" outputFormat="directCopy">
        <description lang="eng">Copy track as is</description>
        <description lang="ger">Track 1:1 kopieren</description>
    </outputSettings>

    <outputSettings name="lpcm" outputFormat="LPCM-raw">
        <description lang="eng">Save as raw LPCM</description>
        <description lang="ger">Als RAW LPCM speichern</description>
    </outputSettings>

    <outputSettings name="wavex" outputFormat="LPCM-wavex">
        <description lang="eng">Save as LPCM in WAV container</description>
        <description lang="ger">Als LPCM im WAV-Container speichern</description>
    </outputSettings>

    <outputSettings name="flac-best" outputFormat="FLAC">
        <description lang="eng">Save as FLAC (best compression)</description>
        <description lang="ger">Als FLAC speichern (höchste Komprimierungsstufe)</description>
        <extraArgs>-compression_level 12</extraArgs>
    </outputSettings>

    <outputSettings name="flac-8" outputFormat="FLAC">
        <description lang="eng">Save as FLAC (compression 8)</description>
        <description lang="ger">Als FLAC speichern (höchste Komprimierungsstufe)</description>
        <extraArgs>-compression_level 8</extraArgs>
    </outputSettings>
    
    <outputSettings name="flac-fast" outputFormat="FLAC">
        <description lang="eng">Save as FLAC (fast compression)</description>
        <extraArgs>-compression_level 5</extraArgs>
    </outputSettings>

    <!-- Default rule - copy as is -->
    <trackSettings input="default">
        <output outputSettingsName="copy" 
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- Save LPCM mono or stereo as FLAC -->
    <trackSettings input="LPCM-stereo">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- Save multi-channel LPCM as FLAC -->
    <trackSettings input="LPCM-multi">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString,+sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- Save TRUEHD as FLAC -->
    <trackSettings input="TRUEHD-stereo">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString,+sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>
    <trackSettings input="TRUEHD-multi">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString,+sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>
    <trackSettings input="MLP-stereo">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString,+sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>
    <trackSettings input="MLP-multi">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString,+sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- Save DTS-HD as FLAC -->
    <trackSettings input="DTSHDMA-stereo">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString,+sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>
    <trackSettings input="DTSHDMA-multi">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString,+sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- Save DTS-HD LBR (low quality) as FLAC (just to decode) -->
    <trackSettings input="DTSHDLBR-stereo">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>
    <trackSettings input="DTSHDLBR-multi">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

</profile>

I have not really tested that profile, but it does show up in my list of available profiles and my system worked fairly hard while ripping a movie using it. The resulting file has a FLAC audio track in it, but I'm not sure how to verify that it was compressed using level 8.

[BD-BD-BD]

The resulting file has a FLAC audio track in it, but I'm not sure how to verify that it was compressed using level 8.

Extract the audio track with mkvextract (a part of MKVToolNix) and verify with…

EDIT: Apparently you'd have to encode using different FLAC compression levels and compare (the filesize) since this information is not stored in the file metadata.

[nicolaidenmark]

Probably the easiest thing to do is make a new conversion profile with whatever flac settings you want.

Conversion Profile

On the fly audio conversion

.xml files are just text files, editable in your favorite text editor.

Your new conversion profile does not have to go back into app.tar. You can put it in MakeMKV's data directory. The General tab of MakeMKV's preferences will tell you where that is on your system. When you start MakeMKV, it'll pick up any conversion profiles that are in the data directory.

As an experiment, I duplicated the FLAC profile from my MakeMKV install and called this one 'flac8.mmcp.xml'

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<profile>
    <!-- profile name - Default -->
    <name lang="eng">FLAC8</name>

    <!-- Common MKV flags -->
    <mkvSettings 
        ignoreForcedSubtitlesFlag="true"
        useISO639Type2T="false"
        setFirstAudioTrackAsDefault="true"
        setFirstSubtitleTrackAsDefault="true"
        setFirstForcedSubtitleTrackAsDefault="true"
        insertFirstChapter00IfMissing="true"
    />

    <!-- Output formats currently supported by MakeMKV -->
    <outputSettings name="copy" outputFormat="directCopy">
        <description lang="eng">Copy track as is</description>
        <description lang="ger">Track 1:1 kopieren</description>
    </outputSettings>

    <outputSettings name="lpcm" outputFormat="LPCM-raw">
        <description lang="eng">Save as raw LPCM</description>
        <description lang="ger">Als RAW LPCM speichern</description>
    </outputSettings>

    <outputSettings name="wavex" outputFormat="LPCM-wavex">
        <description lang="eng">Save as LPCM in WAV container</description>
        <description lang="ger">Als LPCM im WAV-Container speichern</description>
    </outputSettings>

    <outputSettings name="flac-best" outputFormat="FLAC">
        <description lang="eng">Save as FLAC (best compression)</description>
        <description lang="ger">Als FLAC speichern (höchste Komprimierungsstufe)</description>
        <extraArgs>-compression_level 12</extraArgs>
    </outputSettings>

    <outputSettings name="flac-8" outputFormat="FLAC">
        <description lang="eng">Save as FLAC (compression 8)</description>
        <description lang="ger">Als FLAC speichern (höchste Komprimierungsstufe)</description>
        <extraArgs>-compression_level 8</extraArgs>
    </outputSettings>
    
    <outputSettings name="flac-fast" outputFormat="FLAC">
        <description lang="eng">Save as FLAC (fast compression)</description>
        <extraArgs>-compression_level 5</extraArgs>
    </outputSettings>

    <!-- Default rule - copy as is -->
    <trackSettings input="default">
        <output outputSettingsName="copy" 
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- Save LPCM mono or stereo as FLAC -->
    <trackSettings input="LPCM-stereo">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- Save multi-channel LPCM as FLAC -->
    <trackSettings input="LPCM-multi">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString,+sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- Save TRUEHD as FLAC -->
    <trackSettings input="TRUEHD-stereo">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString,+sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>
    <trackSettings input="TRUEHD-multi">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString,+sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>
    <trackSettings input="MLP-stereo">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString,+sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>
    <trackSettings input="MLP-multi">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString,+sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- Save DTS-HD as FLAC -->
    <trackSettings input="DTSHDMA-stereo">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString,+sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>
    <trackSettings input="DTSHDMA-multi">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString,+sel:true">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

    <!-- Save DTS-HD LBR (low quality) as FLAC (just to decode) -->
    <trackSettings input="DTSHDLBR-stereo">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>
    <trackSettings input="DTSHDLBR-multi">
        <output outputSettingsName="flac-8"
                defaultSelection="$app_DefaultSelectionString">
        </output>
    </trackSettings>

</profile>

I have not really tested that profile, but it does show up in my list of available profiles and my system worked fairly hard while ripping a movie using it. The resulting file has a FLAC audio track in it, but I'm not sure how to verify that it was compressed using level 8.

I tried pasting this in a txt file and converting it, but the profile does not show up in my MKV Profiles?

[dcoke22]

I tried pasting this in a txt file and converting it, but the profile does not show up in my MKV Profiles?

Did you name the file flac8.mmcp.xml?

Is the file in MakeMKV's data directory as defined on the General Tab of MakeMKV's preferences?

Did you restart MakeMKV?

Do you have Expert Mode enabled on the General Tab of MakeMKV's preferences?