NAME
convert — convert an audio file
SYNOPSIS
/opt/audio/bin/convert
[source_file]
[target_file]
[-sfmt format
]
[-dfmt format
]
[-ddata data_type
]
[-srate rate
]
[-drate rate
]
[-schannels number
]
[-dchannels number
]
DESCRIPTION
This command converts audio files from one supported file format,
data format, sampling rate, and number of channels to another.
The unconverted file is retained as a source file.
- -sfmt format -dfmt format
are the file formats for the source and destination files.
Each
format
can be one of these:
- au
Sun file format
- snd
NeXT file format
- wav
Microsoft RIFF Waveform file format
- u
MuLaw format
- al
ALaw
- l16
linear 16-bit format
- lo8
offset (unsigned) linear 8-bit format
- l8
linear 8-bit format
If you omit
-sfmt,
convert
uses the header or filename extension in the source file.
You can omit
-dfmt
if you supply a filename extension for the destination file.
- -ddata data_type
is the data type for the destination files.
data_type
can be one of these:
- u
MuLaw
- al
ALaw
- l16
linear 16-bit
- lo8
offset (unsigned) linear 8-bit data
- l8
linear 8-bit data
If you omit
-ddata,
convert
uses an appropriate data type, normally the data type of the
source file.
- -srate rate -drate rate
are the number of samples per second for the source and
destination file.
Typical sampling rates range from
8 to 11k (for voice quality) to 44,100 (for CD quality).
You can use
k
to indicate thousands.
For example,
8k
means 8,000 samples per second.
If you omit
-srate,
convert
uses a rate defined by the source file header or its filename extension.
For a raw file with no extension, 8,000 is used.
By playing the file,
you can determine if 8,000 samples is too fast or too slow.
If you omit
-drate,
convert
uses a sampling rate appropriate for the destination file format; if possible,
it matches the sampling rate of the source file.
- -schannels number -dchannels number
are the number of channels in the source and destination files.
Use
1
for mono;
2
for stereo.
If
-schannels
is omitted,
convert
uses the information in the header; for raw data files, it uses mono.
If
-dchannels
is omitted,
convert
matches what was used for the source file
(through the header or
-schannels
option); for raw data files, it uses mono.
EXAMPLES
Convert a raw data file to a headered file.
cd /opt/audio/bin
convert beep.l16 beep.au
Convert a raw data file to a headered file when the
source has no extension, was sampled at 11,025 per second,
and has stereo data.
cd /opt/audio/bin
convert beep beep.au -sfmt l16 -srate 11025 -schannels 2
To save disk space, convert an audio file with CD quality sound to
voice quality sound.
cd /opt/audio/bin
convert idea.au idea2.au -ddata u -drate 8k -dchannels 1
AUTHOR
convert
was developed by HP.
Sun is a trademark of Sun MicroSystems, Inc.
NeXT is a trademark of NeXT Computers, Inc.
Microsoft is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
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