powershellaac

Audioworks from powershell:

I am using the audioworks module for powershell, and believe I am using it per the docs.

When I open the aac file in vlc, I see it is aac in Media properties.

But Audioworks gags on the file:

PS C:\temp\test> Get-AudioFile in.aac
Get-AudioFile : Unable to decode 'C:\temp\test\in.aac' with any loaded extension.
At line:1 char:1
+ Get-AudioFile in.aac
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (in.aac:String) [Get-AudioFile], AudioUnsupportedException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : AudioUnsupportedException,AudioWorks.Commands.GetAudioFileCommand

Ahhh, because even though the docs indicate aac is supported, there appears not to be a module installed to support it...

 Get-AudioEncoderInfo

Name    Description
----    -----------
FLAC    Free Lossless Audio Codec
LameMP3 Lame MPEG Audio Layer 3
Opus    Opus
Vorbis  Ogg Vorbis
Wave    Waveform Audio File Format

I will try to contact the developer.

UPDATE AND CONCLUSION

OK, I see in the docs that to get AAC support requires the installation of iTunes.

For a normal windows setup, that is a ton of overhead to support one codec. (My whole agenda is to lose my dependence on VLC... if I simply inherit a dependence on iTunes I have not gained much... in fact, iTunes puts so much stuff on a Windows system that it is a step backward from VLC.)

Deeply bummed that AudioWorks has this external dependency for a codec that is central to my project.

Solution

  • With respect to AAC support, the docs state under requirements on Windows (emphasis added):

    iTunes (optional, for AAC and ALAC support. Requires the classic installer, not the Windows Store version)