Remarks: Windows XP has reached "end of life" on April 8th, 2014. This means that Microsoft has stopped all support for Windows XP. Thus no updates or bugfixes are made available to regular Windows XP users since that date, not even security fixes! Thus, all the security vulnerabilities that have been discovered after the deadline – and all the security vulnerabilities that are going to be discovered in the future – will persists forever! Consequently, using Windows XP has become a severe security risk, and the situation is only going to get worse. While LameXP will continue to support Windows XP (note that Service Pack 3 is required!) for the foreseeable future, we highly recommend everybody to update to a less antiquated system now. Windows XP support will be discontinued in a future version, when most users have migrated to a contemporary system.
Currently the following output formats (audio encoders) are supported by LameXP:
Addendum: When distributing binaries of the LameXP software, it is strictly forbidden to bundle the LameXP program files and/or the LameXP installation program with any kind of Adware, Spyware or PUP (potentially unwanted program), including, but not limited to, any downloaders, dialers, browser toolbars/extensions or restricted shareware/demo programs. It is, however, perfectly legitimate to bundle LameXP with other OpenSource programs, according to the OSI (Open Source Initiative). Finally, it is also legitimate to bundle LameXP with commercial software, as long as that software does not meet the criteria of Adware, Spyware or PUP. If you bundle the LameXP software with another software, you are required to make sure that the user is provided with an easy way to install and start the LameXP software separately from that other software.
Occasionally, it may happen that your anti-virus software mistakenly detects malware (virus, trojan horse, worm, etc.) while you are trying to run the LameXP application or the LameXP setup program. This is called a false positive and the file actually is not malware. Instead, this is an error (bug) in your particular anti-virus software! In case that you encounter this kind problem, we highly recommend using VirusTotal.com, Virscan.org or a similar web-service to check the file in question with multiple anti-virus engines. Unless the vast majority of the anti-virus engines detect malware, it can be assumed that the file is really harmless. However, please take care with heuristic scan results, such as "suspicious", "generic" or "packed". Those results are not confirmed malware detections – they are highly speculative and (almost certainly) can be ignored safely!
Defective anti-virus software is an ongoing annoyance! For example, anti-virus programs tend to suspect installers (or uninstallers) created with NSIS – which includes the LameXP setup program. But, of course, installers created with NSIS are perfectly legitimate. Thus, if your anti-virus program complains about the LameXP setup program, please ignore the nonsensical warning! Furthermore, it seems that some anti-virus programs accuse all "packed" executables of being malware. Nonetheless, using so-called "executable packers", e.g. UPX, is perfectly legitimate. Executable packers are commonly used by legitimate software, including numerous OpenSource projects – and so does LameXP. Thus, if your anti-virus program complains about the LameXP program file, because it has been "packed" by UPX, please ignore the nonsensical warning!
Shortly after launching the setup program, an UAC (User Access Control) dialogue may appear. This is a standard Windows security feature, so don't worry! You have to choose "Yes", if you wish to continue the installation process.
Note: If you wonder why Windows suggests that the LameXP setup program originates from an "unknown publisher", despite the fact that it was downloaded from the official web-site, then please the explanation here!
Now simply follow the instructions of the setup wizard, which will guide you through the installation process…
Note: Please do not change the "Destionation Folder", unless you know exactly what you are doing. The "Destionation Folder" cannot be changed, when upgrading an existing LameXP installation.
Congratulation, LameXP has been installed successfully on your computer!
Note: If you keep the "Run LameXP …" option enabled and click on the "Finish" button, the LameXP software will be launched immediately.
If you decided for the ZIP package, you need to open the downloaded ZIP file, e.g. LameXP.yyyy-mm-dd.Release-Static.Build-xxxx.zip, in your favourite file archive software (we recommend using 7-Zip or WinRAR).
LameXP.yyyy-mm-dd.Release-Static.Build-xxxx.zip
This step may be slightly different, depending on what file archive software (e.g. 7-Zip or WinRAR) you are using. Select all files in the LameXP ZIP archive and extract them to a new/empty directory of your choice.
Note: It is very important that you have write-access to the chosen destination directory. So make sure that you choose a directory where the required access rights are granted!
Congratulation, LameXP has been installed successfully on your computer! Now double-click on the LameXP.exe program file in order to launch the application!
LameXP.exe
First of all, it is important to note that there is no such thing as a separate "portable version" or "portable edition" of the LameXP software. Instead, all versions of the LameXP software always are "portable" – in the sense that the LameXP software is fully self-contained and thus no additional dependencies (libraries, frameworks, codecs or whatsoever) need to be installed on the computer separately. Or, in other words, the LameXP software is designed to work "out of the box". And this applies regardless of whether you choose the setup program or the ZIP package!
Simply scroll down, click the "I agree" button, and enter user@example.com when asked for an e-mail address. Finally, click the "Download" button, which initates the download of the required NeroAACCodec-1.5.1.zip file.
user@example.com
NeroAACCodec-1.5.1.zip
Note: Although the ZIP file is called NeroAACCodec-1.5.1.zip, it actually contains version 1.5.4.0 of the Nero AAC encoder software. Please check the included changelog.txt to verify this!
changelog.txt
Now open the downloaded ZIP file with your favourite file archive software (we recommend using 7-Zip or WinRAR) and navigate to the "win32" sub-directory.
Finally, extract all the three files neroAacDec.exe, neroAacEnc.exe and neroAacTag.exe into the LameXP installation directory. That is the directory where your LameXP executable file, i.e. the LameXP.exe, is located.
neroAacDec.exe
neroAacEnc.exe
neroAacTag.exe
Note: By default, the LameXP installation directory is either C:\Program Files (x86)\MuldeR\LameXP or C:\Program Files\MuldeR\LameXP. However, this can be changed by the user during the setup process.
C:\Program Files (x86)\MuldeR\LameXP
C:\Program Files\MuldeR\LameXP
Once the required Nero AAC files have been put into the proper place, simply restart LameXP in order to enable the AAC encoding support!
Getting the Apple/QuickTime AAC encoder ready involves two separate steps: In the first place we will install the QAAC encoder, and in the second place we will install the Apple AAC encoder libraries.
Now open the downloaded ZIP file, e.g. LameXP.qaac-addin.yyyy-mm-dd.zip, with your favourite file archive software (we recommend using 7-Zip or WinRAR) to find the required QAAC program files.
LameXP.qaac-addin.yyyy-mm-dd.zip
Note: The LameXP software generally expects the latest version of the QAAC add-in; and the QAAC add-in is designed to work with the latest version of the LameXP software. Make sure your files are up-to-date!
Please extract all the three files, the program qaac.exe plus its companion DLLs libsoxr.dll and libsoxconvolver.dll, into the LameXP installation directory. That is the directory where your LameXP executable file, i.e. the LameXP.exe, is located.
qaac.exe
libsoxr.dll
libsoxconvolver.dll
Since you usually do not want to install the complete QuickTime (or iTunes) software on your computer, please only download the QuickTime (or iTunes) setup package, but do not actually run the installer!
Instead, open the QuickTimer setup program, i.e. QuickTimeInstaller.exe, with your favourite file archive software (we recommend using 7-Zip or WinRAR) and extract the required AppleApplicationSupport.msi package.
QuickTimeInstaller.exe
AppleApplicationSupport.msi
After the "Apple Application Support" setup package has been extracted, you can launch it by double-clicking on the AppleApplicationSupport.msi file. Then simply follow the installer's instructions.
Once the QAAC encoder as well as the Apple AAC encoder libraries ("Apple Application Support") have been installed properly, simply restart LameXP in order to enable the AAC encoding support!
Note: You may run qaac.exe --check from the command prompt to ensure that QAAC has been set up correctly. Expected output is qaac 2.xx, CoreAudioToolbox x.x.x.x.
qaac.exe --check
qaac 2.xx, CoreAudioToolbox x.x.x.x
This tutorial will teach you, step by step, how to convert your audio files using the LameXP software. The tutorial assumes that LameXP is already installed on your computer.
First of all, you need to add all source files that you want to convert. So switch to the "Source Files" tab, just in case that tab is not active already, and then click the "Add File(s)" button.
This will bring up a standard file selection dialogue. Now simply select the files that you want to add and click the "Open" button. You can repeat this step multiple times, e.g. to add files from different directories.
All files you have added, so far, will show up in the list. You can click the "Remove" button to remove a single file from the list or "Clear" to remove them all. Click the "Show details" button to show details about a file.
All files you have added, so far, will show up in the list. You can click the "Remove" button to remove a single file from the list or "Clear" to remove them all. You can also click the "Show details" button to show details about the selected file.
Did you know? Files can also be added via Drag & Drop. Just grab the files that you want to add in your Explorer window and drop them onto the LameXP main window (or onto the LameXP "dropbox" widget).
If you want to add an entire directory, you can select "Open Folder" from the "File" menu, which will bring up a directory selection dialogue. "Open Folder Recursively" works in a similar way, but also includes all sub-directories.
Next, you need to choose the output directory, i.e. the directory where the converted files will be saved. Switch to the "Output Directory" tab and choose the desired output directory from the directory tree view.
Note: There are several quick navigation buttons below, which will allow you to jump quickly to your personal "Home" folder, "Desktop" folder and "Music" folder, respectively.
Sometimes you may wish to store the converted files in a new (sub-)folder. In this case, simply click the "Make New Folder" button, enter the desired folder name and hit the "OK" button.
The new folder is going to be created inside the current directory and will be selected automatically. You can repeat this step multiple times in order to created nested sub-folders.
Did you know? If you enable the "Save output files in the same directory where the input file is located" option, each output file will be saved to the same location where the corresponding source file resides.
Finally, you need to choose your compression settings. First, and most important, you must decide for an output audio format (encoder). Depending on your needs and preferences, you can choose between MP3, Ogg/Vorbis, Opus, AAC/MP4, FLAC and others.
Note: If you are uncertain which audio format to choose, then this article by Lifehacker is a good starting point. Also see the comparison of audio coding formats on Wikipedia. If still uncertain, just go with good old MP3 😉
Once you have decided for an audio format, you need to choose a rate-control mode next. The available rate-control modes include VBR (quality-base variable bitrate), ABR (average bitrate) and CBR (constant bitrate). Not all modes are available for all audio formats.
Note: If you are uncertain which rate-control mode to chose, the guideline is that VBR mode should be preferred over ABR mode whenever possible. And CBR mode generally should be avoided. See also Wikipedia's article on variable bitrate encoding.
Last but not least, you need to choose the desired target bitrate or quality-level. Put simply, this controls the "quality vs. file size" trade-off. You choose a target quality-level in case of VBR mode, and you choose a target (average) bitrate in case of ABR or CBR mode.
Note: If you are uncertain which bitrate or quality-level to choose, bare in mind that a higher bitrate (or a better quality level) results in better audio quality, but also produces larger files – and vice versa. "Level 2" or "192 kbps" is a typical choice for MP3.
Did you know? You can click on the "Reset" link at any time in order to reset all available settings for all available encoders to their factory defaults.
When everything has been set up properly, the time has come to actually start the encoding process. So simply click the "Encode Now" button in order to get going!
This will bring up the "Processing" dialogue. LameXP will now convert all your audio files on the list. Depending on the number of audio files and depending on the performance of your system, this may take several minutes, so please be patient 😉
Note: In order to leverage the power "multi-core" processors and thus massively speed-up the encoding process, LameXP will run multiple encoding jobs in parallel – provided that your system has multiple processor cores and that there are enough encoding jobs left in the queue.
The "Processing" dialogue is going to turn green, as soon as all encoding jobs have finished successfully. If anything went wrong, e.g. if one of the encoding jobs failed for some reason, it will turn red instead.
Did you know? You can double-click on a completed (or failed) job in the list, in order to bring up a dialogue with all details about the specific job. This is especially useful, if something went wrong.
Additional command-line options may be passed to LameXP when launching the application. You may do so, for example, by typing the complete command-line into the command prompt or by creating a shortcut with the desired command-line options. The basic command-line syntax of LameXP is as follows: Each command-line option has to start with a -- prefix. So if you intend to pass the option called "foo", then you actually need to type --foo. Furthermore, while some command-line options are just flags, i.e. they can either be present or not (but that's it!), there also are command-line options that take an argument. The argument is appended directly to the option name to which it belongs to, but a = sign must to be inserted as a separator. If, for example, you wish to set the command-line option "foo" to an argument value of "bar", then the proper syntax is --foo=bar. Sometimes your argument value may contain whitespaces though, in which case the whole command-line option (name + argument) must be enclosed with double quotes. For example, in order to set the option "foo" to a value of "C:\Some File.bar" (note the space character between "Some" and "File"), the proper syntax is "--foo=C:\Some File.bar". Last but not least, please note that the same command-line option may appear multiple times on the command-line – whether that actually makes any sense depends on the individual option though.
--
--foo
=
--foo=bar
"--foo=C:\Some File.bar"
It is highly recommended to download LameXP only from one of the official mirrors listed above. We are not responsible for the integrity and trustworthiness of LameXP downloads you may have received from other locations!
If you want to report any problems that you have encountered with the LameXP software, please provide as much details as possible. Diagnostic output can be especially helpful here!
If the debug console is not enabled, you may still use the DebugView utility, by Mark Russinovich, in order to show and/or capture LameXP's diagnostic output.
In any case, the environment variable MUTILS_LOGFILE may be used to specify a log file that will be created by LameXP. The information saved to the log file are the same as those available from the debug console.
MUTILS_LOGFILE
Note: We highly recommend using a web-service like Gist, Pastie or Pastebin in order to share your diagnostic information. Please avoid posting long log files directly on the forums!
The recommended way to submit bug reports or feature requests to the LameXP developers is using the issue tracking system at our GitHub project site:
Note: In order to use the issue tracking system, you need to log in with your GitHub account. Creating a GitHub account is easy and completely free of charge, simply click here!
If you want to discuss the development of the LameXP software, help other users or receive help from other users, please use the LameXP thread at Doom9's Forum:
Note: Due to the massive amount of spam attacks, Doom9 has established strict anti-spam measures. Therefore, it takes a few days until your account will be approved.
While LameXP originally was written in Delphi/Pascal, the current version 4 series of the software has been re-written in the C++ programming language. LameXP v4 uses the Qt cross-platform application framework and provides full Unicode support. Furthermore, LameXP is tightly coupled with the MUtilities library, a vast collection of "utility" routines and classes to extend the Qt framework. Build files are currently provided for Microsoft Visual Studio only. Linux support is currently provided via Wine; a native Linux port of LameXP is planned for a future version.
git clone git://gitorious.org/lamexp/lamexp.git LameXP (Browse)
git clone git://gitorious.org/lamexp/lamexp.git LameXP
git clone git://repo.or.cz/LameXP.git LameXP (Browse)
git clone git://repo.or.cz/LameXP.git LameXP
The source code of the MUtilities library is managed using the Git version control system. The Git repository can be cloned from one of the official Git mirrors:
git clone git://git.code.sf.net/p/mutilities/code MUtilities (Browse)
git clone git://git.code.sf.net/p/mutilities/code MUtilities
git clone https://github.com/lordmulder/MUtilities.git MUtilities (Browse)
git clone https://github.com/lordmulder/MUtilities.git MUtilities
git clone git://gitorious.org/mutilities/mutilities.git MUtilities (Browse)
git clone git://gitorious.org/mutilities/mutilities.git MUtilities
git clone git://repo.or.cz/MUtilities.git MUtilities (Browse)
git clone git://repo.or.cz/MUtilities.git MUtilities
Remarks: In case you are new to Git or want to extend your knowledge, have a look at the Pro Git book by Scott Chacon! For Windows users, we highly recommend using MSYS Git in conjunction with the superb Tortoise Git front-end.
LameXP is currently being developed and built using the following development tools and libraries:
Windows Platform SDK v7.1A, included with Visual Studio 2013 or Visual Studio 2012
The minimum supported build platform is Windows 7 (x86 and x64)
In order to create LameXP release packages, using the included deployment scripts, you need the following additional tools:
7-Zip – file archiver with a high compression ratio
NSIS – Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (Unicode version recommended!)
ImageFormat plugins go to Prerequisites\qt4_static\plugins\imageformats
Prerequisites\qt4_static\plugins\imageformats
Congratulations, you should now be prepared to build the Release_Static configuration of LameXP 😊
Release_Static
Note: Static libraries only work with the exactly same compiler (version) they were built with!
This section tries to answer some of the most frequently asked questions. So if you have a question, please have a look at this section, before you send the question to us 😉