fre:ac version 1.1.7 has been released on 5th March 2023.

This release adds a tool for splitting the output into multiple files based on various parameters like duration, number of files or metadata. The update also adds support for dithering, a matrix surround decoder and a volume adjustment filter.

Additionally, fre:ac 1.1.7 comes with various minor improvements, updated third party codecs and fixes for several issues found in fre:ac v1.1.6 and earlier versions:

• New features
  • Added a tool for splitting output by various parameters (e.g. duration or number of files)
  • Added support for dithering when reducing sample resolution
  • Added a matrix surround decoder DSP component
  • Added a volume adjustment DSP component

• Improvements
  • Added support for WavPack Hybrid Lossless compression with correction files
  • Added support for decoding MPEG-4 DASH files
  • Added support for opening WebM audio files with the .weba extension
  • Added support for downmixing 6.1 channel audio
  • Added support for MusicBrainz metadata in ID3v2, MP4, Vorbis Comment, APEv2 and WMA tags
  • Added support for sort order fields in ID3v2, MP4, Vorbis Comment, APEv2 and WMA tags
  • Added support for rating field in Vorbis Comment, APEv2, MP4 and LIST INFO tags
  • Added rating field to the tag editor
  • Added optional release year column to the joblist
  • Changed filename placeholder to resolve to 1 if disc number is not set
  • Improved compatibility with applications writing non-compliant LIST INFO tags (e.g. Traktor)
  • Added an option to use source file names as output file names if no metadata is present
  • Added an option to control extraction of missing metadata from file names
  • Added an option to restrict file names for reading cover art
  • Added an option to disable intensity stereo phase inversion to Opus settings
  • Added AccurateRip notification options for successful verification and missing database entries
  • Sample rate conversion no longer converts to 32 bit float when the source rate matches the target
  • Added negative exit codes to indicate errors when running freaccmd
  • Added support for KDE color schemes (including dark mode)
  • Improved HiDPI scale factor detection in KDE desktop environments
  • Respect text scaling factor in addition to font size setting on X11 based systems

• Bug fixes
  
  • Fixed crashes when decoding ALAC files (especially with the Windows Store version)
  • Fixed failure (hang and abort after several seconds) to decode chapters from ALAC files
  • Fixed interoperability issues of HE- and HEv2-AAC files created with FDK-AAC with foobar2000
  • Fixed incorrect gapless information when creating HE- and HEv2-AAC files with FDK-AAC
  • Fixed incorrect index times in cuesheets for very long multi-track files
  • Fixed incorrect inclusion of data tracks in the audio track count of CD offset strings
  • Fixed old data remaining in place after updating WMA file tags
  • Fixed selected format resetting to first entry when opening WMA config dialog
  • Fixed excessive bitrate when encoding Vorbis on non-x86 LP64 systems
  • Fixed decoding of MP4 files with a single chunk taking excessively long
  • Fixed HDCD detection for tracks starting with more than about one second of silence
  • Fixed floating point samples being converted to integer when creating WavPack files
  • Fixed inability to close cover art popup window on Linux
  • Fixed long paths being converted to 8.3 format on recent versions of Windows
  • Fixed inability to handle long network paths on some versions of Windows
  • Fixed disc insert and removal detection working unreliably on Windows

Upgrading to fre:ac v1.1.7 is strongly recommended for users of earlier releases.

The new release is available in the downloads section. Please report issues on the GitHub issue tracker or by email to support@freac.org.

fre:ac's discussion forums are moving to GitHub. Please post new questions and ideas in the new Discussions area and feel free to start discussions about anything releated to fre:ac and digital audio conversion over there.

The old discussion forums on SourceForge will be kept online for reference, but please use the GitHub Discussions page to start new topics from now on.

fre:ac version 1.1.6 has been released on 22nd January 2022.

This update adds native support for Windows on the ARM64 architecture which greatly improves the user experience on devices like the Surface Pro X, HP Elite Folio or certain Samsung Galaxy Book models. Most notably, conversions can be up to six times faster on many devices with ARM cores.

Besides this, the 1.1.6 update adds support for editing lyrics in the tag editor and creating cue sheets and playlists with freaccmd, fre:ac's command line interface. It also comes with minor workflow and performance optimizations, tagging improvements, updated codecs and the usual bug fixes:

• New features
  • Added support for editing lyrics in the tag editor
  • Added support for creating cue sheets and playlists with freaccmd

• Improvements
  • Improved performance of adding video and proprietary audio files (DTS, DSD etc.) to the joblist
  • Playlists can now be added to the joblist by drag & drop
  • Added <tempo> and <initialkey> placeholders for use in filename patterns
  • Added optional composer, conductor, tempo, musical key and ISRC columns to the joblist
  • Added initial key field to tag editor
  • Added support for lyrics in ID3v2, MP4, Vorbis Comment, APEv2 and WMA tags
  • Added support for parsing OverDrive MediaMarkers in ID3v2 tags
  • Added support for the pre-emphasis flag in cue sheets

• Bug fixes
  
  • Fixed possible crash upon querying the CDDB database
  • Fixed possible crash in FAAD2 decoder when trying to open unsupported files
  • Fixed faulty decoding of certain AAC files caused by a bug in the FDK-AAC decoder
  • Fixed possible faulty output when decoding from non-zero positions using external decoders
  • Fixed issue ripping CD tracks when output filename pattern is <filename>
  • Fixed AccurateRip reporting verification errors for hidden track one audio
  • Fixed setting to replace spaces not being respected when writing cover art and log files
  • Fixed setting to suppress Unicode characters not being respected when writing cover art and log files
  • Fixed tag editor fields for media type, catalog number and barcode being limited to 12 characters
  • Fixed freeze when decoding certain WMA files on Windows
  • Fixed drag & drop not working after online update on Windows

Upgrading to fre:ac v1.1.6 is strongly recommended for users of earlier releases.

The new release is available in the downloads section. Please report issues on the GitHub issue tracker or by email to support@freac.org.

fre:ac version 1.1.5 has been released on 27th June 2021.

This update adds support for verifying audio CD rips using AccurateRip technology. This compares a checksum of the ripped audio against other users' results for the same CD. When a match is found in the AccurateRip database, this basically certifies a perfect rip. And in case of a mismatch, fre:ac displays a warning to let you know something may be wrong.

Besides this major new feature, the 1.1.5 update comes with performance optimizations, further tagging improvements, updated codecs and a number of bug fixes:

• Improvements
  • Improved DSP processing performance by up to 70% (mainly on Windows)
  • Added frequency bandwidth setting to FDK-AAC encoder configuration dialog
  • Added an option to toggle logging of complete paths in log files
  • Added options for specifying cover art files to freaccmd
  • Added support for reading Shift_JIS encoded CD-Text
  • Added support for writing album and track comments to cue sheets
  • Added support for ID3v2 tags in RF64 files
  • Added support for updating Vorbis Comment tags
  • Added support for updating ID3v2 tags in RIFF and AIFF files
  • Added support for updating LIST INFO tags in RIFF, RF64 and Wave64 files
  • Added support for ensemble field in Vorbis Comment and APEv2 tags
  • Added support for movement field in ID3v2, Vorbis Comment, APEv2 and MP4 tags
  • Added support for additional URL fields in APEv2 tags
  • Added a tag editor option to keep album artist even if identical to track artist
  • Added media type field to tag editor

• Bug fixes
  
  • Fixed hotspot for genre edit field utility menu not covering the whole width of the field
  • Fixed occasional crashes when selecting codec subformat using the "Start encoding with" menu
  • Fixed chapter marks being offset by a few seconds when using DSP processing
  • Fixed playback not working when using certain combinations of DSP processors
  • Fixed incompatibility of FDK-AAC encoded HE and HEv2 AAC files with iTunes
  • Fixed issue decoding FLAC files with unknown length
  • Fixed glitches decoding transients in some Vorbis files
  • Fixed possible crashes when decoding Opus files
  • Fixed rare crashes in LAME encoder component
  • Fixed strings read from ID3v2 tags being limited to 1024 characters
  • Fixed crash when reading malformed CD-Text genre IDs
  • Fixed failure ripping with negative read offset
  • Fixed disc eject not working on macOS
  • Fixed crash when closing fre:ac via dock command on macOS
  • Fixed UI glitches and crashes on exit when running in a Wayland session
  • Fixed popup menu and dropdown list closing behavior on non-Windows platforms
  • Fixed issues with custom DPI settings on Xfce desktops
  • Fixed drag & drop working unreliably on X11 based systems

Upgrading to fre:ac v1.1.5 is strongly recommended for users of earlier releases.

The new release is available in the downloads section. Please report issues on the GitHub issue tracker or by email to support@freac.org.

Continuous builds of fre:ac are now available for the macOS as well, completing the effort to make these automated builds available for all major desktop operating systems. These builds give you a chance to try the latest changes without having to wait for the next release, for example to benefit from bug fixes or take a peek at the latest feature additions.

Continuous builds are currently provided as .dmg images for Intel Macs running macOS 10.9 or later. A variant optimized for Apple Silicon Macs and macOS 11.0 will be added later.

You can grab the latest continuous build from the downloads page or from GitHub.

Thanks to GitHub Actions, continuous builds of fre:ac are now available for the Windows platform. These automated builds give you a chance to try the latest changes without having to wait for the next release, for example to benefit from bug fixes or take a peek at the latest feature additions.

The continuous builds are provided as .zip packages for the x86 (32 bit) and x86-64 (64 bit) architectures.

You can grab the latest continuous build from the downloads page or from GitHub.