AC3 -> AAC Problems

[Nealhon]

Hello everyone, this may be a n00b question, but I'm pretty new to AAC. I am having some major problems trying to convert my AC3 files (ripped from DVD) to AAC files. No matter what program/method I try, the .aac file always shows up as an MP3 in mkvmerge and in VLC Media Player.

Here are the programs/methods I've tried:

BeLight (FAAC and Nero)
foobar
besweet with AacMachine
ImTOO Audio Encoder
AC3 Decoder

I've used the guide here on doom9 using the BeLight/Nero plugins but I'm just not having any luck. Can anyone please explain to me exactly what to do to create a proper AAC file?

[nautilus7]

Is your problem converting the ac3 to aac or properly detecting the aac file in mkvmerge and vlc?

[Nealhon]

I believe the actual problem lies within actually converting the file. I just used mkvmerge and VLC as examples that it wasn't converting properly.

[nautilus7]

If you're familiar with command line programs, you can use eac3to to decode and nero aac to encode.

Tell me if you need more info.

[Nealhon]

No, I'm not too familiar with that. I'd appreciate it if you get explain the process.

Thanks for the help!

[nautilus7]

Ok, let's see...

You need eac3to (http://madshi.net/eac3to.zip) and nero acc encoder (http://www.nero.com/enu/down-ndaudio.html). For your convenience unzip both to the same directory (c:\ would be great) and also put your .ac3 file there.

Then click start--> Run. Type cmd and press ok. In the cmd window, type cd\ and press enter. The command you 'll have to type then is:

eac3to your_input_file.ac3 stdout.wav -libav | neroaacenc -cbr 128 -ignorelength -if - -of your_output_file.mp4

Of course you can replace the cbr 128 option with whatever you need (different bitrate or q factor). Search for details, regarding aac encoding with nero aac enc.

[Nealhon]

OK, I'm sure this is a silly question but it's outputting to a .mp4 file -- is this what it's supposed to do for AAC audio? Is it not supposed to output as a .aac file?

[nautilus7]

No, not possible. Nero aac encoder outputs to .mp4. I don't know if any other encoder can output to .acc. What do you need the file for? Are you planning to mux it into another container?

[fibbingbear]

.AAC is the data format, .MP4 is the container format. You should be able to extract the AAC stream from the MP4. It really shouldn't matter which one you use. I thought when I used Nero Digital it output to .AAC, but I could be mis-remembering.