fre:ac
{{Short description|Audio converter and CD ripper}}
{{lowercase title}}
{{Infobox software
| name = fre:ac
| screenshot = File:Freac 1.1.5 screenshot.png
| developer = Robert Kausch
| released = {{start date and age|2001|5|12}} (as BonkEnc)
| latest_release_version = 1.1.7
| latest_release_date = {{Start date and age|2023|03|06|df=yes}}{{cite web
| url = https://github.com/enzo1982/freac/releases
| title = Releases · enzo1982/freac
| website = github.com
| access-date = 2022-07-16
}}
| latest_preview_version =
| latest_preview_date =
| operating_system = Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD
| genre = CD ripper
| license = GPL-2.0-or-later
| programming_language = C, C++
| repo = {{URL|github.com/enzo1982/freac}}
| website = {{URL|http://www.freac.org}}
}}
fre:ac is a free audio converter and CD extractor for Windows, Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD, distributed under the GPL-2.0-or-later.[https://github.com/enzo1982/freac/blob/master/COPYING fre:ac License on GitHub]
Besides extracting audio from compact discs (with various features including hidden track detection), fre:ac can also convert audio files from one format to another or to the same format at a lower bitrate (a higher bitrate can be forced but this does not increase the quality of the output, instead resulting in an overall loss). fre:ac is compatible with many audio formats such as Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, MP3, MP4/M4A, AAC, WAV, WMA, and more.[http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/freac-super-fast-free-audio-converter-and-encoder/ fre:ac AddictiveTips November 2010 review][http://download.cnet.com/fre-ac/3000-2140_4-10550755.html fre:ac CNET August 2012 review]
fre:ac uses the CDex library{{citation needed|reason=This may be out of date due to problems with CDex and lack of mention in official fre:ac documentation.|date=December 2024}} to convert from CDs and uses freedb to retrieve artist/song information from the internet which is written to the files as various types of ID3 tags; this library supports cdparanoia which aims to improve audio quality.[http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/software/3308760/freac-review/ fre:ac PCAdvisor October 2011 review] The user interface is multilingual with 43 languages and is able to be a portable install on a USB drive.
History
The first public version of fre:ac was published in 2001 under the name BonkEnc. The program was originally developed to convert audio to the proprietary lossy/lossless Bonk[http://www.logarithmic.net/pfh/bonk Bonk format description] format, as well as MP3. After several 0.x versions, with added support for other formats and extracting audio from compact discs, version 1.0 Beta 1 was released on July 5, 2003 which officially marked the beginning of the beta phase.
Finally, on February 21, 2007 the first stable version of the program, version 1.0, was released.{{Cite tweet |user=freacproject |number=3524108520259584 |date=13 November 2010 |title=BonkEnc has been renamed to fre:ac - free audio converter! A new release reflecting the name change will be out tomorrow. |access-date=31 May 2021}}
The project changed its name to fre:ac with the release of version 1.0.17 on November 14, 2010.
On March 29, 2020 the project released fre:ac 1.1 as a major update adding native support for Linux, macOS and FreeBSD. The 1.1 update also introduced support for multithreaded file conversions, DSP processing, multichannel audio and an integrated tag editor and removed support for the Bonk format after which the program was named until 2010.[https://github.com/enzo1982/freac/releases/tag/v1.1 Release fre:ac v1.1]
Starting from version 1.1.6, fre:ac has AccurateRip support.[https://github.com/enzo1982/freac/releases/tag/v1.1.6 Release fre:ac v1.1.6] The latest update, version 1.1.7, was released on Monday, March 6, 2023.
Awards
fre:ac won the SourceForge Community Choice Project of the Month award in October 2015.[https://sourceforge.net/blog/october-2015-community-choice-project-of-the-month-freac/ fre:ac SourceForge October 2015 Project of the Month interview] In May 2018 it was selected as the SourceForge Staff-Pick Project of the Month.[https://sourceforge.net/blog/may-2018-staff-pick-project-month-freac/ fre:ac SourceForge May 2018 Project of the Month interview]
See also
{{Portal|Free and open-source software}}
References
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
External links
- [http://www.freac.org Official website of fre:ac]