An Export Format Profile specifies the file format in which Ardour will export audio files, and also other audio file export options.
Export Format Profiles are edited via the Edit Export Format Profile dialog.
If enabled, levels of exported files will be normalized to the level chosen here. The normalization can be either:
These checkboxes allow to remove any part Ardour considers silent (0dB), at the beginning or/and end of each exported track.
These checkboxes allow to add silence at the beginning or/and end of each exported track. The duration of the added silence can be manually fixed in the adjacent 'timer' input fields.
Selecting an item in the 'Compatibility' emphasizes the settings in the other columns that are compatible with the selected standard, by turning incompatible options red. When an incompatible quality/format/sample rate is selected, the compatibility column checkbox disappears.
The appropriate item in the 'Quality' column will be highlighted when a file format is chosen. At the moment, selecting a Quality setting does not show the compatible File formats.
This column contains a list of Ardour's supported export file types. Selecting one updates the options underneath it.
Note: For mp3 export ardour relies on ffmpeg to encode the file. This comes bundled with the video-tools (and is always available when you install the official Ardour binary.
A specific sample rate can be chosen for the exported files, or the current session's sample rate (by choosing 'Session rate'), without sample rate conversion.
In case the chosen sample rate does not match the current session's sample rate, the sample rate conversion quality can be chosen here. Better quality options are slower.
Options relevant to the chosen file format will appear just under the Compatibility/Quality/File format/Sample rate table.
If the exported file format supports metadata (e.g. FLAC, Ogg Vorbis), use data entered in the Session Metadata window to tag the exported files.
The Sample Format is the bit depth of exported files, i.e. the numbers of values a sample can have. Increasing the sample format results in a better defined audio file at the cost of increasing the file size.
If the exported files bit depth is less than Ardour's native bit depth (32 bits floating point by default), the dithering algorithm, that chooses how to compute the conversion can be chosen in the Dithering column.
These options are presented whatever the chosen format is:
As well as exporting an audio file, Ardour can create a file (in CUE, TOC or MP4ch format respectively) containing CD track information, as defined in the Ranges & Marks List. Those files can then be used to either burn a CD or DVD, or to create "chapters" inside a compatible mp4 video container.
The Label field allows to choose the name which will be shown for this format in the drop-down list of export formats in the 'File Formats' tab of the Export dialog.
If this is not blank, it is considered as a command to be run after the export of each file. Either the command must exist in $PATH, or an absolute path to an executable file can be specified here.
Certain sequences are allowed here to stand for the exported file name and various parameters. Currently these are:
%f |
Full path and filename of the exported audio file |
|---|---|
%d |
Directory containing the exported audio file (including trailing directory separator) |
%b |
Basename of the exported audio file (without extension) |
%s |
Path to the current session file |
%n |
Name of the current session file |
%% |
A literal percent sign |
Any part of the command-line enclosed in double-quotes (") will be used as-is.
For example, exporting an mp3 file can be done by inserting lame -b320 %f
which will convert the exported audio file ('%f') to a 320 kbs mp3 using the lame encoder
(provided lame is installed first on the system).