Sonnox Fraunhofer Codec Toolbox - Manual (Page 21)

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6. Encode/Decode Button. If a WAV or AIFF file is selected, this button will be in ENCODE
mode. If a supported M4A or MP3 file is selected, the button will be in DECODE mode.
While an encode/decode operation is in progress, the button displays an internal progress
bar; clicking the button will CANCEL the current encode/decode operation.
7.3.1 Encoding
The CLIP SAFE button enables a level-correction feature. This works by decoding the newly
compressed file, calculating the maximum sample value in the PCM stream and, if necessary,
applying the precise amount of gain trim required when the source file is encoded a second time.
This guarantees that the final encoded file, once decoded for playback, will not contain any illegal
sample values (or overloads). However, if your audio files have been correctly prepared using the
Toolbox Plug-in, using Clip Safe should not be necessary.
When you are ready, press the ENCODE button to encode the file and write it to the target
location. A status bar will indicate progress during the encoding process. During encoding, it is
possible to press the encode button again if you wish to cancel the process. The current status of
the process is also indicated in the STATUS window in the bottom right corner.
All edited tags in the Metadata Editor will be written to the encoded output file.
Some computers may indicate a ‘spinning progress cursor’ during the first few seconds of the
encoding process. This is quite normal and does not indicate that the application is not responding.
7.3.2 Dither
As in the Toolbox Plug-in, the encoders in the Manager will accept an input signal with greater than
16-bit precision, but in such cases the signal will be dithered and truncated to 16-bits prior to the
encoding process.
The manager will not introduce dither at the 16-bit level if the input signal has been already been
truncated to 16-bits.
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