Play m4a files on Windows 7

[J. Landman Gay]

On 8/13/2016 3:33 PM, Scott Rossi wrote:
> Which codec pack did you try?  I was just looking at K-Lite:
> https://www.codecguide.com/download_kl.htm

I'm going to try the LAV package Panos suggested since he says it works. 
We downloaded the VLC package, which includes all the codecs, and the 
files played okay in VLC but not in LC. I was hesitant to suggest most 
of the free codecs from unknown developer sites because of the malware 
risk. K-Lite is widely used but some blogs have said it may be risky.

It seems that the codec isn't the answer though; we need a DirectShow 
thingy.

> And how many audio files are you talking about?  What type of content?  I
> have to believe conversion to another format is possible.  Get a batch
> convertor and process in bulk. I spoke to my brother who has been an audio
> engineer for 2 decades and he says as long as you guys keep the sampling
> rates/bit depths same, you'll only be changing format, and there shouldn't
> be any loss in quality.

This is the huge project I've been working on for almost 3 years, and 
there are thousands of voice/narration files. They stream from the 
server. There are also a few music loops though we aren't using those 
much right now.

Because the client is paying for bandwidth (AWS) he wants to keep the 
file format as small as possible. MP3 creates larger files which he says 
would add up. He also says you can't loop MP3 files without a hiccup 
when it restarts (I saw that too) so he's pretty firm about keeping the 
files in m4a format. I suppose he knows about the quality conversion 
options but that would make larger files too, right?

>
> IMHO, even if you went to 192kps MP3, that's a pretty high bit rate, and
> most "normal" people (non audio engineers) aren't going to notice any
> difference in quality.

I've been gently telling him that for a long time. The users are 
students with with mediocre laptop speakers, or they use the school 
computers, and they don't care about audio quality anyway. But if the 
LAV installation doesn't fix things he may have to concede.

-- 
Jacqueline Landman Gay         |     jacque at hyperactivesw.com
HyperActive Software           |     http://www.hyperactivesw.com