VGAudio

VGAudio is a library for encoding, decoding, and manipulating audio files and formats that are usually found in video games.

The most recent release of the library can be found on NuGet

The Universal Windows app can be found in the Windows Store

Supported Audio Formats and Containers

Audio Formats

Format	Encode	Decode	Notes
ATRAC9		X	MDCT-based codec from Sony
CRI ADX	X	X	4-bit ADPCM codec from CRI
CRI HCA	X	X	MDCT-based codec from CRI
Nintendo GC-ADPCM	X	X	4-bit ADPCM codec from Nintendo
PCM 8-bit	X	X	Signed and unsigned
PCM 16-bit	X	X

Container Formats

Container	Write	Read	Notes
AT9	X	X
BCSTM	X	X
BCSTP		X
BCWAV		X
BFSTM	X	X
BFSTP		X
BFWAV		X
BRSTM	X	X
BRWAV		X
DSP (Nintendo)	X	X
GENH		X	GC-ADPCM only
HCA	X	X
HPS	X	X	HAL Laboratory "HALPST" container for GC-ADPCM audio
IDSP (Interleaved Nintendo DSP)	X	X
MDSP	X	X	Multi-channel Nintendo DSP
WAV	X	X

VGAudioCli

The tool VGAudioCli provides a command-line interface (CLI) to convert audio files supported by the VGAudio library.

Examples

Basic Usage

• Convert to another file type. The file-types are inferred from the file extensions:
  VGAudioCli input.wav output.dsp

• Files can be listed in any order:
  VGAudioCli -o output.dsp -i input.wav

• Loop a file from samples 30000 to 200000:
  VGAudioCli input.wav output.dsp -l 30000-200000

• Show file metadata:
  VGAudioCli -m input.wav

• Specify output audio format if the output container supports multiple audio formats.
  Save as a BRSTM file with PCM 16-bit audio:
  VGAudioCli input.wav output.brstm -f pcm16

Splitting and Combining Files

• Output only channels 0,1,2, and 5 from the input file:
  VGAudioCli -i:0-2,5 input.wav output.dsp

• Combine two mono files into a stereo file. (Input files must have the same length)
  VGAudioCli -i input_left.wav -i input_right.wav output_stereo.dsp

• Take channels 0 and 3 from input1.wav, channel 1 from input2.dsp, and all the channels in input3.adx and save them as output.hca:
  VGAudioCli -i:0,3 input1.wav -i:1 input2.dsp -i input3.adx output.hca

Batch Conversions

Batch conversion allows an entire folder of files to be converted at a time. These conversions are done in parallel, and will be faster the more CPU cores you have.

Batch mode is used by inputting -b or --batch as the first command-line argument. Unlike single-file conversions, you must explicitly specify the output file type in batch conversions.

Examples

• Convert all the files in the source folder to HCA files, and save them in the dest folder:
  VGAudioCli -b -i source -o dest --out-format hca

• Convert all the files in the source folder and all its subfolders to HCA files, and save them in the dest folder:
  VGAudioCli -b -r -i source -o dest --out-format hca

• Other options can also be specified during batch conversion.
  Remove the loop points from any converted files:
  VGAudioCli -b -i source -o dest --out-format hca --no-loop

• Codec-specific options can be specified as well:
  VGAudioCli -b -i source -o dest --out-format hca --hcaquality low

Lossless conversions

Depending on which format is used, when the input and output files are the same audio format, the conversion is often lossless. For example, both the DSP and BRSTM containers contain GC-ADPCM audio, so converting a DSP file to a BRSTM file would be a lossless conversion. The encoded audio data is read from the DSP file and repackaged into a BRSTM file without any modification.

The channels from some formats like ADX and GC-ADPCM can be losslessly split and combined. For example, a stereo ADX file can be split into two mono ADX files without any loss of quality. Conversely, two stereo ADX files can be combined into a single 4-channel ADX file.

Because no audio encoding is done, these types of conversions are very quick compared to normal conversions.