Transcoder won't write AAC files with more than 128kbps

[econnolly]

I transcoded some WAV files to AAC with the bitrate slider all the way up to 320kbps, but the resulting files had a bitrate of only 128kbps. Is there anything I can do to fix this?

[hughc]

@econnolly I have the same problem on Linux, using the OpenSuse Tumbleweed OS. The transcoder bitrate does not change from the default, in my case 114kbps.
There are alternatives which do variable bit rate, and support bitrates up to 320kbps, though it would be good to have the choice of better bitrates in Strawberry. I aim to use 160Kbps for playing on my iPod nano.

[jvgomg]

I'm facing the same issue. I'm using Debian 13 with Strawberry 1.2.18. I can change my "Preferred format" for the Device and observe differences in the files that land on the iPod, but transcode settings in the Strawberry Settings are not being applied.

I think it must be something to do with how Strawberry is using libgpod for iPod devices. I'll report back if I find any solutions.

[jvgomg]

I've managed to fix this issue for myself by overriding Strawberry to use custom avenc_aac settings.

I created a write up here: https://gist.github.com/jvgomg/38089836f8f47aa6dcf628edac0dec08

The ultimate solution would be to fix some issues with how transcoding settings work in Strawberry, and to have a build of FDK-AAC on your system. But getting avenc_aac working with higher bitrate sounds pretty good to me!