WinLAME 2009 Beta Released

WinLAME is a free audio encoder for Windows that supports audio format such as mp3 or ogg and uses the popular LAME mp3 encoder.

If you are looking for an easy to use music encoder, you may want to give the latest version of winLAME a try.

The program is provided as a portable version that you can run from any location on a Windows PC, or as a setup version. The program started out as a LAME frontend for Windows (with a GUI), but has evolved since then with additional audio features.

winLAME

WinLAME supports a variety of music formats, and can also be used to rip audio CDs next to that. It can even look up information about audio CDs that you rip from the Internet music database Freebd for automatic tagging of the audio files.

Some of the popular formats that are supported by winLame include mp3, ogg, acc, wma and flac. The program interface has changed a lot in recent time.

You have two core options when it comes to winLAME:

• Insert an audio CD and select the "read CD" button to start the audio ripping process.
• Drag and drop, or add files via "open files" to convert the audio files to a different format.

The audio conversion process happens in four steps:

1. You drag and drop audio files in the program interface, or use the open files button to load them this way. You may load one or multiple audio files (you can even load playlists or cue files).
2. The program lists the selected audio files. Each file is listed with its name and extension, samplerate, bitrate, and length. You may add more files during this step, play audio files, or remove them again.
3. You are then prompted to select the output module and location. The module determines the output format. You may also configure additional options like the automatic creation of a playlist file, or whether the original files should be deleted after the conversion.
4. Select one of the available quality presets in this step. This ranges from high quality to portable, and custom settings.
5. WinLame highlights the process in the last step. It may also post warnings, for instance when you are about to convert a lossy format to another lossy format.

Below is the original review of winLAME which we published back in 2009. Note that you can switch to classic mode in the winLAME 2017 interface to return to the interface that the original version of winLAME used back in 2009.

Verdict

WinLAME is a powerful audio encoder for Windows that can process audio files and rip audio CDs on top of that. The program is updated regularly, and supports all major audio formats.

Old review

The process is divided into four windows starting with the selection of the music on the local computer system. A file browser or drag and drop can be used to add audio files from the computer system. The option to include CD tracks is also available in this first screen.

The second screen contains the output settings and parameters including the selection of the output module, the location where the files will be stored in and if a playlist should be created automatically.

The third step lists several presets that can be used to encode the music ranging from high quality hifi to best quality archiving or portable usage. Custom settings can be configured as well in this screen.

The final step displays encoding information and the progress. The wide variety of audio formats coupled with encoding presets make winLame a viable alternative for anyone looking for a solid audio encoder for the Windows operating system.

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