I solved this one. For lame, it expects one of 0-9 as parameters for audio quality. So by passing 1 to -q:a I got the result I wanted. ----- Original Message ----- From: Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx> To: blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx Date: Thu, 12 May 2022 04:39:20 -0500 Subject: ffmpeg: set variable bitrate > I have a bunch of m4a files that I want to convert to mp3 vbr, average 192kpbs. > Command looks like this: > ffmpeg -hide_banner -i input.m4a -q:a 192 oput.mp3 > > I end up with something with an average bitrate of 62kbps. How does this q:a option actually work? The manual is very sparse there. > > _______________________________________________ > Blinux-list mailing list > Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > > _______________________________________________ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list