a52dec ☆

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Description:
Library for decoding ATSC A/52 streams (AKA 'AC-3')

Type: Formula | Latest Version: 0.8.0@0 | Tracked Since: Dec 17, 2025

Links: Homepage | formulae.brew.sh

Category: Multimedia

Tags: audio decoding ac-3 multimedia library

Install: brew install a52dec

About:
a52dec is a library and reference decoder for ATSC A/52 (AC-3) audio streams. It provides a robust, open-source implementation for parsing and decoding compressed audio data into raw PCM format. Its main value is enabling AC-3 support in media applications and software that need to process broadcast-standard audio.

Key Features:

Reference implementation of the A/52 (AC-3) decoding standard
Provides both a library (liba52) and a command-line decoder
Outputs to 16-bit integer or 32-bit floating-point PCM formats
Supports various input streams, including raw ES and WAV files
Lightweight and portable C implementation

Use Cases:

Integrating AC-3 audio decoding into custom media players
Processing audio from DVD or ATSC broadcast captures
Building media conversion tools that handle AC-3 streams

Alternatives:

FFmpeg – FFmpeg is a much larger multimedia framework that can decode AC-3 and many other formats, but a52dec is a lightweight, focused library specifically for A/52 streams.
libmad – libmad is a high-quality decoder for MPEG audio (MP3), not AC-3; the two libraries handle different audio codecs.

License: GPL-2.0-or-later

Bottles available for: arm64_tahoe, arm64_sequoia, arm64_sonoma, arm64_ventura, arm64_monterey, arm64_big_sur, sonoma, ventura, monterey, big_sur, arm64_linux, x86_64_linux

Version History

Detected	Version	Rev	Change	Commit
Sep 11, 2025 8:18am		0	VERSION_BUMP	609f262e
Sep 22, 2023 2:16am		0	VERSION_BUMP	0fe4734a