How do I get CSDM to output MP4 files with AAC audio instead of PCM?

[joshuaclemons1]

Question: How do I get CSDM to output MP4 files with AAC audio instead of PCM?

Hey everyone,

I’m using CS Demo Manager to record and generate .mp4 videos from CS2 demos, but the audio in the final MP4 files is always uncompressed PCM instead of AAC.

This causes problems like:

• VLC is able to play the video but not the audio, saying "Codec not supported: VLC could not decode the format "ipcm" (No description for this codec)"
• Windows Media Player gives an “unsupported encoding settings” error.
• Premiere Pro won’t import the MP4, showing “unsupported compression type.”

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What I’ve tried

• Changed the audioCodec setting in the config to "aac".
• Used the built-in input and output parameters fields in CSDM to try forcing AAC encoding.
• Verified I’m using the recommended FFmpeg version 7.1.1.
• Checked logs, and the audio stream still seems to be copied as PCM rather than re-encoded to AAC.
• Manually re-encoding audio with FFmpeg after generation works fine, but I’d prefer a built-in fix.

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Questions for the community

• Is there a way in CSDM to make it actually re-encode the audio to AAC during video generation?
• Can the FFmpeg command be adjusted so it doesn’t just copy the audio stream but re-encodes it?
• Has anyone else encountered this and found a straightforward solution?

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I really want to keep using CSDM but need to get valid AAC audio in the MP4s for compatibility.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[akiver]

Available since v3.14.2.

[joshuaclemons1]

Working perfectly!
Thank you for everything you do!