Chapters

Chapters are automatically created when you specify --concat, or when input file has internal(embedded) cuesheet or chapters in it. qaac will create both of QuickTime style chapter format (which is implemented as a TEXT track), and Nero style chapter format.

You can also create chapters using a text file with --chapter option. Chapter file format is either of the following:

style 1

00:00:00.000 Prologue
00:00:19.987 Opening
00:01:50.160 Episode Blablabla
00:21:54.530 Ending
00:23:24.453 Preview

style 2

Chapter01=00:00:00.000
Chapter01NAME=Directed by Charles Chaplin
Chapter02=00:01:10.000
Chapter02NAME=Electro Steel Corp.
Chapter03=00:06:05.000

Time stamp format is HH:MM:SS.SSSSS..., where HH for hours, MM for minutes, and SS for seconds. Fractional value are allowed for seconds. Arbitrary number of digits are allowed after decimal point.

Internally, QuickTime chapter format can use the same timescale as audio track, therefore is sample accurate. On the other hand, timescale for Nero style chapter is always 100 nanoseconds (which is usually accurate enough).

Time stamp for the first chapter entry always has to be 00:00:00. While Nero style chapter is pair of <chapter start time, chapter name> and mirrors the input format, QuickTime style chapter is pair of <chapter duration, chapter name>. Since it is duration based, first chapter always starts at the beginning of the file, therefore start time has to be 00:00:00.