---
name: "sfront"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "sfront"
version: "0.99-5"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/sfront"
---

# sfront(1)

MPEG 4 Structured Audio decoder.

## NAME

sfront -  MPEG 4 Structured Audio decoder.

## SYNOPSIS

**sfront** \[*options*\]\

## DESCRIPTION

This manual page documents briefly the **sfront** command. This manual page was written for the Debian distribution because the original program does not have a general manual page. Instead, it has documentation in the HTML format; see below.

**sfront** is a program that compiles MPEG 4 Structured Audio (MP4-SA) bitstreams into efficient C programs that generate audio when executed. It supports real-time, low-latency audio input/output and MIDI input from soundcards.

You must compile the C file generated after **sfront** execution with a C compiler, and execute the resulting program to get the audio output.

## OPTIONS

A summary of the most important options is included below. For a complete description, see the HTML manual.

- **-help**

  Show summary of all of the options.

- **-o** *c\_file*

  Write the C output to the file *c\_file*

- **-bit** *mp4\_file*

  Use the MPEG4 binary file *mp4\_file* as input file.

- **-bitc** *mp4\_file*

  Use the MPEG4 binary file *mp4\_file* as input file. Skip its streaming data.

- **-orc** *orchestra\_file*

  Use the textual SAOL file *orchestra\_file* as orchestra input file.

- **-sco** *score\_file*

  Use the textual SASL file *score\_file* as score input file.

- **-sstr** *score\_file*

  Use the stream-encoded SASL file *score\_file* as score input file.

- **-midi** *midi\_file*

  Use the MIDI file *midi\_file* as score input file.

- **-mstr** *midi\_file*

  Use the streamed MIDI file *midi\_file* as score input file.\

## SEE ALSO

On Debian systems you can find the sfront related documentation in /usr/share/doc/sfront/html/index.html. Included there are:

*The Sfront Reference Manual* by John Lazzaro and John Wawrzynek.

*The MPEG-4 Structured Audio Book* by John Lazzaro and John Wawrzynek.

## AUTHOR

This manual page was written by Enrique Robledo Arnuncio \<era@debian.org\>, for the Debian system (but may be used by others).