cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/44380955

Previously on Debian 12 I followed a guide to install the AAC audio codec for my Air Pods yet after upgrading to Debian 13 I seem to have lost the codec as I can no longer select them in KDE sound settings leaving only A2DP/SBC and A2DP/SBC-XQ, now I’m a bit at a lost as I remember all I had to do was put a aac.so file into /usr/lib/x86\_64-linux-gnu/spa-0.2/bluez5/

Bluez5 directory list:

Anyone here by chance know a solution to this?

  • A_norny_mousse@feddit.org
    510·
    9 days ago

    Title misleading: you did not lose “the” AAC codec after upgrading.
    You’re asking for advice regarding a custom solution that stopped working after the upgrade.

    • ohshit604@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      1·
      8 days ago

      Title misleading: you did not lose “the” AAC codec after upgrading.

      How is the title misleading? The AAC codec had no issues working on Bookworm but not on Trixie ie I lost the ability to use it.

      You’re asking for advice regarding a custom solution that stopped working after the upgrade.

      Debian does not package the AAC codec due to licensing issues hence why we’re forced to find these “custom” solutions.

      • A_norny_mousse@feddit.org
        11·
        8 days ago

        It’s just that the title could be misread as a complaint about dist-upgrade being less than reliable. Which it isn’t.

        Debian does not package the AAC codec due to licensing issues hence why we’re forced to find these “custom” solutions.

        Not true. I’m listening to AAC encoded music right now. No extra repositories were even required.

        • ohshit604@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
          1·
          8 days ago

          Not true. I’m listening to AAC encoded music right now. No extra repositories were even required.

          Interesting, going over the documentation from the Debian Wiki they even say it’s not distributed in their repo’s?

          The AAC codec is unavailable in Debian 12 bookworm.

          In the case of PipeWire its support (see the 1021370 request) requires the non-free libfdk-aac2 package. A request to provide free version of the package was declined due to possible licensing and patent issues (see 981285). The only workaround is to build the AAC Bluetooth plugin from sources.

          PulseAudio-16 (Debian 12 bookworm) does not support AAC. Despite necessary patches from the gstreamer merge request !1172 are applied to gstreamer1.0-fdkaac, there are pending changes in the PulseAudio Bluetooth plugin, see the upstream merge request !473.

          I couldn’t find instructions from Bluez to install the source and I didnt want to risk breaking my current install by just guessing hence why I went with the solution posted on Reddit.

          • A_norny_mousse@feddit.org
            11·
            8 days ago

            It seems you’re talking about something specific to bluetooth yet you made a very broad statement about “The AAC codec” earlier. As with your title: Be precise.