note: Options which could exist without being documented here are considered as experimental ones. Such experimental options should usually not be used.
| switch | parameter |
| -a | downmix stereo file to mono |
| --abr | average bitrate encoding |
| --allshort | use short blocks only |
| --athlower | lower the ATH |
| --athonly | ATH only |
| --athshort | ATH only for short blocks |
| --athtype | select ATH type |
| -b | bitrate (8...320) |
| -B | max VBR/ABR bitrate (8...320) |
| --bitwidth | input bit width |
| -c | copyright |
| --cbr | enforce use of constant bitrate |
| --clipdetect | clipping detection |
| --comp | choose compression ratio |
| --cwlimit | tonality limit |
| -d | block type control |
| --decode | decoding only |
| --disptime | time between display updates |
| -e | de-emphasis (n, 5, c) |
| -f | fast mode |
| -F | strictly enforce the -b option |
| --freeformat | free format bitstream |
| -h | high quality |
| --help | help |
| --highpass | highpass filtering frequency in kHz |
| --highpass-width | width of highpass filtering in kHz |
| -k | full bandwidth |
| --lowpass | lowpass filtering frequency in kHz |
| --lowpass-width | width of lowpass filtering in kHz |
| -m | stereo mode (s, j, f, m) |
| --mp1input | MPEG Layer I input file |
| --mp2input | MPEG Layer II input file |
| --mp3input | MPEG Layer III input file |
| --noath | disable ATH |
| --noasm | disable assembly optimizations (mmx/3dnow/sse) |
| --nohist | disable histogram display |
| --noreplaygain | disable ReplayGain analysis |
| --nores | disable bit reservoir |
| --noshort | disable short blocks frames |
| --notemp | disable temporal masking |
| -o | non-original |
| -p | error protection |
| --preset | use built-in preset |
| --priority | OS/2 process priority control |
| -q | algorithm quality selection |
| --quiet | silent operation |
| -r | input file is raw PCM |
| --replaygain-accurate | compute ReplayGain more accurately and find the peak sample |
| --replaygain-fast | compute ReplayGain fast but slightly inaccurately (default) |
| --resample | output sampling frequency in kHz (encoding only) |
| -s | sampling frequency in kHz |
| -S | silent operation |
| --scale | scale input |
| --scale-l | scale input channel 0 (left) |
| --scale-r | scale input channel 1 (right) |
| --short | use short blocks |
| --silent | silent operation |
| --strictly-enforce-ISO | strict ISO compliance |
| -t | disable INFO/WAV header |
| -V | VBR quality setting (0...9) |
| --vbr-new | new VBR mode |
| --vbr-old | older VBR mode |
| --verbose | verbosity |
| -x | swapbytes |
| -X | change quality measure |