FFmpeg is a complete solution to record, convert and stream audio and video. It includes libavcodec, the leading audio/video codec library. FFmpeg is developed under Linux, but it can compiled under most operating systems, including Windows.

This encoder produces MP3 files of much higher quality (less distortion) than every other free encoder and beats many commercial encoders.

Now considered one of, if not THE, best MP3 encoder around, LAME started as an open source development project to improve psycho-acoustics, noise shaping, and encoding speed.

Streamripper records shoutcast-compatible streams. For shoutcast style streams it finds the "meta data" or track separation data, and uses that as a marker for where the track should be separated.

RipperX is a GTK program to rip CD audio tracks and encode them to the Ogg, MP3, or FLAC formats. It is easy, requiring a few mouse clicks to convert an entire album, displaying progress along the way. It can rip and encode in parallel, and supports CDD