HomeBoy was a group of programers that created the first ISO compliant publicly available AAC encoder for Windows back in 1998. At that time, the "competition" was K+K's MP01 - a vapourware - and Astrid/Quartex AAC - actualy a stolen encoder that didn't have anything to do with AAC.

Also, they were reportedly creators of the first third party plugin for Winamp (their AAC input plugin), and the first ISO-compliant AAC decoder publicly available.

The encoder is just a compile of the original ISO reference sources, therefore quality is bad. But, interestingly, streams created by it can still be played in modern decoders.

After some time, the team disbanded to work at different places and also probably because of Dolby threats, and dropped from the scene.


Date: 1998?
Version: 0.5alpha (Encoder)
Interface: Command Line
Platform: Win32
Download: hb_aacenc05.zip - 491Kb

Date: 1998
Version: 1.0 (Decoder)
Interface: Command Line
Platform: Win32
Download: hbaacdec10.zip - 68Kb

Date: 1998?
Version: 1.1 (Player)
Interface: Command Line
Platform: Win32
Download: aacplay.zip - 66Kb

Date: 1998?
Version: 1.09
Interface: Winamp Plugin
Platform: Win32
Download: hb_in_aac.zip - 66Kb