This paper addresses a novel linear programming based approach to optimize the choice of the encoding parameters for the MPEG-4 AAC audio codec. Current techniques solve the encoding problem for MPEG-4 AAC by splitting the encoding procedure into a sequence of smaller problems that are solved heuristically. In contrast, we approach the coding problem as multidimensional optimization problem and achieve large performance gains compared with current methods. Categories and Subject Descriptors: Discrete Mathematics, G.2: Communications Applications, H.4.3. General