Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Faster Audio Decoding and Encoding Coming To Ogg and FLAC (phoronix.com)

Posted by msmash on from the backend-tech dept.

FLAC and Ogg now have faster audio encoding and decoding capabilities thanks to recent code improvements. An anonymous reader writes: Robert Kausch of the fre:ac audio converter project informed news outlet Phoronix about recent changes he has made to FLAC and Ogg for bolstering faster performance. Kausch says he updated the CRC checks within FLAC and Ogg to a faster algorithm and those patches have now been accepted upstream. The Ogg and FLAC updates were merged this week for using the optimized CRC algorithm. As a result of this, encoding and decoding FLAC is now 5 percent faster, while encoding and decoding Ogg FLAC is 10 percent and 15 percent faster, respectively. Opus sees about one percent faster decoding, while Vorbis does decoding at two percent faster pace.

34 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. One step forward, one step back by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So after the latest patches for speculative execution vulnerabilities, you'll end up with performance about the same as you used to have.

    1. Re:One step forward, one step back by ReneR · · Score: 1

      It is most likely one step forward, two steps back. For most other non-CRC32 software anyways.

    2. Re:One step forward, one step back by nospam007 · · Score: 2

      "So after the latest patches for speculative execution vulnerabilities, you'll end up with performance about the same as you used to have."

      No, it's faster and so you can play a 3 minutes song in 2 minutes.

    3. Re:One step forward, one step back by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Only if you're silly enough to actually enable said patches on a computer where the risk they are mitigating is so incredibly low.

  2. Depends... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Did this new checksum algorithm actually improve things, or just break compatibility of ogg/flac files with legacy players that don't have updates available? And did it provide said speedups without causing new security issues of its own?

    1. Re:Depends... by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

      What kind of shit do you listen to that security is a concern?

    2. Re:Depends... by jrumney · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's a new algorithm to calculate the same checksum. It doesn't break compatibility with anything.

      FLAC and Vorbis reference decoders are both lacking any processor specific optimizations, so a new checksum algorithm is only a fraction of the potential for optimization. For Vorbis, there is Tremor as an alternative, which does have some ARM specific optimization, but for FLAC the reference codec is all there is.

  3. What does 5-15 Percent speed mean? by jellomizer · · Score: 2

    While I like to see faster algorithms in general as a good thing. But some questions.
    Where does Flac and ogg stand on Quality/encoding speed compared to others?
    Will this range make it more competitive to others, or is there too big of a gap?
    For those who move to the new version how much time will they really spend. Will they just get a minute of their time a day or hours?
     

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:What does 5-15 Percent speed mean? by mishehu · · Score: 2

      ogg in of itself is simply a container format. It does not actually handle the compression/decompression of the streams within it, that's handled by other stuff such as libvorbis for vorbis encoded streams.

    2. Re:What does 5-15 Percent speed mean? by DigitAl56K · · Score: 5, Informative

      Flac is lossless, it's full quality.

      Opus, except at _extremely_ low bitrates, has similar or better quality than the most commonly used modern codecs:
      http://opus-codec.org/comparis...

      Flac is fast to encode and decode. Opus decodes slower than MP3 but on par with AAC LC, and encodes slightly faster than AAC LC and on par with MP3. Performance will vary a bit by encoder:
      http://fmedia.firmdev.com/audi...

    3. Re:What does 5-15 Percent speed mean? by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      I ripped my CD catalog to FLAC due to the speed (it was a while ago) not the quality. It was about 4x the speed of lame high quality variable bitrate.

      I'd then convert to MP3 overnight queuing up that evening's take.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    4. Re:What does 5-15 Percent speed mean? by TeknoHog · · Score: 3, Informative

      Flac is lossless, it's full quality.

      Flac is fast to encode and decode.

      Just to elaborate, Flac was designed for light/fast encoders at the possible expense of compression ratio. It would decode in software in portable music players that often had hardware decoders for MP3 and AAC. In comparison, other lossless formats at the time such as APE had somewhat better compression ratios, but were much heavier to encode and decode. I guess the prevailing idea was that portable players don't need lossless quality, but Flac changed that. Of course, Flac is also Free software.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    5. Re: What does 5-15 Percent speed mean? by ffkom · · Score: 1

      To properly encode DSD, your computer (and its mains cable) would have to contain only the purest of oxygen-free copper and silver wires, sanctified by a virgin at midnight. The kind of equipment only the high priests of the church of high-end hifi would have available in their fanes.

    6. Re:What does 5-15 Percent speed mean? by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      600 MB vs 150 MB (good quality MP3) or 300 MB (FLAC) is pretty significant in the era of portable players.

      I use a streaming service now, but when I was ripping my disks that was a fantasy. I wouldn't be shocked if my HD was only half a TB even (I forget), but my player was only 30GB. Only 60 CDs is a lot more limiting than 240.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    7. Re:What does 5-15 Percent speed mean? by Bengie · · Score: 1

      At extremely low bit rates or packet loss, Opus kicks the crap out everything else. In my experience, Opus has really good reproduction of a wide range of frequencies. MP3s like to remove highs and lows. such that symbols and deep base drums in acoustic music sounds garbled when listening side by side.

  4. So a 5% to 15% speed improvement is newsworthy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Man, we must be reaching some kind of technological plateau. I'm all for speed gains... but come on. I guess compiler flags would potentially make more difference than that.

  5. Cool! by DogDude · · Score: 1

    Cool! I don't particularly care about the speed increases, but it's cool to know that people are still working on these codecs. I use FLAC every day.

    --
    I don't respond to AC's.
    1. Re:Cool! by psmoot · · Score: 1

      Absolutely. Finding a 5 to 15% performance improvement in something as well-understood as CRCs is a pretty stunning microoptimization. I'd like to read the code, not that I have much chance of understanding why it's so much faster.

  6. Not about FLAC or OGG by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1, Troll

    I expected that since they were listing formats that somehow the formats had been modified. However, these improvements are not to FLAC or OGG but rather one implementation. What's worse is that these aren't even the most commonly used implementations.

    The headline is garbage and if you voted for this story then you deserve a spanking. >:(

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:Not about FLAC or OGG by the_germ · · Score: 2

      They are the official reference codecs provided by Xiph Foundation. These are used on every Android device and in every Linux distribution. Most software that will process FLAC or Ogg uses these libraries too.

      They are easily the most commonly used implementations.

  7. Re:Ogg by execthts · · Score: 2

    Basically all Android devices. Built-in ringtones and notification sounds are all in .ogg.

  8. Re:Ogg by darkain · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure about CURRENT video games, but I know games in the mid-2000s used them. The Unreal engine was specifically designed for OGG playback to help reduce the size of music in games.

  9. Re:Ogg by jwhyche · · Score: 3

    Correct me if I'm wrong, and someone will, but I think Spoify uses it.

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  10. Re:Ogg by Sloppy · · Score: 1

    People who listen to music.

    --
    As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
  11. Re:Ogg by brianerst · · Score: 1

    From Spotify's Audio Settings page:

    The desktop app’s standard quality is Ogg Vorbis 160kbit/s.

    Premium subscribers can choose to switch on High quality streaming, which uses 320kbit/s

  12. Re:Ogg by jwhyche · · Score: 1

    I should know this but I thought ogg was the audio format and vorbis was the container is was wrapped in. Much like h.265 is the video stream, AC-3 is the audio stream, and mkv is the wrapper they are all muxed together in.

    --
    I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
  13. Re:Ogg by tepples · · Score: 1

    Incidentally I read a bit on Theora and they said it was not that bad a codec, everyone remembers the early versions when it sucked.

    Last I checked, Theora's rate-distortion performance was somewhere between H.263 (such as Sorenson Spark, DivX, and Xvid) and H.264. But by the time Theora was ready for production use, the technically superior H.264 had already gained an installed base.

  14. Re:Ogg by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    He said ogg, not egg.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  15. Re: REPOST (to spite idiots): I know the feeling! by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    Grand Theft Fortnight Overwatch? I'd play that!

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  16. Re:Ogg by the_germ · · Score: 1

    It's the other way around. Vorbis is the audio format and Ogg is the container.

    Ogg is also used for Opus, Speex, Theora, Daala and sometimes FLAC. All of these will benefit from the performance improvement in Ogg.

  17. Re:Why use Ogg and FLAC when we have Opus? by the_germ · · Score: 1

    And Opus use which container format? Hint: It starts with an O and ends in gg.

    The Ogg performance improvements will speed up Opus decoding too (and save battery life when playing Opus on your mobile device).

    And FLAC is lossless while Opus is not. So FLAC is the better choice for archival.

  18. Re:Ogg by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    Nope, backwards. Vorbis is the audio format and Ogg is the container. Sometimes you here the combination of the two referred to incorrectly as Ogg or colloquially but not incorrectly as Ogg Vorbis.

  19. Re:Ogg by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 1

    The web player and Chromecast stream 256kbps AAC at the highest quality setting, for some reason.

    I wish they would move to Opus. The could cut around a 3rd of their bandwidth usage for the same audible quality.

    --
    Eat the rich.
  20. Tested&measured the optimisation on my Sgi Oct by ReneR · · Score: 1

    enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...