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Mp3 is also really accessible. Anyone who's ever worked with audio in an amateur capacity knows how to create an mp3. I don't think many people would know how t

Mp3 is also really accessible. Anyone who's ever worked with audio in an amateur capacity knows how to create an mp3. I don't think many people would know how to properly encode an Opus file. I did an informal survey on Quora a while back, and I was surprised to see that almost every audio industry professional had no idea what Opus even was. Mp3 is, for all intents and purposes, the animated gif of audio.

derefr 10y ago
On the other hand, due to the encoder patent, most FOSS audio-editing tools ship without MP3-encoding support included. My first instinct, on being asked to create an MP3 from a WAV + some effects, is to download Audacity, diddle around, and then export to MP3. But—and I always forget the first time I do it—you have to download an additional LAME plugin for Audacity to get that MP3-export to happen. On the other hand, Opus is just right there in the Export menu; the codec is built into the app. (On Macs, AAC is also "right there" in Audacity's export menu, due to OS-native Quicktime encoding support; but on other OSes AAC export requires similar fiddling to MP3 export.) And, mind you, this isn't nearly as much of a concern on Linux, where usually the app package will have optional dependencies on the MP3/AAC encoder libraries, and so—if you have your "non-free" package repositories enabled—they'll get installed along with the software.
jacquesm 10y ago
The patent situation really is like the animated gif but the technology involved puts it much closer to being the jpeg of audio.
kelnos 10y ago
> I was surprised to see that almost every audio industry professional had no idea what Opus even was. Assuming you mean people who deal with audio production, I'm not surprised. Opus is primarily for real-time audio streaming, not for streaming music or for general audio compression or storage.
- alphapapa 10y ago
  http://opus-codec.org/ http://opus-codec.org/ > Opus is unmatched for interactive speech and music transmission over the Internet, but is also intended for storage and streaming applications. > Opus can handle a wide range of audio applications, including Voice over IP, videoconferencing, in-game chat, and even remote live music performances. It can scale from low bitrate narrowband speech to very high quality stereo music
  - kelnos 10y ago
    Sure, their marketing copy says it's intended for storage, but that's not how it's actually used in the wild. In reality, it's primarily used for interactive/real-time streaming and not used for storage. I think it just boils down to the idea that the storage formats we're using are more than sufficient, and Opus doesn't really bring much new to the table there. It does, however, perform remarkably better than most/all of the alternatives when dealing with (e.g.) VoIP, so it's no surprise it's been adopted there.
- derefr 10y ago
  True enough: the main type of engineer you'd expect to speak the words "Opus codec" is a telecom/SIP engineer, not an audio engineer. It always feels like tech with origins in telecom never gets much notice outside of that realm, even when it's much more widely applicable. (Look at the set of "core" Erlang libraries to see what I mean. Think most programmers have heard of even half of the relevant standards, even as they implement NIH competitors to those same standards?)

derefr 10y ago

On the other hand, due to the encoder patent, most FOSS audio-editing tools ship without MP3-encoding support included. My first instinct, on being asked to create an MP3 from a WAV + some effects, is to download Audacity, diddle around, and then export to MP3. But—and I always forget the first time I do it—you have to download an additional LAME plugin for Audacity to get that MP3-export to happen. On the other hand, Opus is just right there in the Export menu; the codec is built into the app. (On Macs, AAC is also "right there" in Audacity's export menu, due to OS-native Quicktime encoding support; but on other OSes AAC export requires similar fiddling to MP3 export.) And, mind you, this isn't nearly as much of a concern on Linux, where usually the app package will have optional dependencies on the MP3/AAC encoder libraries, and so—if you have your "non-free" package repositories enabled—they'll get installed along with the software.

jacquesm 10y ago

The patent situation really is like the animated gif but the technology involved puts it much closer to being the jpeg of audio.

kelnos 10y ago

> I was surprised to see that almost every audio industry professional had no idea what Opus even was. Assuming you mean people who deal with audio production, I'm not surprised. Opus is primarily for real-time audio streaming, not for streaming music or for general audio compression or storage.

alphapapa 10y ago
http://opus-codec.org/ http://opus-codec.org/ > Opus is unmatched for interactive speech and music transmission over the Internet, but is also intended for storage and streaming applications. > Opus can handle a wide range of audio applications, including Voice over IP, videoconferencing, in-game chat, and even remote live music performances. It can scale from low bitrate narrowband speech to very high quality stereo music
- kelnos 10y ago
  Sure, their marketing copy says it's intended for storage, but that's not how it's actually used in the wild. In reality, it's primarily used for interactive/real-time streaming and not used for storage. I think it just boils down to the idea that the storage formats we're using are more than sufficient, and Opus doesn't really bring much new to the table there. It does, however, perform remarkably better than most/all of the alternatives when dealing with (e.g.) VoIP, so it's no surprise it's been adopted there.
derefr 10y ago
True enough: the main type of engineer you'd expect to speak the words "Opus codec" is a telecom/SIP engineer, not an audio engineer. It always feels like tech with origins in telecom never gets much notice outside of that realm, even when it's much more widely applicable. (Look at the set of "core" Erlang libraries to see what I mean. Think most programmers have heard of even half of the relevant standards, even as they implement NIH competitors to those same standards?)