4 ms·

What's wrong is that you're stuck with the same shitty browser engine. If you encounter a problem with WebKit, you're screwed. Think it through.

tgv 4y ago
- kouteiheika 4y ago
  Hard disagree. The only thing bad here is Safari's engine. Okay, let me give you an example. One of many I have. I run a website. I have many gigabytes of audio files. I'd like to 1) not have to store multiple versions of the same files, and 2) I'd like to encode them using the most efficient codec available. This means I'd like to use Opus. Every browser supports it since *6 years* ago.... except Safari. Okay, they technically support it, but only in their own special snowflake container - `.caf`. So what I did recently - I wrote an on-the-fly demuxer which remuxes the standard Ogg container in which Opus audio comes in into `.caf` files on the fly. Yay, it works! Audio now plays on Safari! A single guy did something in one evening that a trillion dollar corporation can't do in 6 years. (Okay, fine, doing it on their side would probably take more effort and probably take, like, a week. But still.) ....except a new iOS update comes, and.... oops, users report that the audio stopped working?! Apple broke it, because of course they did; they only pretend to support Opus, otherwise they'd just properly support it like everyone else. But I'm stubborn. I tried to find a workaround and... I did. The trick was to decode the `.caf` file through `AudioContext::decodeAudioData`, remux it to `.wav` in JavaScript and then play it. Yay! Audio now works in Safari again! ....except I'm already looking forward when they break something else in the next update. There are many other issues I have or had with Safari, and... I just hate it with a burning passion. I never have issues with Firefox nor Chrome, but I always have to add weird workarounds for Safari bugs. I know the "intended" way of alleviating this pain is to just give in and let Apple extort 30% of my income and write a native app, but that's just not an option for me. I don't have the resources to write a native app nor the will to be subject to Apple's bullying.
  - giantrobot 4y ago
    Opus isn't a Safari bug. Opus is only supported for WebRTC. At no point did Apple advertise Opus support anywhere else. Nor does Apple claim any support for the Ogg container format. Safari on iOS also doesn't support Indeo 5 video in an AVI container, that's even older the Opus/Ogg! /s
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - daviddever23box 4y ago
    Nothing about that sounds like a client-side problem; it’s a server-side problem. If you’re optimizing for sound quality on a web-streaming platform, and you don’t wish to transcode on the fly, you will always end up with a platform-specific shim. A native app would still provide a better experience on ANY platform-ask TIDAL, Qobuz, et al.
- maaanu 4y ago
  That argument is easily reverseable - if there are more programmers who can write decent apps for chromium & firefox maybe Safari is not just as good as its competitors on a different platform?

tgv 4y ago

kouteiheika 4y ago
Hard disagree. The only thing bad here is Safari's engine. Okay, let me give you an example. One of many I have. I run a website. I have many gigabytes of audio files. I'd like to 1) not have to store multiple versions of the same files, and 2) I'd like to encode them using the most efficient codec available. This means I'd like to use Opus. Every browser supports it since *6 years* ago.... except Safari. Okay, they technically support it, but only in their own special snowflake container - `.caf`. So what I did recently - I wrote an on-the-fly demuxer which remuxes the standard Ogg container in which Opus audio comes in into `.caf` files on the fly. Yay, it works! Audio now plays on Safari! A single guy did something in one evening that a trillion dollar corporation can't do in 6 years. (Okay, fine, doing it on their side would probably take more effort and probably take, like, a week. But still.) ....except a new iOS update comes, and.... oops, users report that the audio stopped working?! Apple broke it, because of course they did; they only pretend to support Opus, otherwise they'd just properly support it like everyone else. But I'm stubborn. I tried to find a workaround and... I did. The trick was to decode the `.caf` file through `AudioContext::decodeAudioData`, remux it to `.wav` in JavaScript and then play it. Yay! Audio now works in Safari again! ....except I'm already looking forward when they break something else in the next update. There are many other issues I have or had with Safari, and... I just hate it with a burning passion. I never have issues with Firefox nor Chrome, but I always have to add weird workarounds for Safari bugs. I know the "intended" way of alleviating this pain is to just give in and let Apple extort 30% of my income and write a native app, but that's just not an option for me. I don't have the resources to write a native app nor the will to be subject to Apple's bullying.
- giantrobot 4y ago
  Opus isn't a Safari bug. Opus is only supported for WebRTC. At no point did Apple advertise Opus support anywhere else. Nor does Apple claim any support for the Ogg container format. Safari on iOS also doesn't support Indeo 5 video in an AVI container, that's even older the Opus/Ogg! /s
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- daviddever23box 4y ago
  Nothing about that sounds like a client-side problem; it’s a server-side problem. If you’re optimizing for sound quality on a web-streaming platform, and you don’t wish to transcode on the fly, you will always end up with a platform-specific shim. A native app would still provide a better experience on ANY platform-ask TIDAL, Qobuz, et al.
maaanu 4y ago
That argument is easily reverseable - if there are more programmers who can write decent apps for chromium & firefox maybe Safari is not just as good as its competitors on a different platform?