ALAC audio file support?

nekojet · 21 Sept 2019, 21:38

@dobey Makes senses. Thanks for the info!

I'm not fluent in the different software licenses. Is something released under the Apache License considered non-free? Thanks.

dobey · 22 Sept 2019, 12:57

@nekojet libav isn't solely a port of the original ALAC source code to Linux. libav/ffmpeg implements several encumbered codecs. So there may be issues with shipping those.

If there were a totally free implementation of ALAC by itself, for GStreamer, we could possibly include it, but one only available with support for other codecs which are encumbered, is not really feasible.

Best option really, is to transcode audio to a codec that is supported by the hardware decoder on the portable device you're putting them on, as this will save battery power by not having to do all the decoding in software on the CPU.

nekojet · 23 Sept 2019, 19:34

@dobey Yes! After doing more (and more) reading, I almost wrote a long post (or two) about:

Apple open sourced ALAC in 2011 under the Apache License 2.0, so that probably isn't so much of an issue

but

gstreamer1.0-libav (built on libav/ffmpeg) includes wayyyyyyyy more than just ALAC, and that quickly becomes problematic if you look at the huge list of codecs it packages

I also want to thank the UBports community for all of the great work y'all are doing. It's really appreciated.

I'm a new UT user (and Patron) and this project is very exciting.

Thanks!

flohack · 24 Sept 2019, 20:29

Well its hard for me too to live without m4a now, since 2 of my band members use iPhones and any recording they do will come over the wire as m4a format. I have no idea if and how they can influence the recording codec on their side. Until that I can only listn to this on my desktop. Which is boring.

Consumers are trapped in stuff they don't understand and also they are just no giving choices. We got along way to go...

flohack · 24 Sept 2019, 20:30

@nekojet said in ALAC audio file support?:

gstreamer1.0-libav

Oh and by the way, definitely need encoding support for opus when we ever want Telegram voice messages to be a thing. How could we get this in @dobey

dobey · 24 Sept 2019, 21:22

@Flohack m4a is the MPEG-4 container format. It's not related to the codec for the audio embedded in the file, which can be ALAC, AAC, or numerous other things.

dobey · 24 Sept 2019, 21:25

@Flohack Well, Opus is an open codec, and it seems to already be implemented in the gstreamer1.0-plugins-base package, which should already be in the image, so I guess it should just work.

flohack · 24 Sept 2019, 21:53

@dobey Seems you are right, its AAC internally, but it still cannot be played back by UT...

dobey · 25 Sept 2019, 02:17

@Flohack On what device? I don't think we include a software decoder for AAC, so it depends on hardware decoder support, as AAC is non-free. It should work on FP2 and Nexus devices at least, I think. If not, there might be some low level issue with Android drivers.

flohack · 25 Sept 2019, 18:25

@dobey I am on Oneplus One, that might explain the issue. Hmm good question if it can be enabled if it would be there theoretically ^^

dobey · 27 Sept 2019, 13:00

@Flohack From a quick search, I can't seem to find a list of definite hardware audio codec support on opo, so no idea what it actually supports.

nekojet · 13 Oct 2019, 01:53

Regarding AAC support on OPO...

I did a fresh OTA-11 RC install and wipe on my OnePlus One. It's now running OS build number 2019-W41/2. I can successfully play a couple of example AAC files I downloaded from here:

http://samplephotovideo.com/2015/12/download-aac-mpeg-2-advanced-audio-coding-file/

http://samplephotovideo.com/2015/12/m4a-mpeg-4-audio-layer-sample-file-m4a/

Hope this helps!

nekojet · 13 Oct 2019, 23:34

@dobey @Flohack I also downloaded an example OPUS file from here:

http://samplephotovideo.com/2015/12/download-opus-sample-audio-file-opus/

I can successfully play the file using my clean "install and wipe" installation of OTA-11 rc (OS build number 2019-W41/2) on my OnePlus One.

Cheers!