Opus 1.4 Is Out
lists.xiph.orgCouple of cool links they provide for WIP:
> Additionally, we have begun experiments on two upcoming major features:
- neural packet loss concealment: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2205.05785.pdf
- deep redundancy:
https://www.amazon.science/blog/neural-encoding-enables-more...
These are using generative AI to plug gaps when a real-time audio packet goes missing in a couple of neat ways.
The audio war sort of faded out of the collective conscious. I have no idea what happened since at least 2016. Did opus win? Why haven't I seen anything by xiphmont for what feels like a thousand years?
People stops storing music on computers, preferring streaming services instead; anyone who still does use lossless codecs like FLAC. Among the major Music streaming services, Spotify still uses both AAC and Ogg Vorbis, Apple uses AAC, Youtube uses both AAC and Opus. But users don't really need to know, they turn on the apps and the music starts.
To sum up, Opus didn't win, as in it did not replace all other lossy codecs. But it's not losing either: after all, it's the standard codec supported by all web browsers per WebRTC standard.
Nitpick: Apple Music uses both AAC and ALAC.
It depends which domain / sector you are looking at. But generally speaking, bandwidth and Disk Space are no longer an issue. The marketing hype of MP3 Pro / AAC 64Kbps at CD Quality ( where CD quality is defined as MP3 128 Kbps ) no longer matters. The sweet spot moves slowly from 128 Kbps, 160Kbps all the way to 256kbps or even higher. At this sort of bitrate not only just consumer, but most of the enthusiast no longer cares. And AAC-LC, is now patent free.
An Codec from R&D, adoption to mainstream easily take 10 years. ( Unless you are certain organisation which somehow believe you could do that every 2 -3 years ). During that time Internet Bandwidth has increased anywhere from 10-100x, as long as we continue to invest into 5G and Ethernet. We will soon all be streaming lossless or 320kbps Musepack v8 music.
Opus wideband is the highest priority codec now in most VoIP apps.