Support for more audio codecs

[BlighterProductions]

I have been thinking for a while. Newgrounds had been adapting the .mp3 file format since the dawn of time. I have been working more with other codecs.

I am wondering: could it be possible to add support for another audio file?

My choice would be the .m4a container. This is an AAC based codec with superior audio quality compared to .mp3 at the same bit rates, resulting in a better quality/file size ratio. This codec is already widely adapted by almost every site, every system, and every device. YouTube uses it to encode their audio. It’s compatible in almost every video editing/DAW program available, and I think it would just be a waste to leave that on the table.

For comparison, I have here two audio files, both encoded at 64 kbps.

The first one is an .mp3 file:

Calm Before the Storm.mp3

While the other is an .m4a file:

Calm Before the Storm.m4a

Now, I am aware that people mostly upload in far higher bit rates, but the difference is mostly noticeable in lower bit rates. I myself usually upload in 256 or 320 kbps at MP3, but you can, and I would prefer to, upload AAC files in far higher bit rates, if you use the Lossless AAC encoding method, where you can get up to 700 kbps audio (at 16-bit). You can also choose to use 256 kbps AAC audio, which is the quality of iTunes Store music.

Anyways, let me know if you think that a new file type should be added to Newgrounds. I personally would love to see that happen.

[mawibblap]

At 11/7/22 12:24 PM, BlighterProductions wrote: I have been thinking for a while. Newgrounds had been adapting the .mp3 file format since the dawn of time. I have been working more with other codecs.

I am wondering: could it be possible to add support for another audio file?

My choice would be the .m4a container. This is an AAC based codec with superior audio quality compared to .mp3 at the same bit rates, resulting in a better quality/file size ratio. This codec is already widely adapted by almost every site, every system, and every device. YouTube uses it to encode their audio. It’s compatible in almost every video editing/DAW program available, and I think it would just be a waste to leave that on the table.

For comparison, I have here two audio files, both encoded at 64 kbps.

The first one is an .mp3 file:
Calm Before the Storm.mp3

While the other is an .m4a file:
Calm Before the Storm.m4a

Now, I am aware that people mostly upload in far higher bit rates, but the difference is mostly noticeable in lower bit rates. I myself usually upload in 256 or 320 kbps at MP3, but you can, and I would prefer to, upload AAC files in far higher bit rates, if you use the Lossless AAC encoding method, where you can get up to 700 kbps audio (at 16-bit). You can also choose to use 256 kbps AAC audio, which is the quality of iTunes Store music.

Anyways, let me know if you think that a new file type should be added to Newgrounds. I personally would love to see that happen.

@tomfulp what do you think about this

[TomFulp]

At 11/7/22 02:59 PM, mawibblap wrote:

At 11/7/22 12:24 PM, BlighterProductions wrote: I have been thinking for a while. Newgrounds had been adapting the .mp3 file format since the dawn of time. I have been working more with other codecs.

@tomfulp what do you think about this

We've long-planned to support more formats, including processing WAV files into a more web-friendly format. I've added these notes from BP to the ticket!

[BlighterProductions]

Honestly, that’s some good news. I’ve been really looking forward to seeing more formats being supported on Newgrounds. Further on, I just wanna say this site is awesome. How often does it happen that a user with only little over 20 followers has the owner of the site respond to them, in, like, less than an hour? That’s amazing. That truly shows that the owner of the site is actually listening to its users. Thanks for taking my idea into consideration.

[YendorNG]

Support for WAVs would be nice, for us people who like standards. Mp3s are/still great for those cheap disposable plastic players from the 00s but we've moved on and have the storage capacity now to enjoy our audio as heard from the person who arranged it in the DAW.

[BlighterProductions]

Edit: 16-bit 44,1 kHz ALAC files can go as high as 1024 kbps. Besides, it would also be nice if 24-bit audio would become available on Newgrounds, since that is what I mastered all my music up until this point in.

[Positron832]

Personally I'd not mind support for ogg vorbis and opus, coz I'm a little obsessed with filesizes lel..

[BlighterProductions]

Hey Tom Fulp,

Checking back into this forum post. How is it going with the integration of WAV/FLAC into Newgrounds?