How Neural Audio Codecs Are Redefining Streaming Quality

Codecs are algorithms that make it simpler to store and send sound by compressing and decompressing it. They have been around for a long time in the field of digital audio.   Classic codecs like MP3 and AAC have formed the backbone of the music industry’s digital revolution for many years. They strike a good compromise between file size and sound quality.   But these traditional ways of doing things are losing their power as the need for high-quality audio and streaming in real time grows.

Neural audio codecs are a new type of technology that is coming out to solve this problem. They use machine learning to transform the way we compress and hear sound.  Innovative technologies like SpectroStream are at the vanguard of this change, moving beyond outdated ways of doing things to provide better sound quality and efficiency.

This article talks about the rise of neural audio codecs, how they work, and how they are setting a new bar for audio quality in the streaming age.

The Evolution  of Audio Compression

Before AI, psychoacoustics, which is the study of how people hear sound, was used to compress audio.  Codecs that are common look at audio and get rid of noises that are likely to be blocked by stronger frequencies.  This method made files much smaller without most people seeing a drop in quality.  The approach deceives the human ear with hard-coded rules and signal processing.   This method worked well for a time, however its unchangeable rules pose major issues.   It has problems with complex, shifting sounds and adds artifacts at lower bitrates.

These old codecs have been pushed to their limitations by the rise of digital streaming, which is now the most popular way to listen to music.  Services are always trying to utilize less bandwidth without hurting the customer experience. This is getting harder to do with older technologies.

Enhancing the Digital Experience

Neural audio codecs do more than just let you listen to music.  The fact that they can send high-quality audio with very little data is going to change the whole digital entertainment world.  Digital platforms are always coming up with new ways to make streaming, gaming, and interactive online environments more interesting and immersive in places like the US, UK, and Australia.  Even in smaller markets like New Zealand, people are using cutting-edge choices like the top online casinos in New Zealand, which, like modern streaming services, use low-latency, high-fidelity audio to make the experience more immersive.  This technology is very vital for making the next generation of experiences possible. For example, it may provide high-quality audio for online gaming and soundscapes that make you feel like you’re in a different planet.

A New Paradigm: SpectroStream

Google DeepMind’s SpectroStream is a great example of this technology in use.  SpectroStream works with audio in the time-frequency domain, which is different from other early neural codecs that worked in the time domain.  This implies it can read spectrograms, which are pictures of sound frequencies across time.  The system is built to handle complicated, full-band, multi-channel audio utilizing a 2D-convolutional encoder-decoder architecture. This makes it perfect for high-fidelity stereo music.

One of SpectroStream’s most important new features is that it can encode audio at multiple bitrates with only one trained model.  This is done via a method called residual vector quantization.  The end result is a codec that may change based on network conditions, giving the greatest quality for the available bandwidth without necessitating a different model for each bitrate.  Because of how efficient and flexible it is, this is a great option for the future of music streaming.

Brendon Veevers

::: RenownedForSound.com’s Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
Over the years he has been lucky enough to review thousands of music releases and concerts and interview artists ranging from top selling superstars like 27-time Grammy Award winner Alison Krauss, Boyz II Men, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Loeb and iconic Eagles front man/songwriter, Glenn Frey through to more recent successes including Newton Faulkner, Janelle Monae and Caro Emerald.
Brendon manages and coordinates the amazing team of writers on RenownedForSound.com who are based in the UK, the U.S and Australia.