View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | View Status | Date Submitted | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0007350 | ardour | features | public | 2017-05-11 17:22 | 2017-05-24 15:43 |
| Reporter | riban | Assigned To | |||
| Priority | normal | Severity | feature | Reproducibility | N/A |
| Status | closed | Resolution | won't fix | ||
| Product Version | 5.8 | ||||
| Summary | 0007350: Add mp3 support | ||||
| Description | Now that the patent has expired for mp3 encoding in the USA, there should not be a legal barrier to adding mp3 export support to Ardour. | ||||
| Additional Information | To be able to share audio widely, mp3 remains a good choice of audio encoding. Current workflow involves exporting a session to Flac then opening in another tool, e.g. Audacity, then exporting to mp3. It would be advantageous to export directly to mp3. I believe the USA is the last country to hold patents for mp3 technology and that expired recently hence the request now to consider adding mp3 export to the roadmap. | ||||
| Tags | No tags attached. | ||||
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Ardour is not concerned with file i/o file formats nor codecs. Ardour uses libsndfile: https://github.com/erikd/libsndfile/issues/258 It's still questionable if it's a good idea for a DAW. Import: maybe; native support for recording/playback: pretty much a no-go for massive multi-track and sample-accurate seeking. Export: maybe one or two presets (already possible with a post-export hook). |
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I am not requesting Ardour use MP3 for its sound files. I am requesting an extra export option. @X42 says libsndfile provides Ardour i/o - does that mean that export formats are constrained by what libsndfile supports? Are there other factors? |
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@x42, an exemple of use-case where mp3 input can be useful is when you're using mp3 as a format for a "guideline" track that won't make it to the final mix but is used through creation, eg. for a cover or a movie audio track or as a timing reference etc... So if libsndfile allows it one day, integrating it into Ardour would make sense. @riban, as x42 said, putting "lame -b256 %f" in the "Command to run post export" of an export format profile (http://manual.ardour.org/exporting/edit-export-format-profile/) will auto-generate a 256b/s mp3 in the same folder as the direct export. |
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"does that mean that export formats are constrained by what libsndfile supports?" Yes. At least for everything built-in. We don't add support for each and every codec/format directly to Ardour. It's nice to have a library for that: a confined project, which is also not limited to Ardour. Ardour-devs do contribute upstream at libsndfile once every now and then. If you use external apps like ffmpeg or lame as post-export hook or import, it's up to whatever app you use. (e.g. Session > Open Video > Extract soundtrack only can load .mp3 if you have ffmpeg around; you're on your own with respect to ffmpeg licensing; likewise for the "post export" command). "Are there other factors?" maybe: https://github.com/erikd/libsndfile/issues/258#issuecomment-302438668 and yes: Ardour developer man*hours. For import: If libsndfile supports mp3, no change in Ardour is needed to load them (well, maybe a one-line change to add ".mp3" to the valid extension list vs "List All Files"). Export is a bit harder. If you look at the `lame` manual alone, there are an amazing number of options for encoding. It depends how many of them are exposed via libsndfile's to-be API (replaygain, bit-rate, constant vs variable bitrate, stereo-modes, meta-data etc). Integrating that will require work on the Ardour side. |
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Understood that file format / codec is handled by libsndfile which currently does not support mp3 (but may soon) and that export may required consideration of encoding settings. I also appreciate the pointer to use post export command to encode using lame (which works well - even on Windows with lame installed). I will close this issue. Cheers |
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libsndfile does not support mp3 but work-around exists via post-export command. |
| Date Modified | Username | Field | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-05-11 17:22 | riban | New Issue | |
| 2017-05-11 17:32 | x42 | Note Added: 0019674 | |
| 2017-05-22 06:41 | riban | Note Added: 0019727 | |
| 2017-05-22 10:26 | Headwar | Note Added: 0019728 | |
| 2017-05-22 12:03 | x42 | Note Added: 0019729 | |
| 2017-05-24 15:42 | riban | Note Added: 0019735 | |
| 2017-05-24 15:43 | riban | Note Added: 0019736 | |
| 2017-05-24 15:43 | riban | Status | new => closed |
| 2017-05-24 15:43 | riban | Resolution | open => won't fix |
