Opus - this is the new shit

HamletHamlet Join Date: 2008-08-17 Member: 64837Members, Reinforced - Shadow
edited August 2013 in Ideas and Suggestions
Hi there UWE devs!
I was glad to hear that you'll be sporting DirectX11 and OpenGL.
Now I'd like to know if there are plans to use the magnificient Opus codec in the future?

What is Opus, you might ask?
It's a hybrid audio codec for the future. It consists of SILK and CELT.
SILK is for handling human speech and delivering superior performance compared to the established SPEEX.
And CELT is intended to replace the aging MP3, OGG and AAC for high quality music.
-> Quality comparison

Opus' advantages are its high flexibility (dynamically adjustable bitrates from 6kb/s to 510kb/s) and the fact that it was designed with VBR in mind.
It will provide higher fidelity and lower file sizes which makes it perfect for voice chat, internet streaming (especially WebRTC) and replacing the decade-old mp3 as music storage.
The best thing about Opus is its ultra-low latency (ranging from 2.5 to 60ms). It is now possible to make live music over the net because the latency is that low.

And here comes the ultimate kicker: Unlike mp3 Opus is royalty-free.
That means everyone (especially game developers) can use it to implement high quality music, sounds and ingame voice chat.

I've noticed that you are using FMOD files for sound and the WEBM format for your in-game videos.
Rumour has it that DOTA2 already makes use of SILK for their ingame voice chat and commentator voices in spectator mode.

There are many more examples of Opus usage (Skype will use it, TeamSpeak uses it, Mumble uses it, Firefox already supports it, Chrome too) and lots of media players. There are many more to come.
I'm excited!

So, what do you think about Opus?


Links:
Official Opus site with listening samples
Wikipedia - Opus audio format
Next generation audio - CELT design overview

And finally a Demo on YouTube:
Go to 28:00 for the Demo

Jean-Marc Valin seems not to be accustomed to speaking in front of audiences so he is clearing his throat. A LOT.
Off Topic Disagree 3Agree 1Awesome

Comments

  • shonanshonan Join Date: 2013-01-28 Member: 182562Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    All source games use SILK AFAIK. If this is better than the current codec, why not?
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  • GISPGISP Battle Gorge Denmark Join Date: 2004-03-20 Member: 27460Members, Playtest Lead, Forum Moderators, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Squad Five Gold, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Gold, Subnautica Playtester, Forum staff
    shonan wrote: »
    All source games use SILK AFAIK. If this is better than the current codec, why not?
    NS2 isnt a source game. UWE created there own engine called Spark. :)

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  • cooliticcoolitic Right behind you Join Date: 2013-04-02 Member: 184609Members
    Yeah what he said. Ogg vorbis is not aging and is a continuing open-source project that offers great quality and small file sizes.

    There is no need for this because the audio isnt played from the server. (AFAIK)\

    Useless topic IMO.
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  • cooliticcoolitic Right behind you Join Date: 2013-04-02 Member: 184609Members
    Also I believe that chart is false and still, vorbis performs very well as lossy format/
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  • VetinariVetinari Join Date: 2013-07-23 Member: 186325Members, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver
    coolitic wrote: »
    Yeah what he said. Ogg vorbis is not aging and is a continuing open-source project that offers great quality and small file sizes.

    There is no need for this because the audio isnt played from the server. (AFAIK)\

    Useless topic IMO.

    And it's named after Discworld characters. So that's a good thing.
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  • HamletHamlet Join Date: 2008-08-17 Member: 64837Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited September 2013
    Initial release dates
    MP3: 1995
    Vorbis: 2000
    Opus: 2012

    Although MP3 is older than some NS2 players, it's still the most used audio codec on the planet.
    Vorbis never caught on and I guess nobody at Xiph will continue to use it because there is a better and newer codec around.

    I'd like to see it succeed as the new internet audio standard.
    Thing is, due to Opus' hybrid nature it's good for hi-quality music just as well as speech.
    Those 2 areas are equally relevant for game developers, because multiplayer games need a good voice codec with low latency for voice transmissions between players and/or commenters (see Dota2) AND a good codec for playing their (hopefully high-quality) ingame music and sounds.
    Opus got both covered and is free to use on top.
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  • IeptBarakatIeptBarakat The most difficult name to speak ingame. Join Date: 2009-07-10 Member: 68107Members, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow
    If I remember correctly.. NS2 did use SILK for voice communication for a build, but it turned out too be too resource heavy and they went with what they have now.

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  • HamletHamlet Join Date: 2008-08-17 Member: 64837Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited February 2014
    In July, there was a big update to version 1.1 beta
    Developers set up a neat new demo page: http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/opus/demo3.shtml
    (Check it out! It's fun :D)

    @IeptBarakat
    Xiph also states that the speed and effiency of the coding/decoding has been significantly improved:
    Going into detailed analysis of 1.1's speed improvements could fill an entire demo, but it's worth mentioning it's not just a little bit faster.
    For example, 64kbit/sec stereo decode on ARM processors is currently 74% faster (42% less time) and encode is 27% faster (21% less time).

    And we haven't even started using NEON yet.
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