Freesound Forums
Playback quality
Started September 14th, 2017 · 7 replies · Latest reply by strangely_gnarled 7 years, 2 months ago
Hey peeps,
What is the streaming quality of the files? I see that Freesound processes uploading sounds and I believe this is about creating a low quality version for easier playback on browsers right? If so, then what is the quality of this copy?
Because I felt there were a very audible differences between the original wav file and streamed version on Freesound. There are also compression artifacts.
I record 24bit 192Khz, edit in Audition and export 24bit 96Khz FLAC and then upload to Freesound.
Wow.. that's actually very low. Hey Freesound, while you are there, why don't you drop it to 8bit so that we can have some nostalgia?
Jokes aside, I think 16bit - 44.1Khz (192Kbps) should be minimum. I migrated from Soundcloud to here for better audio quality but that's disappointing to say the least.
DunyaninSesleri wrote:
Wow.. that's actually very low. Hey Freesound, while you are there, why don't you drop it to 8bit so that we can have some nostalgia?Jokes aside, I think 16bit - 44.1Khz (192Kbps) should be minimum. I migrated from Soundcloud to here for better audio quality but that's disappointing to say the least.
That would imply huge load + traffic, in my opinion not worth the effort just to get a better 'draft'. Personally, I rarely listen to previews, as a glance at the spectral profile is faster (for background noise, dynamics, and all). The spectral view is handy, give it a go
D
I remember freesound v1 where the preview quality was much lower than it is now. In some ways I was worried when the quality went up. I know that many people search the web, including freesound and think nothing of recording the previews they find without signing up and downloading, and with no regard for the copyright obligations. I would bet for every official download there are now many more stolen copies of FS samples than there used to be. I noticed than when we went from FS1 to FS2 downloads of my sounds dropped from 5-15 a day to 1-2 a day instantly, although I'm sure most of that was due to changes in the search algorithm - which removed the disadvantage for newer uploads over popular older uploads. (I'm not complaining, as long as downloaders are still finding what they want.)
I think the current streaming quality is fine for determining if a sample has promise. Downloading for for that final assessment doesn't seem like too much inconvenience to me. I bet 90% of downloads don't ever get used anyway, and 99% of those are rejected for reasons like wrong ambience, poor noise or distortion, "hmmm.. timbre isn't quite what I was looking for!" rather than the absolute audio quality obtained by high bitrates.
It's a big plus for Freesound that all proper downloads by registered users are EXACTLY what the author created - no re-coding at all. Preview streaming doesn't change that.
Just my thoughts,
Wibby
Yeah I'm glad it works for you but please keep in mind that usage scenarios for Freesound is not always like yours. For me things are a bit different. I redirect my followers from YouTube to Freesound saying "You can listen to higher quality version here". By that time they have already listened to much better quality audio on YouTube (16 bit, 44.1Khz, 192Kbps AAC) and their expectation is to stream a higher quality one. So I would expect no less than full quality FLAC streaming. Today's not like 2000s when people were rocking 56K modems, now mobile has 4.5G and homes have fiber powered brodband connections. FLAC streaming is hardly a thing now.
But downloading is not everybody's cup of tea, users hate waiting, they want to instantly play it and they don't want to clutter their devices with files that they won't use often or they browse on their smartphones which have very limited storage.
I guess I will buy some hosting package and set up a wordpress blog with wav/flac player app to serve my crowd...
Hi, I get your point, but Freesound is not a free streaming service. It's whole mission is to let creative sound recordists and producers get there stuff out under one or another CC licenses to other creative musicians/producers/artists/audiologists/students to use in their creations. It is not and never was and probably never will be a streaming service. It's an Academic tool designed to promote knowledge and creativity and while I for one think it good to get public exposure on channels like Youtube I would rather it's culture retained it's existing core values.
Wibby.