LAME support for mp3 format?

[peircej]

Since mp3 patents have apparently now expired (2017) I guess there isn't a legal issue with using LAME to decode mp3 files anymore? Is it worth looking into here or just waiting for libsndfile to support mp3 natively?

[bastibe]

I think it would be best to integrate LAME into libsndfile first, and then add the (minor) modifications necessary to support it here.

[oplatek]

Hi @bastibe, FYI: libsndfile/libsndfile#701 (reply in thread) MP3 is now supported.

[bastibe]

That's fantastic news! And they now provide precompiled binaries for Windows, too!

But as far as I can tell, MP3 support is not yet included in a tagged release, right? I'll update soundfile as soon as MP3 support is officially released.

In the meantime, would (any of) you be interested in contributing a pull request that adds MP3 support to soundfile?

[oplatek]

Hi @bastibe!

In the meantime, would (any of) you be interested in contributing a pull request that adds MP3 support to soundfile?

1. What is the amount of work we talk about?
2. Is there an example to be followed?

[bastibe]

Probably not a ton of work. Mostly adding the new _formats, _subtypes, _default_subtypes (copy from the libsndfile header), and making sure everything still works as expected. Then perhaps adding a test, and a note to the README. If all goes well, three new lines in the aforementioned variables is all the code change required to make it work.

Once it is confirmed working and libsndfile tags a new release, I can update the _soundfile_data repo with current binaries and release a new version of soundfile.

[sammlapp]

Any updates here? If nobody is working on this, I might take a crack at it.

[bastibe]

No update. We are still waiting for libsndfile to ship their MP3 support.

[SBrandeis]

Hello @bastibe , @oplatek & @sammlapp !
It looks like libsndfile has released MPEG support in March 2022: https://github.com/libsndfile/libsndfile/releases/tag/1.1.0

EDIT: Just saw there is already an open PR for this: #335
Sorry for the noisy ping 😓