JavaScript Decoder Brings High-Quality Audio to the Web

HTML5′s native audio and video tools promise to eventually make it possible to create sophisticated audio and video editing apps that run in the browser. Unfortunately much of that promise has thus far been marred by a battle over audio and video codecs. Right now what works in one browser on one operating system will not necessarily work on another.

Until the codec battle plays itself out, developers looking to build native HTML audio apps are in a bit of a bind. One way around the problem is to bypass the browser and provide your own decoder.
That’s exactly what the developers at Official.fm Labs have been hard at work doing. The latest impressive release is FLAC.js, a FLAC audio decoder written in pure JavaScript. FLAC.js joins the group’s earlier efforts, which include decoders for MP3, AAC and ALAC.

Used in conjunction with the nascent Web Audio API, the new FLAC decoder means you could serve up high-quality, lossless audio to browsers that support HTML5 audio. But beyond just playback the Web Audio API opens the door to a whole new range of audio applications in the browser — think GarageBand on the web or DJ applications.

To that end Official.fm Labs has been working a framework it calls Aurora.js (CoffeeScript) to help make it easier to build audio applications for the web.

If you’d like to experiment with Aurora.js or check out the new FLAC decoder, head on over to Official.fm’s GitHub account where you’ll find all the code available under an MIT license.

Source : webmonkey.com