HighQuality MPEG audio decoder (24-bit output).

[forart.eu]

MAD: MPEG Audio Decoder

MAD is a high-quality MPEG audio decoder. It currently supports MPEG-1 and the MPEG-2 extension to lower sampling frequencies, as well as the de facto MPEG 2.5 format. All three audio layers — Layer I, Layer II, and Layer III (i.e. MP3) — are fully implemented.

MAD does not yet support MPEG-2 multichannel audio (although it should be backward compatible with such streams) nor does it currently support AAC.

MAD has the following special features:

• 24-bit PCM output
• 100% fixed-point (integer) computation
• completely new implementation based on the ISO/IEC standards
• available under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL)

Because MAD provides full 24-bit PCM output, applications using MAD are able to produce exceptionally high quality audio. Even when the output device supports only 16-bit PCM, applications can use the extra resolution to increase the audible dynamic range through the use of dithering or noise shaping.

​http://www.underbit.com/products/mad/

[stargatefan]

My thought on this issue is that its better to just go ahead and decimate to 16 bit , namely becuase 90% of consumer hardware only outputs 16 bit file depths anyways. Very few 24 bit interfaces on the market. Support for those will be long in comming at the rates of progress wheras bit decimation is far easier to achieve with a quick dirty algorythm and the effect on the sound quality is at best imperceptual.

[Premislaus]

It may be useful...

[pulkomandy]

I'm surprised that it uses fixed-point, wouldn't using the FPU be better for quality (increasing both range and precision in most cases)?

[waddlesplash]

It hasn't been updated since 2004 and does not even support MPEG2, so that's not very useful.