Audio Formats

Playback Formats

Formats supported for loading into decks, playlists, and the content library:

Format	Extension(s)	Desktop	Cloud	Notes
MP3	.mp3	✅	✅	ID3v2 tags
FLAC	.flac	✅	✅	Vorbis comment tags
WAV	.wav	✅	✅	Broadcast Wave Format (BWF) metadata
OGG Vorbis	.ogg	✅	✅	Vorbis comment tags
AAC / M4A	.m4a, .aac	✅	⚠️	MP4 atom tags; Cloud: container support varies
AIFF	.aiff, .aif	✅	❌	AIFF-C chunk metadata
Opus	.opus	✅	✅	OGG container with Opus comment tags

Broadcast / Streaming Encoders

Formats available for encoding the output stream:

Format	Desktop	Cloud	Typical Bitrates	Use case
MP3 (MPEG-1 Layer III)	✅	✅	128–320 kbps	Maximum compatibility; all players
AAC-LC	✅	❌	96–256 kbps	Better quality per bit than MP3
Opus	✅	✅	48–192 kbps	Best quality per bit; modern players
OGG Vorbis	✅	✅	96–256 kbps	Open source; good browser support
FLAC	✅	❌	~900 kbps	Lossless; archival, not for live streaming
WAV (PCM)	✅	✅	~1,411 kbps	Uncompressed; studio-to-studio use only
Passthrough	✅	❌	Source bitrate	No re-encoding; source must match output format

Recording Formats

Format	Desktop	Cloud	Notes
WAV	✅	✅	Uncompressed; largest files
FLAC	✅	❌	Lossless compression; ~50% smaller than WAV
MP3	✅	❌	Lossy; smallest files
Opus	✅	❌	Lossy; very small at 96 kbps

Codec Comparison

When choosing an output format for your stream:

Codec	Quality at 128 kbps	Browser support	Icecast/Shoutcast	Notes
MP3	Good	Universal	Yes	Safest choice for compatibility
AAC-LC	Excellent	Modern browsers	Yes (Icecast 2.4+)	iTunes, iOS native
Opus	Excellent	Chrome, Firefox, Edge	Icecast only	Not supported in older iOS Safari
OGG Vorbis	Very good	Chrome, Firefox	Yes	Not supported in Safari

Tip

For public internet radio with the widest listener compatibility, use MP3 at 192 kbps. For private studio use or modern web player setups, Opus at 128 kbps gives significantly better audio quality.

Resampling (Desktop)

brūhi Desktop converts all loaded audio files to 48,000 Hz at load time using a 256-tap BlackmanHarris windowed-sinc filter. This means:

• All files are normalized to 48 kHz regardless of their source sample rate (44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 96 kHz, etc.)
• The resampling happens once at load time — not in real time during playback
• There is no quality difference between loading a 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz source file

Tag Formats

brūhi reads the following metadata tag formats when scanning the content library:

Container	Tag format	Tags read
MP3	ID3v2 (v2.3 and v2.4)	Title, Artist, Album, Genre, Year, BPM, Comment
FLAC / OGG / Opus	Vorbis Comment	Title, Artist, Album, Genre, Year, BPM, Comment
M4A / AAC	MP4 atoms (iTunes)	Title, Artist, Album, Genre, Year, BPM, Comment
AIFF	AIFF metadata chunks	Title, Artist, Album

If a file has no embedded tags, the filename is used as the title and the artist is left blank.