Gapless issues with some m4a files after update

[semicolin]

Hi there, running 3.3.10 on Pixel 4a. I noticed that on many of my files in m4a format from iTunes, there is a small audio "hiccup" between gapless files. This does not occur with mp3 files. I'm not exactly sure if this occured in earlier versions or not; I'm a very recent user.

[GoneMAD]

ffmpeg is used for m4a decoding in 3.3.x, so i have no control over gapless issues. www.ffmpeg.org

All the m4a gapless files i've tested with do not have any gaps

in general there is no way to satisfy all users on this topic.. previous m4a decoder had gapless issues that the switch to ffmpeg fixed, so its not surprising that some previously gapless files now have issues. Feel free to email in some of the files with issues so i can put them in my test suite, but as mentioned, there is nothing i can do myself other than update ffmpeg when they release new versions and hope they fix it

edit:

You can download the version with the old decoder here: gonemadmusicplayer.blogspot.com/p/downloads.html (3.2.9)

edit 2:

Be sure you dont have the "use opensl" option enabled. Thats a fallback decoder that likely has gapless issues. The opensl api is quite bad

[semicolin]

Thank you so much for the explanation! That all makes sense. Generally I prefer to encode my own mp3 files from a lossless source anyhow, but I have a few albums that I had previously purchased from iTunes. I can deal with it. Thanks also for the opensl explanation; I was playing around with that but I will leave it off. Really appreciate the quick reply, and I love the app!

[bml]

Aug 14, 2022 14:07:11 GMT -5 GoneMAD said:

ffmpeg is used for m4a decoding in 3.3.x, so i have no control over gapless issues. www.ffmpeg.org

[...]

edit:

You can download the version with the old decoder here: gonemadmusicplayer.blogspot.com/p/downloads.html (3.2.9)

edit 2:

Be sure you dont have the "use opensl" option enabled. Thats a fallback decoder that likely has gapless issues. The opensl api is quite bad

I recently noticed that all my gapless albums have split-second gaps now, probably coinciding with the switch to FFmpeg (I hadn't been on a big "prog rock concept album" kick since the update, I guess). A bit of poking around the internet revealed that for whatever reason FFmpeg does not support the iTunesSMPB tag (and all my files in question are iTunes AAC), so that would explain it.

Interestingly, enabling OpenSL actually handles the gapless better (though OpenSL sucks in myriad other ways rendering it useless overall). And gapless playback for these files works perfectly with the native Samsung media player on my phone, of all things.

This appears to be a known problem with FFmpeg but they don't seem intent on fixing it from what I've seen. Some folks have apparently found patches and workarounds but that's a little beyond my wheelhouse. I suppose I could convert these files to other formats or download the old GMMP release as suggested above, but there are of course drawbacks in either case. I don't imagine it's possible to include the old decoder as an option in current builds? (Apologies if this is a dumb question.)

I understand this is out of the developer's hands; I only mention it here as I figured it might be a useful explanation for folks who encounter the same dilemma.