The audio engine which powers AJ Audio has changed
From version 2.1.1, this app now uses libVLC as the core audio engine. As we know, VLC is the Swiss army knife of media players. Upgrading to this engine allows AJ Audio to support almost all music formats. Previously, this app was powered by FMOD, which was limited to 5 common formats but lacked support for Apple Codecs.
New formats
- MP3
- AAC
- FLAC
- WMA
- ALAC
- AIFF
- OGG
- M4A
- OPUS
- M3U
- M3U8
- MPD
What else is different?
Loading tracks has increased up to 80%. This applies to local files, Jellyfin media, and Internet Radio streams (even the newly supported .m3u8)
- Previously, streaming unsupported media from your Jellyfin server would transcode the file to an acceptable format. This is no longer required, and the file is streamed natively without modification
Playing Internet Radio
Previously, if you played a radio station, the app would freeze for a second or so while the connection was established. This is no longer the case - radio streams are now loaded the same way that normal media is
Changes to settings
The "Direct Streaming" and "Download & Play" options have been removed from the settings page as these are no longer required. These settings previously added compatibility for unsupported formats.
There is a new setting under the Playback section in the settings, titled "Audio API" where you have 2 APIs to choose from:
- Windows Multimedia Device (mmdevice)
- DirectSound (directsound)
The Windows Multimedia Device is the default, modern API for Windows 10 and Windows 11. However, this API currently does not allow cross-fading.
The DirectSound is a legacy API which enables crossfading. However, changing output device is not available with this setting. This should not affect most users, as you can simply change your default output device on Windows which will accommodate this. If you want cross-fading, you should use this API instead.
Importing .m3u playlists, or .m3u8 (hls) streams
You can click Create > Add file to library. The file selection window will now allow these file types
Reading/writing album art & ID3 tags for .m4a, .aac, etc.
AJ Audio has been updated to accommodate the new supported file types. You can write ID3 tags, new album art, etc. just like you can for the traditionally supported formats