SNC: A Stem-Native Codec for Efficient Lossless Audio Storage with Adaptive Playback Capabilities
Fuente:
arXiv
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| Natura: | Preprint |
| Pubblicazione: |
2026
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| _version_ | 1866917259179458560 |
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| author | Sufi, Shaad |
| author_facet | Sufi, Shaad |
| contents | Current audio formats present a fundamental trade-off between file size and functionality: lossless formats like FLAC preserve quality but lack adaptability, while lossy formats reduce size at the cost of fidelity and offer no stem-level access.We introduce the Stem-Native Codec (SNC), a novel audio container format that stores music as independently encoded stems plus a low-energy mastering residual. By exploiting the lower information entropy of separated stems compared to mixed audio, SNC achieves a 38.2% file size reduction versus FLAC (7.76 MB vs. 12.55 MB for a 2:18 test track) while maintaining perceptual transparency (STOI = 0.996). Unlike existing formats, SNC enables context-aware adaptive playback, spatial audio rendering, and user-controlled remixing without requiring additional storage. Our experimental validation demonstrates that the stems-plus residual architecture successfully decouples the conflicting requirements of compression efficiency and feature richness, offering a practical path toward next-generation audio distribution systems. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_08148 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | SNC: A Stem-Native Codec for Efficient Lossless Audio Storage with Adaptive Playback Capabilities Sufi, Shaad Sound Audio and Speech Processing Current audio formats present a fundamental trade-off between file size and functionality: lossless formats like FLAC preserve quality but lack adaptability, while lossy formats reduce size at the cost of fidelity and offer no stem-level access.We introduce the Stem-Native Codec (SNC), a novel audio container format that stores music as independently encoded stems plus a low-energy mastering residual. By exploiting the lower information entropy of separated stems compared to mixed audio, SNC achieves a 38.2% file size reduction versus FLAC (7.76 MB vs. 12.55 MB for a 2:18 test track) while maintaining perceptual transparency (STOI = 0.996). Unlike existing formats, SNC enables context-aware adaptive playback, spatial audio rendering, and user-controlled remixing without requiring additional storage. Our experimental validation demonstrates that the stems-plus residual architecture successfully decouples the conflicting requirements of compression efficiency and feature richness, offering a practical path toward next-generation audio distribution systems. |
| title | SNC: A Stem-Native Codec for Efficient Lossless Audio Storage with Adaptive Playback Capabilities |
| topic | Sound Audio and Speech Processing |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.08148 |