What is Opus?
Opus is a versatile audio codec that excels at all bitrates, from low-bitrate speech to high-fidelity music. It combines technologies from Skype's SILK codec and Xiph.Org's CELT codec.
Key Benefits of Opus
- Best quality at all bitrates
- Ultra-low latency for real-time applications
- Seamlessly handles speech and music
- Completely royalty-free
- IETF standard (RFC 6716)
Opus vs MP3
At typical bitrates, Opus dramatically outperforms MP3:
- 64 kbps Opus sounds like 128 kbps MP3
- 96 kbps Opus is nearly transparent
- At low bitrates, Opus is far superior for speech
Where Opus is Used
- Discord, Zoom, Teams (voice chat)
- WhatsApp, Telegram (voice messages)
- WebRTC (browser communication)
- Video game voice chat
- Podcast storage optimization
Technical Features
- Bitrate range: 6 kbps to 510 kbps
- Sample rates: 8 kHz to 48 kHz
- Channels: Mono to 255 channels
- Latency: As low as 2.5ms