What tools exist to make an MP3 seamlessly loop?

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I learned here that the documentation says that there are supposedly tools to make MP3s seamlessly loop. What are they (on OS X)? I've never heard about this sort of thing before and Googling hasn't found me anything.

Answer 1

Answer by Noise crime · Oct 13, 2010 at 09:46 AM

Not sure of specific tools as such, but I believe the issue with seamless looping of MP3 is mainly due to padding silence to frames, where a frame is a fixed number of samples (1152 acording to the page below ) and a few other idiosyncrasies.

This Make Gapless MP3 page should help. The important information is at the bottom of the page (Theory of operation), though I noticed some programs are mentioned at the start.

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michael-bartnett · Aug 05, 2012 at 04:32 AM 0

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On that page, compuphase offers up their own mp3loop tool. It's a win32 console app, so you need a windows environment to run it, but it's worth it. I've used this to make gapless looped synchronized music tracks in Flash pre-v10 and sampleDataEvent. It's a good tool.

Answer 2

Answer by broodley · Dec 10, 2010 at 01:29 AM

The sad answer seems to be that none of these tools create seamless mp3 loops, nor is there any information on the web about any such tools. SoundForge will pad with both encoder delay and 1152 samples at beginning and end. Audacity adds 1152 samples to the beginning, Logic to the end. I even tried the solution suggested through CompuPhase using their MP3Loop utility and that pads the beginning with 1152 samples of silence. It seems the only non-hack solution would be for Unity to handle the resampling of the audio files when compressing them, or to start compressed sound playback at 1153 samples into the audio file (which definitely qualifies as a horrible hack). If anyone hears of a viable working solution, please let us know!

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Answer 3

Answer by DannyJax.du · Oct 13, 2010 at 03:10 AM

Free Audacity I use Sony Soundforge which I got included in the Sony Video Vegas Platinum Pro Pack for about $100. It includes a video editor, Audio Editor, DVD Architect and Cinescore. Cinescore is no longer sold by Sony, not as a stand alone or included in any of their packages. (Except any lingering 9.0 versions of the Platinum Pro Pack.

Now those software can be used to create seamless loop sound tracks, but you have to create it using the software. I am not aware of anything you can click and choose nighttime, crickets, running creek water, light breeze, 30 seconds and select Endless Loop and then render.

It might exists or may be in the making somewhere on the web. Try Googling Endless Loop generator.

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Answer 4

Answer by _Petroz · Nov 13, 2010 at 06:18 AM

It's worth mentioning that FMOD Soundbank Generator (FSBank) makes seamless looping MP3s for use in FMOD (Unity's sound engine). I'm not sure if Unity supports the FSB format, but if it doesn't it probably should since it offers better performance than loose files.

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Answer 5

Answer by Berg · Jun 06, 2012 at 10:01 PM

Yes it's possible, here's how to do it under windows: http://www.compuphase.com/mp3/mp3loops.htm

I'm not aware of a mac alternative..

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What tools exist to make an MP3 seamlessly loop?

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