Open Interface North America (OINA), the Seattle-based Bluetooth technologies company, announced today plans to release a new lossless codec for stereo audio known as SOUNDabout Lossless.

Bluetooth A2DP audio has traditionally been "lossy," using compression algorithms that selectively discard information to make the streaming file more manageable. Bluetooth converts all sources files into its Subband Codec, known as SBC. Anything approaching "white noise," such as cymbals, can sound distorted when using the SBC format.

Although Bluetooth has always had the bandwidth to deliver high-quality audio, no codec up until now has been created that meets both the power consumption and low latency requirements necessary for a quality audio transmission. SOUNDabout Lossless is distinguished by its low latency, symmetric low complexity, and state of the art compression ratios.

Perfect Reproduction - Until now Bluetooth audio streaming has used compression algorithms that selectively discard information, resulting in a loss in audio quality. SOUNDabout Lossless uses a proprietary, patent-pending lossless compression technique that retains all of the audio information. A decompressed audio stream is bit-for-bit identical to the original.

Low Latency - Low latency is critical for maintaining "lip-synch"; matching lip movements to the sound of the voice. When listening to audio on a movie or video clip, the audio should be no more than 40 milliseconds behind the video. SOUNDabout Lossless has an encoding latency under 10 milliseconds in all encoding modes, going as low as 2 milliseconds, allowing for highly accurate synchronization of sound and picture.

Symmetric Low Complexity - Low complexity codecs use less computing power and are necessary on mobile devices for which long battery life is critical. SOUNDabout Lossless uses a highly efficient algorithm that requires only 20MIPS for either encode or decode. This high-performance enables real-time transcoding from other formats.

State of the art Compression Ratios - The compression achieved by lossless codecs depends greatly on the audio content. Some audio tracks can be compressed by only 30% while others can be compressed by 60% or more. Compression ratios for SOUNDabout Lossless are comparable with lossless codecs such as ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) and FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec), neither of which achieves low-latency.

SOUNDabout Lossless is designed for use in mobile phones, MP3 players, wireless headsets and headphones, speakers, car stereo systems and other Bluetooth A2DP implementations. While initially targeted to Bluetooth, SOUNDabout Lossless is radio agnostic.