BubbleUPnP Android always transcodes

[Frazer Young]

Not sure when this started happening, but BubbleUPnP (4.5.0.1) is always trancoding FLAC (or any format) to WAV, locally with FFmpeg on the Pixel 7 phone with Android 16, even when configured not to.

Bug, or a feature?

[Bubblesoft]

On Pixel devices, the app forces FFmpeg decoding for most formats as a workaround to these  devices have buffering issue with stock codecs used in conjunction with http streaming.

So it is a feature. It does not alter audio quality.

[Frazer Young]

Is it the same situation with the Pixel 10? I have one now and BubbleUPnP still transcodes, but every-so-often it will fail to load the next track and do nothing until I exit and restart the app (the affected UPnP/DNLA library drops off the list as well [minimserver] and takes a few minutes to reappear, so unsure if it's the server or the app at fault)

[Bubblesoft]

Yes it is enabled for all Pixel models, even the Pixel 10. Though I must check if current Android 16 still have this issue (which is specific to Pixels). It is probably still present though since it has been for years, and when I last reported it it went nowhere:

https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/394350446

That being said, there is an issue that was reported when going to next/prev tracks very fast (again specific to alternate decoder used on Pixel). I need to investigate it for a fix.

[Bubblesoft]

Confirming that my Pixel 8 Pro running the latest Android 16 QPR2 Beta 2 still have that nasty bug that prevents using stock audio decoders and requires forced FFmpeg decoding.

[Frazer Young]

This isn't the most technical test, but if I open a 24-bit/48kHz FLAC http stream in Firefox on the Pixel 10, there's no such dropouts.

[Bubblesoft]

Firefox likely does not use the Android stock audio decoders. And I do not remember if that issue happens for FLAC. But it does happen for mp3/aac though and 

you can test it with this APK:

http://bubblesoftapps.com/tmp2/PixelHttpAACBug-debug.apk

If after about 30 second of playing the track you hear a small drop out, you have the bug mentioned in the bug report I linked to.

Note that decoding audio with FFmpeg rather than using the stock audio decoders by itself is perfectly fine. It is just that there is an issue on Pixel when going to next/prev track fast that I must look into.

[Frazer Young]

Thanks for the link. Looks like it's still an issue on the Pixel 10, unfortunately.

I'm fine with FFmpeg decoding, but I think it has an effect on battery usage. I can live with it though.

[Bubblesoft]

Using FFmpeg for decoding does not have significant impact on battery usage. Many other audio apps are using it for their decoding.