TwinVQ
Encyclopedia
TwinVQ is an audio compression
technique developed by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) Human Interface Laboratories (now Cyber Space Laboratories) in 1994. The compression technique has been used in both standardized and proprietary designs.
Audio (MPEG-4 Part 3
), TwinVQ is an audio codec
optimized for audio coding at ultra low bitrates around 8 kbit/s.
TwinVQ is one of the object types defined in MPEG-4 Audio, published as subpart 4 of ISO/IEC
14496-3 (for the first time in 1999 - a.k.a. MPEG-4 Audio version 1). This object type is based on a general audio transform coding scheme which is integrated with the AAC coding frame work, a spectral flattening module, and a weighted interleave vector quantization
module. This scheme reportedly has high coding gain for low bit rate and potential robustness against channel errors and packet loss, since it does not use any variable length coding and adaptive bit allocation. It supports bitrate scalability, both by means of layered TwinVQ coding and in combination with the scalable AAC.
Note that some commercialized products such as Metasound (Voxware), SoundVQ (Yamaha), and SolidAudio (Hagiwara) are also based on the TwinVQ technology, but the configurations are different from the MPEG-4 TwinVQ.
audio compression format called TwinVQ was developed by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) (in NTT's Human Interface Laboratories) and marketed by Yamaha under the name SoundVQ. The NTT also offered a TwinVQ demonstration software for non-commercial purposes - NTT TwinVQ Encoder and TwinVQ Player, encoder API, decoder API and header file format. The filename extension
is .vqf.
TwinVQ uses Twin vector quantization
. The proprietary TwinVQ codec supports constant bit rate encoding
at 80, 96, 112, 128, 160 and 192 kbit/s. It was claimed that TwinVQ files are about 30 to 35% smaller than MP3
files of adequate quality. For example, a 96 kbit/s TwinVQ file allegedly has roughly the same quality as a 128 kbit/s MP3 file. The higher quality is achieved at the cost of higher processor usage.
Yamaha marketed TwinVQ as an alternative to MP3, but the format never became very popular. This could be attributed to the proprietary nature of the format—third party software was scarce and there was no hardware support. Also the encoding was extremely slow and there was not much music available in TwinVQ format. As other MP3 alternatives emerged, TwinVQ quickly became obsolete.
The proprietary version of TwinVQ can be also used for speech compression
. Compression technology specifically designed to handle voice compression was published by NTT. The NTT TwinVQ implementation supported sampling frequencies from 8 kHz or 11.025 kHz and bit rate
from 8 kbit/s.
project and decoding of vqf files is supported by the open-source libavcodec
library, which makes it supported in, for example, VLC media player
. NTT offered on its website its own player and encoder for download, old versions of Nero Burning ROM
were able to encode to TwinVQ, and Winamp
supports TwinVQ playback via a pluginhttp://www.winamp.com/plugin/vqf-input-plugin-v1-for-winamp/13637. Some other software that supports TwinVQ but no longer is maintained includes Yamaha's encoder and player and K-Jöfol audio player.
For users of GNU/Linux or similar systems, there is an XMMS plugin.
Some CD-ripping software also supports encoding .vqf files, for instance FairStars CD Ripper.
Audio compression
Audio compression may refer to:*Audio compression , a type of lossy compression in which the amount of data in a recorded waveform is reduced for transmission with some loss of quality, used in CD and MP3 encoding, Internet radio, and the like...
technique developed by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) Human Interface Laboratories (now Cyber Space Laboratories) in 1994. The compression technique has been used in both standardized and proprietary designs.
TwinVQ in MPEG-4
In the context of the MPEG-4MPEG-4
MPEG-4 is a method of defining compression of audio and visual digital data. It was introduced in late 1998 and designated a standard for a group of audio and video coding formats and related technology agreed upon by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group under the formal standard ISO/IEC...
Audio (MPEG-4 Part 3
MPEG-4 Part 3
MPEG-4 Part 3 or MPEG-4 Audio is the third part of the ISO/IEC MPEG-4 international standard developed by Moving Picture Experts Group. It specifies audio coding methods...
), TwinVQ is an audio codec
Codec
A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec is a portmanteau of "compressor-decompressor" or, more commonly, "coder-decoder"...
optimized for audio coding at ultra low bitrates around 8 kbit/s.
TwinVQ is one of the object types defined in MPEG-4 Audio, published as subpart 4 of ISO/IEC
International Electrotechnical Commission
The International Electrotechnical Commission is a non-profit, non-governmental international standards organization that prepares and publishes International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies – collectively known as "electrotechnology"...
14496-3 (for the first time in 1999 - a.k.a. MPEG-4 Audio version 1). This object type is based on a general audio transform coding scheme which is integrated with the AAC coding frame work, a spectral flattening module, and a weighted interleave vector quantization
Vector quantization
Vector quantization is a classical quantization technique from signal processing which allows the modeling of probability density functions by the distribution of prototype vectors. It was originally used for data compression. It works by dividing a large set of points into groups having...
module. This scheme reportedly has high coding gain for low bit rate and potential robustness against channel errors and packet loss, since it does not use any variable length coding and adaptive bit allocation. It supports bitrate scalability, both by means of layered TwinVQ coding and in combination with the scalable AAC.
Note that some commercialized products such as Metasound (Voxware), SoundVQ (Yamaha), and SolidAudio (Hagiwara) are also based on the TwinVQ technology, but the configurations are different from the MPEG-4 TwinVQ.
TwinVQ as a proprietary audio format
A proprietaryProprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...
audio compression format called TwinVQ was developed by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) (in NTT's Human Interface Laboratories) and marketed by Yamaha under the name SoundVQ. The NTT also offered a TwinVQ demonstration software for non-commercial purposes - NTT TwinVQ Encoder and TwinVQ Player, encoder API, decoder API and header file format. The filename extension
Filename extension
A filename extension is a suffix to the name of a computer file applied to indicate the encoding of its contents or usage....
is .vqf.
TwinVQ uses Twin vector quantization
Twin vector quantization
In data compression, twin vector quantization is related to vector quantization, but the speed of the quantization is doubled by the secondary vector analyzer.By using a subdimensional vector space useless hyperspace will be destroyed in the process....
. The proprietary TwinVQ codec supports constant bit rate encoding
Code
A code is a rule for converting a piece of information into another form or representation , not necessarily of the same type....
at 80, 96, 112, 128, 160 and 192 kbit/s. It was claimed that TwinVQ files are about 30 to 35% smaller than MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
files of adequate quality. For example, a 96 kbit/s TwinVQ file allegedly has roughly the same quality as a 128 kbit/s MP3 file. The higher quality is achieved at the cost of higher processor usage.
Yamaha marketed TwinVQ as an alternative to MP3, but the format never became very popular. This could be attributed to the proprietary nature of the format—third party software was scarce and there was no hardware support. Also the encoding was extremely slow and there was not much music available in TwinVQ format. As other MP3 alternatives emerged, TwinVQ quickly became obsolete.
The proprietary version of TwinVQ can be also used for speech compression
Speech compression
Speech compression may mean different things:*Speech encoding refers to compression for transmission or storage, possibly to an unintelligible state, with decompression used prior to playback....
. Compression technology specifically designed to handle voice compression was published by NTT. The NTT TwinVQ implementation supported sampling frequencies from 8 kHz or 11.025 kHz and bit rate
Bit rate
In telecommunications and computing, bit rate is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time....
from 8 kbit/s.
Software support
The format was reverse-engineered in 2009 by the FFmpegFFmpeg
FFmpeg is a free software project that produces libraries and programs for handling multimedia data. The most notable parts of FFmpeg are libavcodec, an audio/video codec library used by several other projects, libavformat, an audio/video container mux and demux library, and the ffmpeg command line...
project and decoding of vqf files is supported by the open-source libavcodec
Libavcodec
libavcodec is a free software/open source LGPL-licensed library of codecs for encoding and decoding video and audio data. Same name but incompatible libraries are provided from both FFmpeg project and Libav project....
library, which makes it supported in, for example, VLC media player
VLC media player
VLC media player is a free and open source media player and multimedia framework written by the VideoLAN project.VLC is a portable multimedia player, encoder, and streamer supporting many audio and video codecs and file formats as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It is able to...
. NTT offered on its website its own player and encoder for download, old versions of Nero Burning ROM
Nero Burning ROM
Nero Multimedia Suite is a popular software suite for Microsoft Windows by Nero AG . Version 10 of this product was released in April 2010.- Included products :The following applications are included in Nero 11 :Disc authoring...
were able to encode to TwinVQ, and Winamp
Winamp
Winamp is a media player for Windows-based PCs and Android devices, written by Nullsoft, now a subsidiary of AOL. It is proprietary freeware/shareware, multi-format, extensible with plug-ins and skins, and is noted for its graphical sound visualization, playlist, and media library features.Winamp...
supports TwinVQ playback via a pluginhttp://www.winamp.com/plugin/vqf-input-plugin-v1-for-winamp/13637. Some other software that supports TwinVQ but no longer is maintained includes Yamaha's encoder and player and K-Jöfol audio player.
For users of GNU/Linux or similar systems, there is an XMMS plugin.
Some CD-ripping software also supports encoding .vqf files, for instance FairStars CD Ripper.
External links
- MPEG-4 Audio FAQ - ISO (1998)
- MPEG-4 Natural Audio Coding - scalability in MPEG-4 natural audio, TwinVQ, Audio profiles and levels
- What Is VQF? - an article on the historical VQF website (2000)
- VQF on Hydrogenaudio Knowledgebase (2006)
- The historical NTT TwinVQ website - by Nippon Telephone and Telegraph (2002), (2008)
- Informations about TwinVQ on MP3' Tech (2001) (2002-07-12)
- Winamp VQF Plugin (2000-07-27)