Audio Codec Implementations

“Fraunhofer's FDK AAC code provides a complete, high-quality audio solution to Android users. Fraunhofer does not only contribute codec code, but also the audio systems knowledge and profound experience as the primary AAC and MP3 inventor.” - Google Inc.

1. Fraunhofer IIS has been working on audio coding for more than 25 years and remains the worldwide respected authority in low bitrate high quality audio coding. Since 2012, the Fraunhofer IIS software implementations of the open ISO MPEG audio codecs AAC, HE-AAC, HE-AACv2 and AAC-ELD have been part of Android and the Android Open Source Project with the FDK AAC Codec Library. In 2018, the new version FDK2 was launched, and brings several new technologies to Android OEMs, service providers and developers, including xHE-AAC, MPEG-D DRC dynamic range control and AAC-ELDv2. Android users benefit from the high audio quality of the Fraunhofer FDK.
2. The Fraunhofer FDK2 AAC Codec Library for Android is a low resource implementation of AAC encoders and decoders available for Android on ARM and x86 processors and is available from the Android source code tree.
   
3. Fraunhofer continues to offer the CDK commercial libraries (see above), available for all major processors and operating systems, including iOS and Android under its standard commercial license. The Fraunhofer CDK software is also available for other MPEG audio standards.
4. AAC is an open MPEG standard and many companies and organizations participated in the technical development and standardization process. A patent licensing program is administered by Via Licensing Alliance. There are currently more than 10 billion licensed devices. Please contact VIA on https://www.via-la.com/ for information on whether your application is already covered by an existing license.
5. xHE-AAC extends the usable stereo bitrate range of AAC: from as low as 12 kbit/s up to 500 kbit/s, enabling subscription video on demand (SVOD) and streaming music distributors to globally offer an improved, more reliable consumer experience over congested networks and particularly in regions where consumers still rely on 2G or 3G connections. In addition, MPEG-D DRC will provide mandatory loudness control for xHE-AAC to playback content at a consistent volume and offers new dynamic range control profiles for listening in noisy situations.
6. AAC-ELD and AAC-ELDv2 provide up to CD-comparable audio quality for communications applications. They avoid many of the problems typically found in speech codecs used today for real-time communications applications such as audio and/or video chat and VoIP. These problems are caused by, for example, background noise, multiple talkers, children’s voices, ring-back tones, music on hold, and music in general. AAC-ELD and AAC-ELDv2 enable new Android communication apps and services to transform everyday communications into an emotional, state-of-the-art rich-media experience.
7. HE-AACv2 and HE-AAC Multichannel for high quality 5.1 surround sound are used in TV, radio and streaming services worldwide.
8. AAC-LC is the high-performance audio codec for excellent audio quality. First used by the Japanese digital broadcasting system ISDB and for music download and mobile music playback, today AAC is used in all state-of-the-art consumer electronics devices.

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