audio/mad - The NetBSD Packages Collection

MAD (libmad) is a high-quality MPEG audio decoder. It currently
supports MPEG-1 and the MPEG-2 extension to Lower Sampling Frequencies,
as well as the so-called MPEG 2.5 format. All three audio layers
(Layer I, Layer II, and Layer III a.k.a. MP3) are fully implemented.

MAD does not yet support MPEG-2 multichannel audio (although it
should be backward compatible with such streams) nor does it
currently support AAC.

MAD has the following special features:

  - 24-bit PCM output
  - 100% fixed-point (integer) computation
  - completely new implementation based on the ISO/IEC standards
  - distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL)

Because MAD provides full 24-bit PCM output, applications using
MAD are able to produce high quality audio. Even when the output
device supports only 16-bit PCM, applications can use the extra
resolution to increase the audible dynamic range through the use
of dithering or noise shaping.