Why xHE-AAC is being embraced at Meta
Article Summary
Zack Cohen from Meta reveals how they solved a problem billions of users face daily: constantly adjusting volume while scrolling through Reels and Stories. The solution? A next-gen audio codec that's already live.
Meta's engineering team deployed xHE-AAC across Facebook and Instagram to handle hundreds of millions of daily uploads with wildly inconsistent audio levels. This latest MPEG AAC codec brings intelligent loudness management and adaptive streaming to mobile at scale.
Key Takeaways
- Automatic loudness normalization eliminates volume jumping between videos
- Adaptive bit rate audio switches quality seamlessly during playback
- Two-pass encoding preserves creator intent while standardizing playback
- Already live on iOS 13+ and Android 9+ for Reels and Stories
Meta reduced playback stalls on Facebook Android by enabling seamless audio quality switching that adapts to network conditions without interrupting playback.
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This page summarizes “Why xHE-AAC is being embraced at Meta” by Meta, published Apr 11, 2023. All credit for the original work goes to the authors.
