This is one in a series about trends in codecs. Dr. Deepen Sinha is CEO of ATC Labs. Steve Uckerman is assistant director of engineering for New York Public Radio.

Audio codecs play a crucial role in modern radio broadcasting, be it FM, satellite, digital HD or streaming. Codecs are used to bring live content from remote contributors, to provide connectivity to field reporters and to distribute real-time studio content from a central location to remote broadcast infrastructures and transmitters.

With the improved reliability of IP networks, including 5G mobile data connections, broadcasters are increasingly relying on IP connectivity between their codecs.

Once favored for its predictable traffic behavior and carrier-enforced QoS mechanisms, MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) networks were historically deployed by larger broadcasters for STL and wide-area content distribution.

However, declining costs, increased availability of high-capacity public internet services and the maturation of SD-WAN and point-to-point Ethernet technologies have driven a measurable shift away from MPLS.

These developments now allow smaller broadcasters to leverage many of the same network architectures and resiliency strategies previously available only to large operators, while benefiting from faster deployment, significantly lower recurring costs and greater flexibility for remote contribution, redundancy and geographically diverse connectivity.

In the same spirit of improving broadcast flexibility, software codecs now play an increasingly vital role for broadcasters.

Broadcast IP codecs generally fall into three categories: hardware codecs, app-based codecs and software-based IP codecs, commonly referred to as SoftCodecs.

Several compelling use-case scenarios exist for SoftCodecs. For example, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, broadcast workflows changed almost overnight as operational needs drove the adoption of remote contribution solutions for call screeners, content editors, producers and on-air hosts. Many of these contributors now operate from home-based studios or distributed production environments.

In this context, SoftCodecs capable of being deployed instantaneously to remote contributors across the country (or even across the globe) via downloadable email or web links have emerged as a highly attractive option.

There is now no shortage of talent in far-flung locations, and access to a larger pool of distributed and emerging contributors (worldwide) is inherently attractive to broadcasters. This is particularly true for smaller broadcasters, as it helps level the playing field when confronted with challenges related to providing new, engaging talent and content to their listeners.

SoftCodecs can also significantly improve flexibility in audio distribution. This flexibility includes simplified maintenance and repairs, where recovery simply means nothing more than reinstalling the SoftCodec on a new PC, workstation or tablet.

SoftCodecs also enable faster provisioning of connectivity to new sites and support opportunistic sharing of content with other groups and broadcasters. Additionally, there are potential cost advantages when same content must be distributed to multiple remote sites, as existing computer and audio hardware already deployed at transmitter sites can often be reused.

Finally, SoftCodecs can serve as effective backup STLs in audio distribution scenarios.

Key questions

Given the attractiveness of SoftCodecs, three obvious questions often come to a broadcaster’s mind before taking the plunge: Is the audio quality good enough for my broadcast? Is the connectivity reliable? And is the latency low enough to support two-way communication in a remote contribution scenario?

Fortunately, the answer to all these three questions is in the affirmative with the latest products available in the marketplace, which include ATC Labs’ ALCO Professional SoftCodec, successfully deployed by New York Public Radio, among other broadcasters.

If we examine the performance criteria noted above one by one, audio quality is an area where a properly engineered SoftCodec begins to stand out. By leveraging the latest audio compression technologies and continuously updating the underlying algorithms with current know-how, SoftCodecs can avoid obsolescence in terms of available algorithmic options.

Looking next at connection reliability, modern SoftCodecs such as ALCO Professional employ advanced error concealment techniques, redundant transport technologies and auto-re-connect, to offer connection reliability on par with hardware codecs.

End-to-end audio latency was once an area where hardware codecs had the clear advantage. As SoftCodecs have evolved and matured, this gap has substantially narrowed. Modern SoftCodecs are perfectly suited for real-time applications such as remote-hosted talk show mix-minus, DAW audio for real-time content editing, and producer IFB/direction between geographically separated hosts, contributors and control rooms.

Some of the due diligence that a broadcaster should employ when choosing a SoftCodec includes verifying that the codec incorporates a broadcast-grade audio compression algorithm, such as fully quality optimized Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) algorithm.

Codecs that offer direct peer-to-peer connectivity are desirable as they typically exhibit lower latency and greater robustness against potential security breaches associated with centralized servers. Reliable connectivity using SIP protocols and effective NAT traversal are also important to ensure smooth operation with both existing and newly configured remote sites.

The SoftCodec vendor should provide clear instructions regarding any firewall port configurations required at the broadcaster’s site to ensure connectivity. Available two-way connectivity can facilitate live on-air interactions and is also convenient for monitoring and control.

Licensing models are another important aspect of SoftCodec deployments. To ensure maximum flexibility, remote contributors and sites should be able to quickly download and install the SoftCodec using FTP access or download links forwarded to them; it then becomes important that the broadcast group can flexibly assign licenses or user IDs from its purchased pool.

Further, all licenses belonging to a broadcast group should reside within a sandboxed, privacy-preserving enclave so that their availability and status are visible only to the group and not to thousands of other users of shared connectivity servers. In this context, it is also desirable that short-term, opportunistic license assignments are supported, for example through an email-based invitation. A central monitoring capability for designated administrators of the broadcast group, such as through secure monitoring web pages, could be considered the icing on the cake.

In conclusion, in the informed view of the authors, SoftCodecs will play an increasingly important and exciting role in making the radio broadcast space broader, more flexible, more accessible and more diverse, and therefore more compelling for listeners.

Info: www.atc-labs.com

Read more on this topic in the free ebook “Trends in Codecs 2026.”

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