Mar 20, 2023 20:00:00

Qualcomm's audio codecs 'aptX' and 'aptX HD' open source

The audio codecs ``

aptX '' and `` aptX HD '', which are used in many devices including Android devices, have been added to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and are now available for anyone to use. Mishaal Rahman, a journalist specializing in Android, explained what it means to release these codecs patented by Qualcomm to developers.

Qualcomm has open sourced its aptX and aptX HD encoders, making them freely available to Android OEMs.
https://old.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/11t16lk/qualcomm_has_open_sourced_its_aptx_and_aptx_hd/

AptX and aptX HD, which were developed to achieve high-quality sound, are supported by Android 8.0 and later devices, and many audio devices claiming to be compatible with aptX have been developed. had to be licensed by Qualcomm for developers to use.

A license fee must be paid for use, and according to a survey by Silicon Laboratories, a fabless semiconductor company that designs many Bluetooth products, as of 2014, the payment was $6,000 (about 790,000 yen) per use. In addition, a fee of $ 1 (about 132 yen) per device was required for up to 10,000 devices.

Developing-Bluetooth-Audio.pdf
(PDF file)

https://www.silabs.com/documents/login/presentations/Developing-Bluetooth-Audio.pdf

It was

confirmed that a patch containing the source code of aptX and aptX HD was submitted to AOSP as of October 2022, and that it was finally open sourced on March 17, 2023. Developers who want to bring aptX and aptX HD into their Android products no longer need to go through Qualcomm as long as they use code from AOSP licensed under the Apache License 2.0 .

I got so bogged down in details that I sat on this story for months, but in the interest of the community, I'd like to confirm that the encoders for @Qualcomm 's proprietary aptX and aptX HD Bluetooth codecs are now part of AOSP .

Here's what this means for Android (1/25)????

— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) March 16, 2023

Qualcomm also said, 'aptX and aptX HD are known around the world as excellent audio codecs for wireless Bluetooth audio, and we have worked closely with both Google and OEMs over the years to develop these codecs for Android-based products, and we are pleased to make these encoders available in AOSP under license from Qualcomm.'

Only aptX and aptX HD will be open sourced, other aptX related products will still require a license from Qualcomm. “Most of you probably already have a device that supports aptX and aptX HD, so you might be wondering why you should care,” Rahman said. , is a change that will have a significant impact on OEMs.'