Acoustic fingerprint
Encyclopedia
An acoustic fingerprint is a condensed digital summary, deterministically
generated from an audio signal
, that can be used to identify an audio sample or quickly locate similar items in an audio database.
Practical uses of acoustic fingerprinting include identifying song
s, melodies
, tune
s, or advertisements; sound effect
library management; video file
identification; and much more. Media identification using acoustic fingerprints can be used to monitor the use of specific musical works and performances on radio
broadcast, record
s, CDs and peer-to-peer
networks. This identification has been used in copyright compliance, licensing, and other monetization schemes.
must take into account the perceptual characteristics of the audio. If two files sound alike to the human ear, their acoustic fingerprints should match, even if their binary representations are quite different. Note that acoustic fingerprint matching may be a distance measure between feature vectors, and not a straight binary match. Therefore, acoustic fingerprints are not bitwise
fingerprints
— which must be sensitive to any small changes in the data. Acoustic fingerprints are more analogous to human fingerprints where small variations that are insignificant to the features the fingerprint uses are tolerated. One can imagine the case of a smeared human fingerprint impression which can accurately be matched to another fingerprint sample in a reference database; acoustic fingerprints work in a similar way.
Perceptual characteristics often exploited by audio fingerprints include average zero crossing
rate, estimated tempo
, average spectrum, spectral flatness
, prominent tones across a set of bands, and bandwidth.
Most audio compression techniques (MP3
, WMA
, Vorbis
) will make radical changes to the binary encoding of an audio file, without radically affecting the way it is perceived by the human ear. A robust acoustic fingerprint will allow a recording to be identified after it has gone through such compression, even if the audio quality has been reduced significantly. For use in radio
broadcast monitoring, acoustic fingerprints should also be insensitive to analog transmission artifacts.
On the other hand, a good acoustic fingerprint algorithm must be able to identify a particular master recording
among all the productions of an artist or group. For use as evidence in a court of law, an acoustic fingerprint method must be forensic in its accuracy.
Deterministic algorithm
In computer science, a deterministic algorithm is an algorithm which, in informal terms, behaves predictably. Given a particular input, it will always produce the same output, and the underlying machine will always pass through the same sequence of states...
generated from an audio signal
Audio signal
An audio signal is an analog representation of sound, typically as an electrical voltage. Audio signals may be synthesized directly, or may originate at a transducer such as a microphone, musical instrument pickup, phonograph cartridge, or tape head. Loudspeakers or headphones convert an electrical...
, that can be used to identify an audio sample or quickly locate similar items in an audio database.
Practical uses of acoustic fingerprinting include identifying song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
s, melodies
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
, tune
Tune (folk music)
In folk music, a tune is a short instrumental piece, a melody, often with repeating sections, and usually played a number of times. The most common form for tunes in folk music is AABB, also known as binary form....
s, or advertisements; sound effect
Sound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
library management; video file
Digital video
Digital video is a type of digital recording system that works by using a digital rather than an analog video signal.The terms camera, video camera, and camcorder are used interchangeably in this article.- History :...
identification; and much more. Media identification using acoustic fingerprints can be used to monitor the use of specific musical works and performances on radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
broadcast, record
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s, CDs and peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
networks. This identification has been used in copyright compliance, licensing, and other monetization schemes.
Attributes
A robust acoustic fingerprint algorithmAlgorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...
must take into account the perceptual characteristics of the audio. If two files sound alike to the human ear, their acoustic fingerprints should match, even if their binary representations are quite different. Note that acoustic fingerprint matching may be a distance measure between feature vectors, and not a straight binary match. Therefore, acoustic fingerprints are not bitwise
Bitwise operation
A bitwise operation operates on one or more bit patterns or binary numerals at the level of their individual bits. This is used directly at the digital hardware level as well as in microcode, machine code and certain kinds of high level languages...
fingerprints
Fingerprint (computing)
In computer science, a fingerprinting algorithm is a procedure that maps an arbitrarily large data item to a much shorter bit string, its fingerprint, that uniquely identifies the original data for all practical purposes just as human fingerprints uniquely identify people for practical purposes...
— which must be sensitive to any small changes in the data. Acoustic fingerprints are more analogous to human fingerprints where small variations that are insignificant to the features the fingerprint uses are tolerated. One can imagine the case of a smeared human fingerprint impression which can accurately be matched to another fingerprint sample in a reference database; acoustic fingerprints work in a similar way.
Perceptual characteristics often exploited by audio fingerprints include average zero crossing
Zero crossing
Zero-crossing is a commonly used term in electronics, mathematics, and image processing. In mathematical terms, a "zero-crossing" is a point where the sign of a function changes Zero-crossing is a commonly used term in electronics, mathematics, and image processing. In mathematical terms, a...
rate, estimated tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
, average spectrum, spectral flatness
Spectral flatness
Spectral flatness or tonality coefficient, also known as Wiener entropy, is a measure used in digital signal processing to characterize an audio spectrum. Spectral flatness, measured in decibels, provides a way to quantify how tone-like a sound is, as opposed to being noise-like...
, prominent tones across a set of bands, and bandwidth.
Most audio compression techniques (MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
, WMA
Windows Media Audio
Windows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs...
, Vorbis
Vorbis
Vorbis is a free software / open source project headed by the Xiph.Org Foundation . The project produces an audio format specification and software implementation for lossy audio compression...
) will make radical changes to the binary encoding of an audio file, without radically affecting the way it is perceived by the human ear. A robust acoustic fingerprint will allow a recording to be identified after it has gone through such compression, even if the audio quality has been reduced significantly. For use in radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
broadcast monitoring, acoustic fingerprints should also be insensitive to analog transmission artifacts.
On the other hand, a good acoustic fingerprint algorithm must be able to identify a particular master recording
Master recording
A multitrack recording master tape, disk or computer files on which productions are developed for later mixing, is known as the multi-track master, while the tape, disk or computer files holding a mix is called a mixed master.It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording, known as...
among all the productions of an artist or group. For use as evidence in a court of law, an acoustic fingerprint method must be forensic in its accuracy.
Implementations
This is a list of products notable for acoustic fingerprinting. Products on this list should either have an accompanying existing article link which verifies their notability for acoustic fingerprinting, or reliable sources as footnotes against the name showing they are notable for this reason.- Acoustid is an open source project that aims to create a free database of audio fingerprints with mapping to the MusicBrainzMusicBrainzMusicBrainz is a project that aims to create an open content music database. Similar to the freedb project, it was founded in response to the restrictions placed on the CDDB...
metadata database and provide a web service for audio file identification using this database. - All Media GuideAll Media GuideAll Media Guide , is the company which owns and maintains Allmusic, Allgame and Allmovie. AMG was founded in 1990 by popular-culture archivist Michael Erlewine....
's LASSOAMG LASSOAMG LASSO is a media recognition service launched by the All Media Guide in 2004. The LASSO service automatically recognizes CDs, DVDs, and digital audio files in formats such as MP3, WMA, and others. The service uses CD table of contents , DVD ToC, and acoustic fingerprint based recognition to...
is a commercial service that uses acoustic fingerprinting, and other techniques, to recognize music. - Audible Magic Corporation is a commercial venture that provides electronic media identification and copyright management solutions using proprietary acoustic fingerprinting technology based on original research by Muscle Fish Consulting
- AudioIDAudioIDAudioID is a commercial technology for automatically identifying audio material using acoustic fingerprints. Audio data is recognized automatically and associated information is provided in real time. The technology was developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology . The IDMT...
is a commercial technology for automatically identifying audio material using acoustic fingerprints. It was developed by the German Fraunhofer Institute. - Audio Comparer is a duplicate song finder software. The program uses acoustic fingerprints for similar song detection.
- Auditude is an online video advertising company. It uses patented Auditude Connect video and audio fingerprinting technology to identify content, serve ads and search content on major video sharing web sites.
- BMAT Vericast is a global music identification service that monitors millions of songs over 2000 radios and televisions across more than 50 countries worldwide. The solution provides real time recognition and auditable reporting based on an audio fingerprint that is resistant to signal alterations such as voice over, broadcast mastering or noisy channel degradation.
- GracenoteGracenoteGracenote, Inc., formerly called CDDB , is a company that maintains and licenses an Internet-accessible database containing information about the contents of audio compact discs and vinyl records. It provides software and metadata to businesses that enable their customers to manage and search...
's MusicID is a commercial product that uses acoustic fingerprinting along with other methods to identify music.- The Nero Multimedia Suite Nero (software suite) version 9 and 10 uses Gracenote to add metadata like author, title and genre to an audio file.
- Sony EricssonSony EricssonSony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones....
's TrackID software uses Gracenote to identify songs being recorded via cell phone in a way similar to ShazamShazam (service)Shazam is a commercial mobile phone based music identification service, with its headquarters in London, England. The company was founded in 1999 by Chris Barton , Philip Inghelbrecht, Dhiraj Mukherjee and Avery Wang ....
. - WinampWinampWinamp is a media player for Windows-based PCs and Android devices, written by Nullsoft, now a subsidiary of AOL. It is proprietary freeware/shareware, multi-format, extensible with plug-ins and skins, and is noted for its graphical sound visualization, playlist, and media library features.Winamp...
version 5.5 uses Gracenote to power automatic playlist generation with "Nullsoft Playlist Generator" plugin that comes with the software.
- Echoprint is an open source music fingerprint and resolving framework powered by the The Echo NestThe Echo NestThe Echo Nest is a music intelligence platform company that provides music services to developers and media companies. Headquartered in Somerville, MA USA, the Echo Nest was created as a spin-off of research work at the MIT Media Lab that automatically understands the audio and textual content of...
. - Last.fmLast.fmLast.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....
have begun their own method of acoustic fingerprinting in 2007 via the Fingerprinter application. The technology is now included in the Last.fm client software. - Midomi is a commercial service that can match music clips, as well as identifying a song that is sung or hummed
- Moodagent is a commercial service from Syntonetic that combines digital signal processingDigital signal processingDigital signal processing is concerned with the representation of discrete time signals by a sequence of numbers or symbols and the processing of these signals. Digital signal processing and analog signal processing are subfields of signal processing...
and AIAiAI, A.I., Ai, or ai may refer to:- Computers :* Artificial intelligence, a branch of computer science* Ad impression, in online advertising* .ai, the ISO Internet 2-letter country code for Anguilla...
techniques to create music profiles that incorporate characteristics such as mood, emotion, genre, style, instrument, vocals, orchestration, production, and beat/tempo. - MusicBrainzMusicBrainzMusicBrainz is a project that aims to create an open content music database. Similar to the freedb project, it was founded in response to the restrictions placed on the CDDB...
, a freeFree contentFree content, or free information, is any kind of functional work, artwork, or other creative content that meets the definition of a free cultural work...
and open contentOpen contentOpen content or OpenContent is a neologism coined by David Wiley in 1998 which describes a creative work that others can copy or modify. The term evokes open source, which is a related concept in software....
project for a music database that uses MusicIP's Open Fingerprint Architecture for fingerprinting and the MusicDNSMusicDNSMusicDNS is an acoustic fingerprinting service and a software development kit provided by MusicIP. MusicDNS is used by MusicIP Mixer, MusicBrainz Picard, and Jaikoz. According to MusicIP, the fingerprint database contains over 22 million fingerprints as of August, 2006. MusicDNS has nothing to do...
service for identifying audio files. - SoundHound, an acoustic fingerprint-based service with web and mobile applications (Android and iPhone) that allows songs or hummed tunes to be identified using the Midomi service.
- ShazamShazam (service)Shazam is a commercial mobile phone based music identification service, with its headquarters in London, England. The company was founded in 1999 by Chris Barton , Philip Inghelbrecht, Dhiraj Mukherjee and Avery Wang ....
, an acoustic fingerprint-based service allows for songs to be identified via cell phone. - TunaticTunaticTunatic is a free music identification program developed by Sylvain Demongeot for Windows and Mac OS.It analyzes a song by recording it via microphone or just by playing it through the sound card, and then it sends the data online to its database where it searches for a match...
by Wildbits is an application that allows identifying music while being played, analyzing the songs and comparing with the information on a server - AcoustID is an audio fingerprinting solution built entirely on open-source technology.
External links
- MetatOGGer is a freeware that uses the MusicDNS service for identifying audio files.
- Audible Magic (audio & video image fingerprinting)
- Auditude Connect technology (audio and video fingerprinting)
- (audio and video fingerprinting)
- Civolution (content identification with audio and video fingerprinting)
- New Media Lab broadcast monitoring service using audio fingerprinting technology.
- Philips Content Identification (audio and video fingerprinting)
- A Review of Algorithms for Audio Fingerprinting (P. Cano et al. In International Workshop on Multimedia Signal Processing, US Virgin Islands, December 2002)