Library for reading audio files

Question

I want to process audio online/live where I constantly read audio samples from an audio file, process these (e.g. apply some effect), and forward the processed samples to an audio output device like a soundcard. The input files have common formats such as wav, mp3, perhaps even ogg.

Is there a library available similar to libav/ffmpeg for audio files which simplifies reading various audio formats and provides me a constant stream of raw audio samples? Or is the best solution to use individual libraries for each format? The libraries should be c/c++ and cross-plattform compatible (Mac, Win, Linux, ARM).

EDIT Thanks for all answers. I have evaluated all libraries and came to the conclusion that it is best to just stick with libav/ffmpeg because most of the libraries require ffmpeg as a backend.

Answer 1

Check out Juce. It is a big library that has been used to develop VST audio plug-ins for music software. There is a lot of stuff you don't need in there, but I think you can pick and choose only the audio parts to include in your build. The AudioFormatReader and its associated classes can do the file reading, and there are also classes for outputting to the sound card. There's a lot of other audio processing tools as well. It's GPL licensed, cross platform, and they claim experimental Android support. I haven't used it for a project yet, but I am waiting for the inspiration!

Answer 2

I can recommend RtAudio or PortAudio for cross-platform audio I/O. For audio decoding you might want to have a look at libsndfile or libaudiodecoder.