NAudio.SoundFile
3.1.0
Prefix Reserved
dotnet add package NAudio.SoundFile --version 3.1.0
NuGet\Install-Package NAudio.SoundFile -Version 3.1.0
<PackageReference Include="NAudio.SoundFile" Version="3.1.0" />
<PackageVersion Include="NAudio.SoundFile" Version="3.1.0" />
<PackageReference Include="NAudio.SoundFile" />
paket add NAudio.SoundFile --version 3.1.0
#r "nuget: NAudio.SoundFile, 3.1.0"
#:package NAudio.SoundFile@3.1.0
#addin nuget:?package=NAudio.SoundFile&version=3.1.0
#tool nuget:?package=NAudio.SoundFile&version=3.1.0
NAudio.SoundFile
Cross-platform audio file reading and writing for NAudio, backed by libsndfile.
| Type | Role |
|---|---|
SoundFileReader |
WaveStream + ISampleProvider — decode WAV/AIFF/FLAC/Ogg/Opus/MP3 |
SoundFileWriter |
Stream sink — encode WAV/AIFF/FLAC/Ogg-Vorbis/Opus/MP3 |
SoundFileCapabilities |
query which codecs the installed libsndfile supports |
SoundFileException |
thrown on libsndfile errors (exposes ErrorCode) |
This is the first cross-platform FLAC/Vorbis/Opus encoder in NAudio, and on Linux/macOS the first general-purpose decoder (there is no Media Foundation off Windows).
Platform
Truly cross-platform — net9.0, no [SupportedOSPlatform]. It
P/Invokes a system libsndfile, resolved automatically per OS
(libsndfile.so.1 / libsndfile.1.dylib / sndfile.dll /
libsndfile-1.dll). You must provide it:
sudo apt install libsndfile1 # Debian/Ubuntu
brew install libsndfile # macOS
vcpkg install libsndfile # Windows (or the official binaries)
Not pulled in by the NAudio meta-package — reference it explicitly:
dotnet add package NAudio.SoundFile
Supported formats
| Format | Read | Write | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| WAV, AIFF, AU, CAF, W64, RAW | ✅ | ✅ | always |
| FLAC | ✅ | ✅ | libsndfile built with libFLAC (typical) |
| Ogg/Vorbis | ✅ | ✅ | libvorbis (typical) |
| Ogg/Opus | ✅ | ✅ | libsndfile ≥ 1.0.29 + libopus |
| MP3 | ✅ | ✅ | libsndfile ≥ 1.1.0 |
Codec availability depends on how libsndfile was built — query it:
foreach (var f in SoundFileCapabilities.GetSupportedMajorFormats())
Console.WriteLine(f);
bool canFlac = SoundFileCapabilities.IsFormatSupported(SoundFileMajorFormat.Flac);
AAC / M4A / ALAC / WMA are out of scope (the MPEG-4 family is FFmpeg territory).
Read any file
SoundFileReader decodes to 32-bit float, so it is both a WaveStream
and an ISampleProvider:
using NAudio.SoundFile;
using NAudio.Wave;
using var reader = new SoundFileReader("song.flac");
Console.WriteLine($"{reader.WaveFormat} {reader.TotalTime}");
// feed it into any NAudio output, mixer or sample pipeline
Write FLAC / Ogg / Opus
using (var source = new SoundFileReader("in.wav"))
SoundFileWriter.CreateSoundFile("out.flac", source,
SoundFileMajorFormat.Flac,
new SoundFileWriterOptions { CompressionLevel = 0.8 });
// Ogg Vorbis at VBR quality 0.6, with tags
using (var source = new SoundFileReader("in.wav"))
SoundFileWriter.CreateSoundFile("out.ogg", source,
SoundFileMajorFormat.OggVorbis,
new SoundFileWriterOptions
{
VbrQuality = 0.6,
Tags = new SoundFileTags { Title = "Demo", Artist = "NAudio" }
});
Read embedded metadata back:
using var reader = new SoundFileReader("song.flac");
Console.WriteLine($"{reader.Tags.Artist} – {reader.Tags.Title}");
Console.WriteLine(SoundFileCapabilities.LibraryVersion);
The output format is also inferred from the extension:
SoundFileWriter.CreateSoundFile("out.flac", source); // → FLAC
Streams
Both ends work over a System.IO.Stream (via libsndfile virtual I/O):
using var ms = new MemoryStream();
SoundFileWriter.WriteSoundFileToStream(ms, source, SoundFileMajorFormat.OggVorbis, null);
ms.Position = 0;
using var reader = new SoundFileReader(ms); // stream not disposed by the reader
FLAC/Ogg/Opus/MP3 stream fine to a forward-only target; WAV/AIFF back-patch their header at close and require a seekable stream (the writer throws early if you pair a non-seekable stream with such a format).
Notes
- The writer accepts 16-bit PCM or 32-bit IEEE float input — the
two container types NAudio pipelines naturally produce. Convert other
formats with
SampleToWaveProvider16or.ToSampleProvider()first. - AOT-compatible: source-generated
[LibraryImport],SafeHandlelifetime, and[UnmanagedCallersOnly]virtual-I/O callbacks. - The wrapper is MIT; libsndfile itself is LGPL-2.1+ and supplied by the
user as a system library (no binary is shipped) — the same model as
NAudio.Alsa.
Tutorial
For a worked walkthrough (reading, encoding, format conversion, streams, tags, capability detection) see Cross-platform audio file reading and writing with NAudio.SoundFile.
Documentation
See the NAudio documentation site for tutorials and the full API reference, or the GitHub repository for source, issues and demos.
License
MIT.
| Product | Versions Compatible and additional computed target framework versions. |
|---|---|
| .NET | net9.0 is compatible. net9.0-android was computed. net9.0-browser was computed. net9.0-ios was computed. net9.0-maccatalyst was computed. net9.0-macos was computed. net9.0-tvos was computed. net9.0-windows was computed. net10.0 was computed. net10.0-android was computed. net10.0-browser was computed. net10.0-ios was computed. net10.0-maccatalyst was computed. net10.0-macos was computed. net10.0-tvos was computed. net10.0-windows was computed. |
-
net9.0
- NAudio.Core (>= 3.1.0)
NuGet packages (2)
Showing the top 2 NuGet packages that depend on NAudio.SoundFile:
| Package | Downloads |
|---|---|
|
NAudio.Sampler
A cross-platform software sampler for NAudio that plays MIDI through SoundFont (.sf2) and SFZ instruments, or a single sample mapped across the keyboard. Polyphonic voice engine with DAHDSR envelopes, LFOs, modulated filters, the SF2 modulator engine and reverb/chorus sends, exposed as an ISampleProvider. |
|
|
mdimai666.Mars.PlayAudioNodePlugin
Mars.PlayAudioNodePlugin - provide play audio functions for Mars - Play audio - List output devices |
GitHub repositories (1)
Showing the top 1 popular GitHub repositories that depend on NAudio.SoundFile:
| Repository | Stars |
|---|---|
|
purelogiccode/SimpleLauncher
Simple Launcher is an open-source emulator frontend. Designed for both casual gamers and power users, it provides a seamless interface to organize, browse, and launch your retro gaming collection with deep integration for modern emulators and RetroAchievements.
|
| Version | Downloads | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|
| 3.1.0 | 30 | 9/7/2026 |
| 3.1.0-preview.2 | 45 | 9/5/2026 |
| 3.1.0-preview.1 | 33 | 9/4/2026 |
| 3.0.2-preview.2 | 67 | 8/27/2026 |
| 3.0.2-preview.1 | 64 | 8/20/2026 |
| 3.0.1 | 488 | 8/18/2026 |
| 3.0.1-preview.1 | 71 | 8/17/2026 |
| 3.0.0 | 162 | 8/15/2026 |
| 3.0.0-preview.20 | 106 | 8/8/2026 |
| 3.0.0-preview.19 | 81 | 7/25/2026 |
| 3.0.0-preview.18 | 308 | 7/16/2026 |
| 3.0.0-preview.17 | 81 | 7/11/2026 |
| 3.0.0-preview.16 | 110 | 7/1/2026 |
| 3.0.0-preview.15 | 75 | 6/28/2026 |
| 3.0.0-preview.14 | 85 | 6/25/2026 |
| 3.0.0-preview.10 | 92 | 6/8/2026 |
| 3.0.0-preview.9 | 75 | 5/27/2026 |
| 3.0.0-preview.8 | 78 | 5/22/2026 |
| 3.0.0-preview.7 | 75 | 5/21/2026 |
| 3.0.0-preview.6 | 78 | 5/21/2026 |
A correctness release, with Native AOT as the theme. NAudio's remaining
`[StructLayout]` interop types — `WAVEHDR`, `ACMSTREAMHEADER` and `WaveFormat`
itself — were passed to native code by value, which CoreCLR pins in place but
the AOT marshaller copies into a per-call temporary. Anything the driver or
codec wrote back was silently discarded, so `WaveIn`/`WaveOut`, ACM conversion
(and with it `Mp3FileReader` and `AudioFileReader`) and every WASAPI, Media
Foundation and DMO format negotiation were broken in an AOT-published app while
building and running cleanly. Those paths now marshal by hand into stable
unmanaged blocks, and `NAudio.WinMM` joins the AOT-compatible package set.
The two breaking changes below both fall out of that work. Also fixed are two
3.0.0 regressions — `Mp3FileReaderBase` seeking on files with a Xing/Info
header, and `WdlResamplingSampleProvider` losing samples when its source
under-feeds — and a pair of infinite loops in the WAV parser on corrupt files.
* **Breaking:** `WaveFormat` and its subclasses no longer carry `[StructLayout]`, so `Marshal.SizeOf` and `Marshal.PtrToStructure` on them now throw `ArgumentException` instead of silently returning wrong data under Native AOT (`Marshal.SizeOf<WaveFormatExtensible>()` returned 22 rather than 40, and a decoded format kept its constructor defaults). NAudio itself stopped marshalling these types in 3.1.0; use `ToWaveFormatExBytes`, `MarshalToPtr` or `MarshalFromPtr` to cross a native boundary (#1432)
* **Breaking:** `AudioClient.IsFormatSupported` and `WasapiPlayer.IsFormatSupported` now return the closest-match format as `out WaveFormat` rather than `out WaveFormatExtensible`. WASAPI documents this format as either a `WAVEFORMATEX` or a `WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE`, and the old signature could only represent the latter — a plain format was previously decoded as a `WaveFormatExtensible` whose base fields were valid but whose extensible fields were meaningless. Callers needing the extensible fields should pattern-match (#1425)
* Fixed `WaveIn`/`WaveOut` failing under Native AOT with `WaveHeaderUnprepared` ("The wave header was not prepared"). The `WAVEHDR` was a `[StructLayout]` class passed to winmm by value, which CoreCLR pins in place but NativeAOT copies into a per-call temporary, so the driver's `WHDR_PREPARED`/`WHDR_DONE`/`dwBytesRecorded` writes were discarded. It is now a struct in a stable unmanaged block (#1425)
* Fixed ACM conversion failing under Native AOT — `WaveFormatConversionStream`, `AcmStream` and so `Mp3FileReader` and `AudioFileReader`. `ACMSTREAMHEADER` was a `[StructLayout]` class passed to msacm32 by value, and the codec keeps private state in the header's reserved fields between `acmStreamPrepareHeader`, `acmStreamConvert` and `acmStreamUnprepareHeader`; the AOT marshaller's per-call copy round-trips only the declared fields, so that state was lost and conversion failed. It is now a struct in a stable unmanaged block, as `WAVEHDR` already is (#1425)
* Fixed `WaveFormat.MarshalToPtr` and `WaveFormat.MarshalFromPtr` corrupting any `WaveFormat` subclass under Native AOT — the AOT marshaller drops the inherited `WAVEFORMATEX` fields of a class hierarchy, so a `WaveFormatExtensible` was written with its SubFormat GUID over the sample rate. Every remaining site that sized or wrote a `WaveFormat` with `Marshal.SizeOf`/`StructureToPtr` was converted too: WASAPI (`AudioClient`), Media Foundation (`MFInitMediaTypeFromWaveFormatEx`, reachable from `MediaFoundationResampler`/`MediaFoundationEncoder`), DMO (`DmoMediaType.SetWaveFormat`, `MediaObject`) and ACM (`AcmStream`, `AcmDriver`) (#1425)
* `WaveFormat.MarshalToPtr` now always allocates at least the `18 + cbSize` bytes it advertises. A `WaveFormat` subclass that declares `extraSize` but doesn't write it in `Serialize` previously produced a block shorter than its own `cbSize`, which a native consumer would read past (#1425)
* Added `WaveFormat.ToWaveFormatExBytes()`, which renders a `WaveFormat` as a native WAVEFORMATEX byte array. `MarshalToPtr` is now a thin wrapper over it, for callers who need an unmanaged block rather than a buffer they already own (#1425)
* Added a `Serialize` override to `Mp3WaveFormat`, which previously advertised `cbSize` = 12 but wrote none of its 12 MPEGLAYER3WAVEFORMAT extra bytes (#1425)
* `WaveFormatExtraData` now sizes its buffer from `cbSize` instead of holding a fixed 100-byte array, so a fmt chunk declaring more than 100 bytes of extra data keeps it rather than having all of it discarded (#482). The fixed size existed only because `[MarshalAs(ByValArray, SizeConst = 100)]` needed a compile-time length. `ExtraData` is now exactly `ExtraSize` bytes long rather than always 100 (#1432)
* `NAudio.WinMM` is now marked `IsAotCompatible`, and the AOT smoke test covers the winmm WAVEHDR/WAVEFORMATEX paths (#1425)
* Fixed `Mp3FileReaderBase` seeking silently restarting playback from the beginning of the file on MP3s with a Xing/Info header — the lazy frame index was gated on `IsLengthExact`, which such a header sets without any frame having been scanned. Also fixed seeks landing on the wrong frame when the target fell exactly on a frame boundary, and Xing/Info header frames being indexed as audio (shifting every seek in those files ~26 ms early). A 3.0.0 regression (#1419)
* Fixed `WdlResamplingSampleProvider` losing samples, and eventually returning 0 permanently, when asked for more output than the source could supply — a 3.0.0 regression that broke the common pattern of reading generously from a `BufferedWaveProvider`-backed capture chain. `WdlResampler.ResampleOut` also no longer drifts in input-driven (feed) mode when handed fewer samples than `ResamplePrepare` requested (#1412)
* Fixed two infinite loops in the WAV parser triggered by corrupt files declaring a negative chunk size. An RF64 `ds64` chunk with a negative `dataChunkLength`, or a `LIST/adtl` sub-chunk with a negative size, made the chunk walk advance by zero bytes per iteration and spin at 100% CPU without throwing. Negative and oversized sizes are now rejected where they are read, and an undersized `ds64` chunk throws `FormatException` rather than `ArgumentOutOfRangeException` (#1428)
* Fixed the `NAudioConsoleTest` WASAPI exclusive-mode quick scan reporting no supported formats at all on devices that support plenty — it built its probe formats with an empty `WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE` channel mask, which drivers such as Realtek reject outright. It now probes with the canonical layout for the channel count, the same mask the library's own format adaptation uses (#1431)