Samply is all about audio, so it's crucial that you know how to be in control of your playback experience. In this article we'll answer the following questions:

• What are the different playback qualities?
• How do I set playback quality?
• How do I configure playback quality for my listeners?

Different playback qualities

There are two primary playback modes for Samply audio streaming, adaptive and lossless.

Adaptive streaming

Adaptive streaming is great for most users and is on by default. Adaptive uses the least amount of bandwidth which means that even on a slower internet connection you can listen uninterrupted. Samply will automatically switch bit-rates based on your internet connection. All adaptive streams are a high quality AAC transcoding of your original media.

Lossless streaming

Lossless streaming is exactly as it sounds, there is zero data loss from the original file you upload. We a use FLAC encoding of your original audio file to support streaming, but the audio is identical to that of the original file you uploaded. This mode requires significantly more bandwidth and is not recommended for users with weak internet connections.

Setting Playback Quality

To set playback quality for your device, open preferences/audio. From here you can enable Lossless audio, or let it default to Adaptive.

This preference is stored per-device. This is useful if for example you have very fast internet on your studio computer, but you live in an area where your phone gets spotty coverage.

Setting Playback Quality For Listeners

By default, when a listener opens a link to a Samply player, the quality is set to Adaptive to ensure the highest level of stability across all network connections. However for some uses cases (Mastering approvals, detailed mix notes, etc) it may be crucial that clients hear uncompressed audio by default.

To enable lossless streaming by default for listeners of your player links, simply toggle on the "Prefer lossless playback" option.

This will ensure that the default mode will be lossless for that player. Listeners still have the option to lower the quality if they are having trouble getting audio to play on slow internet connections.

Updated on: 16/05/2023