Saturday, March 07, 2009

A skype Update - Better voice quality

Skype has finally released SILK, a New Skype-designed and developed default audio codec for all Skype-to-Skype calls. SILK is currently used in the latest version of Skype. If you don't have latest skype version, I strongly suggest you download one, its way better than older version and has superior audio quality.

Skype claims that with SILK, a super wideband audio codec it redefines the entire VOIP market by giving the best audio quality on VOIP calls with almost 50% less bandwidth usage.

What did they achieve with SILK codec:

-improved audio bandwidth going from 8 kHz to 12 kHz, meaning that a SILK conversation sounds like you are in the same room as the person you are speaking with. SILK can go upto 24 Khz.
-provides real-time bandwidth scalability to deal with degraded network conditions

-balancing codec optimization between voice, music and background noise, each of which can have an impact on the overall user experience.

-delivering a robust solution that delivers a more consistent audio experience, regardless of network conditions and an individual user’s voice signature

Skype is now expecting that industry and third party application developers will adopt SILK as a standard in wideband audio. SiLK is available for FREE. It would be interesting to see SILK adoption with Trixbox, Asterix and the likes with wideband hitting the entire VOIP world.

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