Sound Quality Software for Audio Files

[Richard Schiller]

Does anyone know of any software that can measure and rate sound quality for audio files? I know that any such software would be of limited effectiveness but does any such thing exist at all?

[Hugh Robjohns]

It depends on what, precisely, you mean by 'sound quality'. What is it, exactly, that you're trying to rate?

There are plenty of tools that can provide an analysis of things like file word-length and active bits, true peak, sample peak, min and max rms levels, dynamic range, DC offset, and all the BS1770-related Loudness normalisation measurements. And others that will analyse the available and occupied bandwidth and noise floors.

But these are all objective and easily measurable things, especially in a digital file.

Assessing the subjective sound quality is an entirely different thing, and is best done by experienced ears...

[Richard Schiller]

Hi Hugh. Thanks for your very reasonable reply. In answer to your point, I don't mean anything myself here. I am not proposing, designing or attempting a solution but simply asking about the availability of existing solutions.

I am looking for any software that purports to provide a measure of the quality of the sound in the file - regardless of how successful it is. So, for clarity, that is the quality not a quality.

There are various solutions for assessing the quality of the contents of a video file. I am looking to answer the question of whether anyone has created any software which attempts to measure the quality of the contents of an audio file. I am aware that the answer may be 'no, nothing has been attempted'. I was hoping that if anyone offered any such software or had tried to in the past, then members of the forum may know of it.

I hope that has made my request clearer.

Thank you.

[Eddy Deegan]

I'm pretty sure the answer is 'no' because there is no objective truth to be found here; it's all subjective. After all, what is sound quality? Music comes in so many forms. Some tracks specifically feature things like lo-fi, bitcrushing, grungeiness, distortion and so on.

Different people will judge the same audio differently when they listen to it, unlike measurable things such as bit-rate, frequency content etc. so the idea that an algorithm can make a reasonable assessment seems unlikely at best.

[Richard Schiller]

Hi Eddy. Thanks for your reply here. As I suspected then, nothing is available or has been. Good to know. Much appreciated.