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Offload and processing

Applies to nori 0.6 on Android 10 and later.

Save battery while playing (on by default) lets the phone’s audio chip decode MP3, AAC and Opus itself. The CPU hands it minutes of music at a time and sleeps in between. This is called offload.

Offload needs the music untouched. It pauses, and nori decodes on the CPU in short bursts, whenever something needs the samples:

  • the equalizer or any effect;
  • speed, pitch or skipping silence;
  • AutoMix, or a crossfade between songs;
  • a song turned up by ReplayGain (turning down is fine);
  • a format the chip does not decode.

The settings page says when offload is paused, and why. It is never used for a USB DAC.

High quality output

Section titled “High quality output”

High quality output (off by default) plays 24-bit files in full and runs the equalizer and effects in floating point. It is best on a USB DAC or a hi-res output and starts with the next song. Highest sample rate caps the rate sent to the output (each song’s own by default, or 48, 96 or 192 kHz); a high-quality resampler runs only when it has to.