Press Release: Web Audio API brings audio design to the Web as it becomes a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Recommendation

Dear Friends of W3C,

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is pleased to announce today that the Web Audio API is now an official standard, bringing music and audio creation and manipulation to the Web.

Web Audio API is a JavaScript API already widely deployed for the creation of music and sound effects on Web pages, for the creation of online musical instruments, for Web games, and for collaborative artworks such as sound installations.

Web Audio is used in many applications including: SoundCloud, Mozilla Hubs, Firefox Mixed Reality, Ableton, Google Meet and Stadia, SoundTrap, Amped Studio, BandLab, BeatPort, Soundation, Leimma & Apotome, and Spotify.

In contrast to most native audio applications, the Web Audio API naturally lends itself to creation of collaborative and interactive artworks online, where instead of a passive audience, people can actively interact with the artists and each other, using nothing more than the browser on their computer or mobile phone.

To learn more, the press release is copied as text below and online at: https://www.w3.org/2021/06/pressrelease-webaudio.html.en

Please feel free to contact me to schedule an interview at <w3t-pr@w3.org>.  

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Amy van der Hiel
W3C Media Relations Coordinator

 

====

   [1]W3C Under embargo until 2021-06-17, 9am Eastern Time

      [1] 
https://www.w3.org/


Web Audio API brings audio design to the Web as it becomes a World Wide
                  Web Consortium (W3C) Recommendation

Web Audio API enables the creation and manipulation of music and sounds,
directly in the browser

   Read [2]testimonials from W3C Members and Industry Users

   [3]Translations | [4]W3C Press Release Archive
     __________________________________________________________

      [3] 
https://www.w3.org/Press/Releases-2021#webaudio

      [4] 
https://www.w3.org/Press/


   web audio logo

   [5]
https://www.w3.org/
 — 17 June 2021 — The World Wide Web
   Consortium (W3C) announced today that Web Audio API is now an
   official standard, bringing music and audio creation and
   manipulation to the Web.

      [5] 
https://www.w3.org/


   [6]Web Audio API is a JavaScript API for creating, shaping, and
   manipulating sounds directly in a Web browser. It is already
   widely deployed for the creation of music and sound effects on
   Web pages, for the creation of online musical instruments, for
   Web games, and for collaborative artworks such as sound
   installations.

      [6] 
https://www.w3.org/TR/2021/REC-webaudio-20210617/


  Responsive, high-quality sounds in any website, any web app

   Focussed on sound creation (rather than merely the playback of
   recorded audio), the Web Audio API provides a rich set of
   modular building blocks which web and app developers can
   combine to create a wide range of applications, including:
   auditory feedback in user interfaces, musical instruments,
   soundtracks and effects for entertainment and gaming, teaching,
   spatial audio for AR and VR, online audio editing apps,
   crossfading and compression for in-car music management, and
   audio analysis and visualisation.

  Web Audio is available everywhere

   With the API standardized and deployed as a royalty-free
   feature in Web browsers and other devices and platforms, both
   on desktop and mobile, creating sound with the Web Audio API
   has become a dependable, widely deployed, built-in capability,
   eliminating the need to install plugins or download separate
   applications.

   Web Audio is used in many applications including: SoundCloud,
   Mozilla Hubs, Firefox Mixed Reality, Ableton, Google Meet and
   Stadia, SoundTrap, Amped Studio, BandLab, BeatPort, Soundation,
   Leimma & Apotome, and Spotify.

   "The development of the Web Audio API to the point of it
   becoming a W3C Recommendation represents a huge effort from
   developers, audio experts and audio artists across industry and
   academia. A major contributing factor in the success of the API
   has been the support from the user community who have engaged
   with the spec and developed some incredible work", said Matthew
   Paradis, Audio WG co-chair. "The founding of the annual Web
   Audio conference has increased the reach of the API and
   provided a platform for academic, creative and scientific use
   of the WAAPI. Finally the enthusiasm of browser vendors to
   commit their time to shaping and implementing the API has made
   this a very rewarding process. I hope that this engagement will
   continue as we develop future enhancements to the API".

  Web-wide, multi-user experiences

   In contrast to most native audio applications, the Web Audio
   API naturally lends itself to creation of collaborative and
   interactive artworks online, where instead of a passive
   audience, people can actively interact with the artists and
   each other, using nothing more than the browser on their
   computer or mobile phone.

  The future of Web Audio API is already in the works

   The W3C Web Audio Working Group has benefitted from the shared
   developer experience of the global Web Audio community over the
   last six years, exemplified by the annual [7]Web Audio
   Conference series and the [8]Web Audio weekly newsletter.

      [7] 
https://webaudioconf2021.com/

      [8] 
https://www.webaudioweekly.com/


   Together, the Working Group and community have already started
   work on [9]Web Audio API v2. This will build on and enrich the
   first version of the API, adding more complex and
   much-requested features which were insufficiently developed to
   be included in the first version of the API.

      [9] 
https://github.com/WebAudio/web-audio-api-v2


   Web Audio API joins the many W3C standards that define an Open
   Web Platform for application development with unprecedented
   potential to enable developers to build rich interactive
   experiences, that are available on any device and environment.

About the World Wide Web Consortium

   The mission of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is to lead
   the Web to its full potential by creating technical standards
   and guidelines to ensure that the Web remains open, accessible,
   and interoperable for everyone around the globe. W3C well-known
   standards HTML and CSS are the foundational technologies upon
   which websites are built. W3C works on ensuring that all
   foundational Web technologies meet the needs of civil society,
   in areas such as accessibility, internationalization, security,
   and privacy. W3C also provides the standards that undergird the
   infrastructure for modern businesses leveraging the Web, in
   areas such as entertainment, communications, digital
   publishing, and financial services. That work is created in the
   open, provided for free and under the groundbreaking W3C Patent
   Policy.

   W3C's vision for "One Web" brings together thousands of
   dedicated technologists representing more than 400 [10]Member
   organizations and dozens of industry sectors. W3C is jointly
   hosted by the [11]MIT Computer Science and Artificial
   Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the United States, the
   [12]European Research Consortium for Informatics and
   Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France, [13]Keio
   University in Japan and [14]Beihang University in China. For
   more information see [15]
https://www.w3.org/.


     [10] 
https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Member/List

     [11] 
https://www.csail.mit.edu/

     [12] 
https://www.ercim.eu/

     [13] 
https://www.keio.ac.jp/

     [14] 
http://ev.buaa.edu.cn/

     [15] 
https://www.w3.org/


   End Press Release

Media contact

   [16]Amy van der Hiel, W3C Media Relations Coordinator
   <[17]w3t-pr@w3.org>
  
https://www.w3.org/People#amy

  mailto:w3t-pr@w3.org

   +1.617.253.5628 (US, Eastern Time)
     __________________________________________________________

Testimonials from W3C members and Industry Users

   [18]BBC • [19]Google • [20]Mozilla • [21]Spotify •
   [22]Université Côte d’Azur • [23]Web3D Consortium

     [23] 
https://www.w3.org/web3d


  BBC

     The BBC has been a major contributor to the Web Audio API
     since the formation of the Audio working group at the W3C.
     To see it become a standard represents a huge effort across
     the industry to provide modern audio processing on the web
     platform. From a broadcast perspective, the WAAPI supports
     our aspirations to deliver personalised, accessible,
     immersive and interactive experiences to our audiences via
     our web based playback platforms in a way which was
     previously not possible


    Andy Conroy, Controller, BBC Research & Development

  Google

   The Web Audio API transformed how we interact with sound in the
   browser by bringing advanced audio processing and musical
   creativity into the Web platform.

   Immersive audio experiences entertain and delight after just
   following a link on the web. Businesses have built audio and
   music production tools. Games bring dynamic soundscapes.
   Teleconferencing & video chat tools enhance the quality of
   their connection. And much more richness has flourished, from
   online audio books to enhanced marketing experiences

   Google is pleased to have supported Web Audio standardization
   and advocacy over this decade-long journey and thanks the many
   contributors along the way.


    Hongchan Choi, Web Audio Technical Lead, Google

   웹 오디오 API는 실시간 음향 처리 및 합성을 웹 플랫폼으로 가져옴으로써 우리가 웹 브라우저를 통해 소리를
   다루는 방식을 완전히 탈바꿈시켰습니다.

   웹 링크 하나로 몰입형 음향을 체험할 수 있으며, 웹 기반의 음악 제작 도구들은 음악 교육을 변화시키고 있습니다.
   또한, 웹 오디오 API는 동적인 게임 음향의 구현과 화상회의 음성 품질의 향상을 위해 사용되고 있습니다. 더
   나아가 온라인 오디오 북과 멀티미디어를 이용한 마케팅에 이르기까지 더욱 풍부해진 웹 경험을 제공합니다.

   구글은 지난 10여 년 동안 웹 오디오 표준화 과정을 끊임없이 지원해 왔습니다. 오늘 이 뜻깊은 이정표를 축하하며
   그 긴 여정에 이바지 한 모든 이들에게 감사드립니다.


    Hongchan Choi, Web Audio Technical Lead, Google

  Mozilla

   Eleven years ago Mozilla pioneered the first experimental
   implementations of real-time audio processing in web browsers.
   We've been innovating in this domain ever since, and we are
   very pleased to see the Web Audio API become a W3C
   Recommendation.

   With the addition of AudioWorklet’s direct audio sample
   manipulation, the Web Audio API is now a viable foundation for
   a broad range of use-cases and applications. Existing native
   code bases or highly custom processing algorithms can now be
   deployed on the Web to build fully-featured digital audio
   workstations, state-of-the-art VR experiences, or even physical
   modelling of acoustic instruments, delivering on the vision of
   our early experiments and building a better internet.


    Paul Adenot, Mozilla

  Soundtrap, Spotify

     For nearly ten years Soundtrap has been working to
     democratize music creation and the Web Audio API has been at
     the core of our product since the beginning. Our goal has
     always been to make music and storytelling more accessible
     and collaborative, and Web Audio has been key to removing
     the barriers of installed desktop software and making audio
     production available to anyone with a web browser. We are
     proud to be a part of the Web Audio community and are
     excited to now see Web Audio recognized as the official W3C
     standard for audio on the web.


    Björn Melinder, Senior Staff Engineer, Soundtrap, Spotify

  Université Côte d’Azur

   Université Côte d'Azur (France) joined the W3C Audio Working
   Group in 2013. Today, we are happy to see the WebAudio API
   become an official standard. We have successfully used the
   WebAudio technology in our teaching and we have participated
   with other academic actors in the creation of the research
   domain of the same name. Some of the software developed by our
   scientists, based on WebAudio, is now marketed by the CNRS and
   has won prestigious awards at international conferences.

   No one could have predicted the rapid transition to the online
   world that is now part of our daily lives. The work done on
   WebAudio over the past decade has put the Web platform in a
   central position to change the world of music and multimedia,
   enabling it to adapt to this new way of living and working.


    Michel Buffa, Professor at the University of Côte d’Azur

   Université Côte d’Azur (France) a rejoint en 2013 l’Audio
   Working Group du W3C. Aujourd'hui, nous sommes heureux de voir
   la WebAudio API devenir une norme officielle. Nous avons
   utilisé avec succès la technologie WebAudio dans nos
   enseignements et nous avons participé avec d’autres acteurs du
   monde académique à la création du domaine de recherche du même
   nom. Certains logiciels développés par nos scientifiques, basés
   sur WebAudio, sont aujourd’hui commercialisés par le CNRS et
   ont obtenu des prix prestigieux dans des conférences
   internationales.

   Personne n’aurait pu prédire la fulgurante transition vers le
   monde en ligne qui fait désormais partie de notre quotidien.
   Les travaux effectués sur WebAudio au cours de la dernière
   décennie placent aujourd’hui la plate-forme Web dans une
   position centrale pour modifier le monde de la musique et du
   multimédia, en lui permettant de s'adapter à cette nouvelle
   façon de vivre et de travailler.


    Michel Buffa, Maître de Conférence à l’Université Côte d’Azur

  Web3D Consortium

   Extensible 3D (X3D) Graphics is the royalty-free open standard
   for publishing, viewing, printing and archiving interactive 3D
   models on the Web.

   The W3C Web Audio API is unique and fundamentally important for
   adding high-fidelity audio processing in a performant
   cross-platform manner for the Web.

   X3D version 4 fully integrates all capabilities in the W3C Web
   Audio API as a declarative audio graph, within X3D scene
   graphs, for processing and synthesizing audio in spatialized
   Web applications.

   Open-source implementations and examples repeatably demonstrate
   how compelling audio capabilities improve 3D interaction,
   realism and presence on the Web.


    Efi Lakka, University of South Wales, UK


    Thanos Malamos, Hellenic Mediterranean University (HMU),
    Greece


    Richard Puk, Intelligraphics Inc. USA


    Don Brutzman, X3D Graphics Working Group, Web3D Consortium

   [24]Translations | [25]W3C Press Release Archive

     [24] 
https://www.w3.org/Press/Releases-2021#webaudio

     [25] 
https://www.w3.org/Press/
 

—
Amy van der Hiel
W3C Media Relations Coordinator
W3C/MIT
32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA USA
email: amy@w3.org
phone: +16172535628
pronouns: she/her

Received on Thursday, 17 June 2021 12:42:36 UTC