Why is seeking so slow while playing MP3 files?
The MP3 format doesn't natively support sample-accurate seeking, and sample accurate seeking is absolutely required by some features of foobar2000 (such as .CUE playback). MP3 seeking can't be optimized neither for CBR files (frame sizes aren't really constant because of padding used), nor for VBR files (both Xing and VBRI headers in those files contain only approximated info and are useless for sample-exact seeking). Therefore MP3 seeking works by bruteforce-walking the MPEG stream chain and is appropriately slow (this gets faster when you pass through the same point of file for the second time because seektables have been built in the RAM).
- Are specifications of foobar2000's configuration file format (.cfg) available? Why doesn't foobar2000 use some user-editable XML-based configuration file format instead?
- Are specifications of the FPL playlist format available? Why doesn't foobar2000 use some user-editable XML-based playlist file format instead?
- Can I have 'Previous' / 'Next' buttons in the Properties dialog, to go to properties of previous / next track in my playlist?
- Does foobar2000 sound better than other players?
- Does foobar2000 work on Windows Vista?
- How can I add ID3v1, ID3v2, or APEv2 tags to my MP3 files, or how can I remove them?
- How can I rename files based on information from the tags?
- How do I convert my audio files to another format?
- How do I edit tags of my files ?
- How do I enable volume display or playlist selection total time display in my status bar?
- How do I install additional components?
- How do I make foobar2000 my default player?
- How do I make the currently playing track to be selected (highlighted) and stay always in view?
- How do I use title formatting strings?
- How will upgrading affect my settings?
- I am experiencing high system resource usage (memory or CPU) while playing.
- I can't find some command in my playlist context (right-click) menu. What do I do?
- MP3 tags (ID3v2) added or modified by foobar2000 are not read or are read improperly in application X or portable player Y. What can I do?
- Random mode: Why do I hear the same track more than once a day in a very long playlist?
- Shuffle mode: Why do I hear the same tracks regularly, played in the same order?
- Some of my files are not seen by the Media Library...
- The Converter is asking me for an oggenc.exe file, but all I have is oggenc2.exe from RareWares, what do I do?
- What should I do before reporting a problem?
- What should I do if foobar2000 refuses to load a component DLL?
- What tag types does foobar2000 write to my MP3 files?
- What's the difference between Shuffle and Random playback order modes?
- What's the purpose of Shuffle (albums) and Shuffle (directories) modes?
- When trying to use Album List, Equalizer or Spectrum Visualization, I'm getting a "service not found" error message. What to do?
- Where's the File Types page in Preferences? I can't find it...
- Why can't I use $replace() to create custom substitution schemes for characters that can't be used in file names?
- Why do some menu commands not work when bound to global keyboard shortcuts?
- Why does foobar2000 write question marks to my ID3v1 tags?
- Why is 'Tagging -> MP3 tag types' missing from the context menu?
- Why is Autoplaylist Manager no longer maintained?
- Why is seeking so slow while playing MP3 files?