.opus files
.opus file
Opus Audio
The modern low-latency codec behind WhatsApp voice notes, Discord and web calls.
What opens a .opus file
- Windows
- VLC, foobar2000, Audacity
- macOS
- VLC, IINA
- Linux
- VLC, Rhythmbox / Music (built in), mpv
- In a browser
- Any web browser
What a .opus file is
Opus is an IETF standard (RFC 6716) from Xiph.Org, Skype and Mozilla that beats every older codec at low bitrates and switches seamlessly between speech and music. It is what WhatsApp voice messages, Discord, Zoom and WebRTC use, so people usually meet it as an exported voice note. Files are Ogg-encapsulated; VLC plays them anywhere, while some legacy players and car stereos still do not recognise the extension.
Converting it
A .opus file is commonly converted to .mp3, .wav, .ogg, .m4a or .flac. It is a binary format, so a text editor will show unreadable characters rather than its contents.
Details
- Extension
- .opus
- Full name
- Opus Audio
- Category
- Audio
- MIME type
- audio/ogg
- Created by
- Xiph.Org / IETF (RFC 6716)
- Format
- Binary
Common questions
- How do I open a .opus file?
- On Windows use VLC; on macOS use VLC; on Linux use VLC. The modern low-latency codec behind WhatsApp voice notes, Discord and web calls.
- What is a .opus file?
- Opus Audio. Opus is an IETF standard (RFC 6716) from Xiph.Org, Skype and Mozilla that beats every older codec at low bitrates and switches seamlessly between speech and music. It is what WhatsApp voice messages, Discord, Zoom and WebRTC use, so people usually meet it as an exported voice note.
- Can I convert a .opus file?
- Yes. It is usually converted to .mp3, .wav, .ogg, .m4a or .flac, either by exporting from one of the programs listed above or with a format converter.
Related pages
- .mp3 — MPEG-1 Audio Layer III The lossy audio format that made digital music portable, and still plays on ever
- .wav — Waveform Audio File Uncompressed audio — perfect quality, very large files, universal support.
- .m4a — MPEG-4 Audio Audio in an MP4 container — what iTunes, Voice Memos and most modern recorders p
- .flac — Free Lossless Audio Codec Compressed audio that throws nothing away — about half the size of WAV, bit-for-
- .aac — Advanced Audio Coding The successor to MP3 — better sound per byte, used by YouTube, Apple and broadca
- .ogg — Ogg Vorbis Audio The open, patent-free audio format used by Spotify, Wikipedia and countless game
- .mid — MIDI Sequence Not audio at all — a list of notes and instructions for a synthesiser to perform
- .m3u — Media Playlist A plain-text list of tracks or stream URLs — it holds no audio itself.
- .wma — Windows Media Audio Microsoft's music format from the Windows XP years, now legacy.
- .aiff — Audio Interchange File Format Apple's uncompressed audio format — the Mac equivalent of WAV.
- .m4b — MPEG-4 Audiobook An audiobook file that remembers your place and supports chapters.
- .amr — Adaptive Multi-Rate Audio The narrow-band speech codec behind old phone voice recordings and MMS messages.
Sources
- Media Types Registry — IANA
- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place