alnitak/flutter_soloud_docsflutter_soloud

Loading Audio

Learn how to load and manage audio sources in flutter_soloud

Overview

flutter_soloud provides multiple ways to load audio content:

  • 📂 Local files
  • 📦 Assets
  • 🌐 Network URLs
  • 💾 Memory buffers
  • 🌊 Generated waveforms

Audio Source Management

Each loaded sound returns an AudioSource that must be managed:

// Load and store the audio source
final sound = await SoLoud.instance.loadFile('path/to/sound.mp3');

// Use the sound multiple times
final handle1 = await SoLoud.instance.play(sound);
final handle2 = await SoLoud.instance.play(sound);

// Clean up when no longer needed
await SoLoud.instance.disposeSource(sound);

Automatic Cleanup

Listen to allInstancesFinished to automatically dispose when all instances complete:

final sound = await SoLoud.instance.loadFile('path/to/sound.mp3');
sound.allInstancesFinished.first.then((_) {
  SoLoud.instance.disposeSource(sound);
});
await SoLoud.instance.play(sound);

Loading Methods

From Files

final sound = await SoLoud.instance.loadFile(
  '/path/to/sound.mp3',
  mode: LoadMode.memory, // Default
);

[!IMPORTANT]
Loading from files is not supported on Web platform. Use loadMem() instead when targeting web.

Memory modes:

  • LoadMode.memory - Full file in RAM (better performance)
  • LoadMode.disk - Stream from disk (less memory usage)

From Assets

final sound = await SoLoud.instance.loadAsset(
  'assets/sound.mp3',
  mode: LoadMode.memory,
  assetBundle: rootBundle, // Optional
);

From Network

final sound = await SoLoud.instance.loadUrl(
  'https://example.com/sound.mp3',
  mode: LoadMode.memory,
  httpClient: client, // Optional custom client
);

From Memory

final bytes = await File('sound.mp3').readAsBytes();
final sound = await SoLoud.instance.loadMem(
  'reference_name.mp3',
  bytes,
  mode: LoadMode.memory,
);
When targeting web platform, this is the recommended method to load audio files. You can load the bytes from your assets or network sources.

Format Support

Supported audio formats:

FormatExtensionDescription
MP3.mp3Most common compressed format
WAV.wavUncompressed PCM audio
OGG.oggFree compressed format
FLAC.flacLossless compression

Best Practices

Memory Management

  • Reuse loaded sounds instead of loading multiple times
  • Dispose sounds when no longer needed
  • Use LoadMode.disk for large background music files
  • Use LoadMode.memory for sound effects needing quick access

Performance

  • Load frequently used sounds at app startup
  • Consider memory constraints when loading multiple files
  • Use appropriate load modes based on usage patterns
  • Implement proper error handling for all load operations

Error Handling

try {
  final sound = await SoLoud.instance.loadFile('path/to/sound.mp3');
} on SoLoudNotInitializedException {
  print('Initialize SoLoud first');
} on SoLoudFileLoadFailedException {
  print('Could not load audio file');
} catch (e) {
  print('Unexpected error: $e');
}
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