Core audio watermarking software technologies
Audio Watermarking Tools is a family of core digital audio watermarking DSP technologies. Each product in the AWT family is optimized for a different signal path, operating environment, and business use case - from forensic traceability and anti-piracy to over-the-air triggering and time-accurate signaling.
AWT1 |
Audio Watermarking Tools 1 (AWT1) - a source-reference-based audio watermarking and digital signing solution. AWT1 uses a so-called "strict watermarking" approach in which the original, non-watermarked source audio is required to detect and decode the watermark in the processed recording. Watermark extraction is performed by comparing the source and watermarked streams. AWT1 is well suited to controlled workflows that prioritize robustness and source-assisted verification. |
AWT2 |
Audio Watermarking Tools 2 (AWT2) - the flagship forensic watermarking and digital signing solution in the AWT family. AWT2 implements a "blind watermarking" approach, meaning the watermark can be extracted directly from the watermarked recording without access to the original source audio. AWT2 delivers industrial-grade robustness, workflow flexibility, and data rate for anti-piracy, authentication, monitoring, tracking, and forensic watermarking across digital and analog audio channels. |
AWT3 |
Audio Watermarking Tools 3 (AWT3) - a legacy audio triggering and watermarking solution originally designed for inaudible far-field, over-the-air digital signaling in applications such as interactive experiences and second-screen workflows. AWT3 is an archived product and has been superseded by AWT5 for new projects. |
AWT4 |
Audio Watermarking Tools 4 (AWT4) - an audio triggering, signaling, and watermarking solution for time-precise digital stamping with a high data rate. AWT4 enables sizable digital codes to be embedded into audio streams at exact moments in time in order to trigger time- and data-specific events with very high temporal accuracy (~30 ms). |
AWT5 |
Audio Watermarking Tools 5 (AWT5)
- a flagship audio triggering and watermarking solution specifically designed for reliable over-the-air (loudspeaker-to-microphone) signaling in real-world environments. AWT5 is built for applications that must survive lossy audio compression, broadcast transmission, mobile-device detection, and reverberant acoustic spaces such as living rooms, halls, radio, and TV playback environments. Typical AWT5 uses include second-screen synchronization, audience interaction, mobile triggering, forensic watermarking, and time-accurate signaling. |
AWT0 |
Audio Watermarking Tools 0 ("AWT-Zero") - a specialized solution for inaudible signaling over fully lossless PCM audio channels. AWT0 is particularly suitable for watermarking extremely short WAV PCM files and for triggering or data transfer over strictly lossless audio paths. |
Refer to the comparison table below to identify the best-fit AWT technology for your application.
Core audio fingerprinting and acoustic matching software technology
Audio Fingerprinting Tools (AFT) is our core acoustic fingerprinting and acoustic matching technology for content identification, monitoring, large-scale recognition, and acoustic de-duplication by means of compact acoustic hashes.
AFT |
Audio Fingerprinting Tools (AFT) — a robust acoustic fingerprinting solution for content matching, identification, monitoring, and de-duplication by means of acoustic hashing. |
Web-services
TrustedAudio.com — a secure, watermarked audio delivery platform for sharing, delivering, and distributing traceable audio files.
TrustedAudio supports both manual operation through its web interface and automated workflows via API.
Visit TrustedAudio.com...
AudioTag.info — a free music recognition service backed by a multi-million-track database:
AudioTag.info is available as both a web application and an API, and can be used commercially.
Visit AudioTag.info...
Detailed comparison of the core watermarking AWT solutions
| Applications and uses | AWT1 | AWT2 | AWT3 | AWT4 | AWT5 | AWT0 |
| Robust watermarking designed specifically for forensic purposes and anti-piracy | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| General purpose watermarking and digital signing enabling authentication, anti-piracy, back-tracing and forensic uses | Yes | Yes | Partially | Partially | Yes | Yes |
| Data-hiding, data-transmission mean for general purposes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (via lossless PCM channel only) |
| Reliable over-the-air sound transmission and triggering (e.g. for second-screen uses) | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Live broadcast monitoring (easy/fast automated watermarks search) | Partially | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (via lossless PCM channel only) |
| Events triggering by signaling via audio stream | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (via lossless PCM channel only) |
| Algorithm characterization | AWT1 | AWT2 | AWT3 | AWT4 | AWT5 | AWT0 |
| Decoder needs source (not watermarked) audio to find/extract watermark | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Overal watermarks robustness | Very high, insane | Very high | High | High | Very high | Minimal |
| Watermarks are inaudible | Yes | Yes | Yes | Almost | Yes | Yes |
| Watermarks survive wave editing (cutting, cropping, padding) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Watermarks survive time-stretching (playback speed variation) | No | Yes | Partially | Yes | Yes | No |
| Watermarks survive mixing | Yes | Partially | Yes | Partially | Partially | No |
| Watermarks survive lossy transcoding (MP3, Youtube, etc.) | Yes | Yes | Yes, with proper settings | Yes | Yes | No |
| Watermarks survive bandwidth limiting | Yes, fully | Yes, fully | Typically not | Yes, with proper settings | Yes | N/A |
| Watermarks survive FM radio transmission | Yes | Yes | Typically not | Yes, with proper settings | Yes | N/A |
| Watermarks survive transmission over telephone lines | Yes | Yes | No | Yes, with proper settings | Yes | N/A |
| Watermarks reliably survive air-transducing (sound transmission over the air, loudspeaker -> microphone) | Yes | Partially (on short distances) | Yes (even on long distances) | Partially (with proper settings) | Yes | No |
| Watermarks can be used for over-the-air triggering in reverberant environments | No | No | Yes (even on long distances) | Partially (with proper settings) | Yes | No |
| Very low-power watermark detection | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Watermarks are fully secret and cannot be detected by expert signal inspection | Yes | Yes | Partially | Partially | Partially | Yes |
| Minimal watermarkable audio duration | ~ 5 sec | ~ 5 sec | ~ 3 sec | ~ 3 sec | ~ 1 sec | ~ 20 ms |
| Watermark payload length | Up to 20 bytes* | Up to 120 bytes* | Up to 30 bytes* | Up to 48 bytes* | Up to 20 bytes* | Up to 128 bytes* |
| Multi-layer watermarking capabilities (multiple independent watermarks in one stream) | No | Yes, dual-layer | Partially | Yes, multiple layers | Yes | No |
| Time-accurate watermark placement and detection | No | ~8 sec precision | ~150 ms precision | ~30 ms precision | Up to ~150 ms precision | Up to ~5 ms precision |
| Default/typical watermark carrier frequency region | Low+mid range, fixed | Low+mid range, fixed | Ultra-sonic, configurable | Fully configurable | Low+mid range, ultrasonic, flexible | N/A (not frequency-based) |
| Types of AWT-watermarks that can co-exist in the same stream | AWT3, AWT4 | AWT3, AWT4 | AWT1, AWT2, AWT4 | AWT1, AWT2, AWT3 | AWT1, AWT2, AWT3, AWT4 | N/A |
| Encoding speed | Very high | Very high | High | Very high | Very high | Very high |
| Watermarking domain | Uncompressed | Uncompressed | Uncompressed | Uncompressed | Uncompressed | Uncompressed |
| Software and Deliverables | AWT1 | AWT2 | AWT3 | AWT4 | AWT5 | AWT0 |
| Free evaluation package available | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cross-platform software (Windows, Linux, Mac OS, mobiles) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Command line (CLI) file-to-file tools for easy automation and scripting on servers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SDK available | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SDK with real-time audio streams encoding & decoding capabilities | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Detailed documentation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Android app available | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
(*) subject to limitations in different packages
