SHN vs SPX
A detailed comparison of Shorten Audio and Speex Audio — file size, quality, compatibility, and which format to choose for your workflow.
Shorten Audio
Audio FilesShorten (SHN) is one of the earliest lossless audio compression formats, developed by Tony Robinson. It was widely used in the live music trading community for sharing concert recordings before FLAC became the dominant lossless format.
About SHN filesSpeex Audio
Audio FilesSpeex is an open-source audio compression format specifically designed for speech encoding. It uses Code-Excited Linear Prediction (CELP) and supports narrowband, wideband, and ultra-wideband modes for different speech quality requirements.
About SPX filesStrengths Comparison
SHN Strengths
- Lossless.
- Historical artifact of 1990s music trading.
- Modern decoder availability.
SPX Strengths
- Patent-free voice codec.
- Three sample-rate modes for voice.
- Low CPU decode.
Limitations
SHN Limitations
- Historically royalty-encumbered.
- Obsolete for new recordings.
- FLAC offers better compression.
SPX Limitations
- Deprecated in favor of Opus.
- No music support.
- Rarely used in new projects.
Technical Specifications
| Specification | SHN | SPX |
|---|---|---|
| MIME type | audio/x-shorten | audio/speex |
| Extension | .shn | .spx |
| Algorithm | Linear prediction + Rice coding | — |
| Successor | FLAC | Opus |
| Container | — | Ogg |
| Modes | — | Narrowband/Wideband/Ultra-wideband |
Typical File Sizes
SHN
- Full concert recording 300-500 MB
SPX
- 1 min voice (wideband 24 kbps) ~180 KB
Ready to convert?
Convert between SHN and SPX online, free, and without installing anything. Encrypted upload, automatic deletion after 2 hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
SHN (Shorten Audio) is an audio file format used to store sound recordings — music, voice, podcasts, sound effects. The format defines how the audio samples are compressed (or stored raw), what bitrates are supported, and how metadata such as title, artist, album, and cover art is embedded. It is part of the audio files family.
SPX (Speex Audio) is an audio file format used to store sound recordings — music, voice, podcasts, sound effects. The format defines how the audio samples are compressed (or stored raw), what bitrates are supported, and how metadata such as title, artist, album, and cover art is embedded. It is part of the audio files family.
VLC, foobar2000, and the default media players on Windows and macOS handle SHN natively. On mobile, iOS Music and Android media apps vary in their support — popular formats work everywhere; niche ones may need a dedicated app. If playback fails on a device, converting to MP3 or AAC usually solves it.
VLC, foobar2000, and the default media players on Windows and macOS handle SPX natively. On mobile, iOS Music and Android media apps vary in their support — popular formats work everywhere; niche ones may need a dedicated app. If playback fails on a device, converting to MP3 or AAC usually solves it.
Upload the SHN to KaijuConverter and pick MP3, WAV, FLAC, AAC, OGG, or any other target. Our FFmpeg pipeline decodes the audio and re-encodes to the target format at sensible default bitrates (VBR ~190 kbps for music, 96 kbps for speech). Metadata and cover art travel with the audio where both formats support them.
SHN can be lossy or lossless depending on the specific variant. Lossy variants (smaller files) discard some audio detail during compression in ways tuned to be inaudible; lossless variants preserve every sample exactly but produce larger files. For distribution, lossy at high bitrate is standard; for archival, lossless wins.