There seems to be an error in the MP3 decoder. Some low volume parts of MP3s are decoded incorrectly. This problem doesn't occur with other decoders -- both mpg123 and WinAMPs default decoder (whatever it is based upon) work just fine. According to the decoder's error messages (see below) and due to the fact that the "high-precision/low-precision MPEG audio" configure switch doesn't have any influence, I suspect that the error is somewhere in the huffman decoder. The example file is an excerpt of > ftp://ftp.scene.org/pub/music/groups/uran97/034/%5Buran97_034%5D_02_dq_-_take_that.mp3 I also noticed the same problem in > ftp://ftp.de.scene.org/pub/parties/2006/assembly06/demo/1995_by_kewlers_mfx.zip (the very end of file data/VR078f.mp3) Here's an output of the current SVN revision, 7750: [martin@dothan ffmpeg]$ ./ffplay takethat.mp3 mdb:333, lastbuf:0 skiping granule 0 mdb:333, lastbuf:0 skiping granule 0 mdb:333, lastbuf:0 skiping granule 0 mdb:333, lastbuf:0 skiping granule 0 bits_left=652 bits_left=552 bits_left=628 bits_left=642 bits_left=611 bits_left=575 bits_left=662 bits_left=533 bits_left=645 bits_left=572 bits_left=670 bits_left=671 bits_left=561 bits_left=731 bits_left=806 bits_left=820 bits_left=899 bits_left=968 bits_left=1077 bits_left=965 bits_left=680 bits_left=957 bits_left=960 bits_left=1129 bits_left=1113 bits_left=1159 bits_left=1213 bits_left=1201 bits_left=1218 bits_left=1217 bits_left=1267 bits_left=1297 bits_left=1060 bits_left=1273 bits_left=968 bits_left=1361 bits_left=1271 bits_left=1313 bits_left=1068 bits_left=1353 bits_left=1316 bits_left=1353 bits_left=1333 bits_left=1100 bits_left=1519 bits_left=1533 bits_left=1407 bits_left=1454 bits_left=1598 bits_left=1580 bits_left=1264 bits_left=1352 bits_left=1677 bits_left=1673 bits_left=1384 bits_left=1424 bits_left=1726 bits_left=1733 bits_left=1677 bits_left=1392 bits_left=1795 bits_left=1839 bits_left=1845 bits_left=1859 bits_left=1894 overread, skip -6 enddists: -4 -4 overread, skip -5 enddists: -2 -2 bits_left=1551 overread, skip -5 enddists: -2 -2 overread, skip -9 enddists: -7 -7 overread, skip -5 enddists: -4 -4 bits_left=1564 overread, skip -10 enddists: -9 -9 overread, skip -7 enddists: -1 -1 overread, skip -9 enddists: -7 -7 bits_left=1851 bits_left=1894 overread, skip -9 enddists: -8 -8 overread, skip -7 enddists: -3 -3 bits_left=1878 overread, skip -5 enddists: -2 -2 overread, skip -7 enddists: -5 -5 bits_left=1935 overread, skip -7 enddists: -6 -6 overread, skip -5 enddists: -4 -4 overread, skip -5 enddists: -2 -2 bits_left=1906 overread, skip -5 enddists: -2 -2 overread, skip -5 enddists: -1 -1 bits_left=1905 overread, skip -8 enddists: -7 -7 overread, skip -5 enddists: -4 -4 overread, skip -7 enddists: -6 -6 bits_left=1894 overread, skip -7 enddists: -3 -3 overread, skip -9 enddists: -1 -1 overread, skip -6 enddists: -3 -3 bits_left=1916 overread, skip -7 enddists: -2 -2 overread, skip -7 enddists: -6 -6 bits_left=1937 overread, skip -5 enddists: -1 -1 overread, skip -7 enddists: -4 -4 overread, skip -7 enddists: -2 -2 bits_left=1872 overread, skip -5 enddists: -3 -3 overread, skip -9 enddists: -2 -2 overread, skip -7 enddists: -1 -1 bits_left=1885 overread, skip -6 enddists: -3 -3 overread, skip -6 enddists: -3 -3 bits_left=1866 overread, skip -7 enddists: -3 -3 overread, skip -8 enddists: -3 -3 bits_left=1566 overread, skip -8 enddists: -1 -1 overread, skip -7 enddists: -5 -5 overread, skip -9 enddists: -6 -6 bits_left=1874 overread, skip -7 enddists: -4 -4 bits_left=1922 overread, skip -5 enddists: -1 -1 overread, skip -7 enddists: -2 -2 overread, skip -5 enddists: -1 -1 bits_left=1888 overread, skip -6 enddists: -2 -2 overread, skip -7 enddists: -6 -6 bits_left=1884 overread, skip -7 enddists: -3 -3 overread, skip -7 enddists: -1 -1 overread, skip -7 enddists: -6 -6 bits_left=1904 overread, skip -5 enddists: -2 -2 bits_left=1905 overread, skip -5 enddists: -2 -2 overread, skip -7 enddists: -1 -1 bits_left=1917 overread, skip -9 enddists: -1 -1 overread, skip -10 enddists: -5 -5 bits_left=1969 overread, skip -7 enddists: -4 -4 overread, skip -7 enddists: -2 -2 overread, skip -7 enddists: -5 -5 bits_left=1905 overread, skip -7 enddists: -1 -1 overread, skip -9 enddists: -5 -5 bits_left=1908 overread, skip -5 enddists: -1 -1 overread, skip -9 enddists: -6 -6 bits_left=1978 overread, skip -9 enddists: -8 -8 overread, skip -5 enddists: -1 -1 bits_left=1986 overread, skip -5 enddists: -4 -4 bits_left=1986 overread, skip -9 enddists: -8 -8 overread, skip -7 enddists: -6 -6 bits_left=1626 overread, skip -9 enddists: -7 -7 overread, skip -5 enddists: -1 -1 bits_left=1643 overread, skip -9 enddists: -5 -5 bits_left=1947 overread, skip -7 enddists: -1 -1 overread, skip -9 enddists: -6 -6 overread, skip -8 enddists: -2 -2 bits_left=1989 overread, skip -7 enddists: -5 -5 overread, skip -7 enddists: -3 -3 overread, skip -9 enddists: -5 -5 bits_left=1996 overread, skip -8 enddists: -4 -4 overread, skip -10 enddists: -8 -8 bits_left=1996 bits_left=1982 overread, skip -8 enddists: -3 -3 bits_left=1975 overread, skip -6 enddists: -1 -1 overread, skip -5 enddists: -3 -3 bits_left=1944 overread, skip -9 enddists: -7 -7 bits_left=1977 overread, skip -5 enddists: -2 -2 bits_left=1980 overread, skip -7 enddists: -1 -1 overread, skip -7 enddists: -5 -5 bits_left=2004 overread, skip -5 enddists: -4 -4 overread, skip -8 enddists: -3 -3 bits_left=2010 overread, skip -9 enddists: -8 -8 bits_left=1968 overread, skip -7 enddists: -6 -6 overread, skip -7 enddists: -1 -1 bits_left=2006 overread, skip -7 enddists: -2 -2 bits_left=2047 overread, skip -5 enddists: -4 -4 bits_left=2007 overread, skip -5 enddists: -4 -4 overread, skip -7 enddists: -4 -4 bits_left=1998 overread, skip -5 enddists: -2 -2 bits_left=-2 bits_left=2032 overread, skip -7 enddists: -2 -2 overread, skip -9 enddists: -3 -3 bits_left=2021 overread, skip -7 enddists: -4 -4 overread, skip -9 enddists: -8 -8 bits_left=1672 overread, skip -9 enddists: -6 -6 bits_left=2035 overread, skip -7 enddists: -1 -1 overread, skip -7 enddists: -6 -6 bits_left=2071 overread, skip -8 enddists: -2 -2 overread, skip -5 enddists: -1 -1 bits_left=2031 overread, skip -9 enddists: -5 -5 bits_left=2027 overread, skip -5 enddists: -3 -3 bits_left=2028 overread, skip -5 enddists: -2 -2 bits_left=2036 overread, skip -7 enddists: -4 -4 bits_left=2074 overread, skip -9 enddists: -2 -2 bits_left=2087 overread, skip -9 enddists: -1 -1 bits_left=2070 overread, skip -9 enddists: -7 -7 bits_left=2082 overread, skip -10 enddists: -9 -9 overread, skip -5 enddists: -4 -4 bits_left=2119 bits_left=-6 bits_left=1751 bits_left=2119 overread, skip -5 enddists: -3 -3 bits_left=2096 bits_left=1735 overread, skip -5 enddists: -3 -3 bits_left=2118 overread, skip -9 enddists: -1 -1 bits_left=2122 overread, skip -7 enddists: -2 -2 bits_left=2110 overread, skip -7 enddists: -6 -6 bits_left=2137 bits_left=2123 overread, skip -9 enddists: -4 -4 bits_left=2147 overread, skip -4 enddists: -3 -3 overread, skip -6 enddists: -5 -5 bits_left=2147 overread, skip -5 enddists: -1 -1 bits_left=2134 bits_left=2128 overread, skip -9 enddists: -3 -3 bits_left=2158 overread, skip -4 enddists: -3 -3 bits_left=2151 bits_left=2171 bits_left=-5 bits_left=2217 bits_left=1847 bits_left=2232 bits_left=2230 bits_left=2236 overread, skip -4 enddists: -3 -3 bits_left=2267 bits_left=2256 overread, skip -4 enddists: -1 -1 overread, skip -4 enddists: -2 -2 bits_left=2288 overread, skip -4 enddists: -1 -1 bits_left=1914 bits_left=1925 bits_left=1934 overread, skip -4 enddists: -2 -2 overread, skip -4 enddists: -2 -2 bits_left=1946 overread, skip -4 enddists: -1 -1 bits_left=1970 overread, skip -4 enddists: -2 -2 bits_left=2363 bits_left=2376 bits_left=2426 overread, skip -4 enddists: -2 -2 bits_left=2443 bits_left=2514 bits_left=2520 [...] (repeats a few times) bits_left=2520 invalid new backstep 519 bits_left=2520