https://ask.vrchat.com/t/developer-update-13-march-2025/
Steam Audio Entering Open Beta Soon… wait, really, are you sure? Guys, is this real? Team? Hello?
"Yes – you read that right. But, like, chill for a second, because while Steam Audio is coming to Open Beta soon, we need to be clear about what we mean by that.
So, from the top:
Currently, VRChat uses ONSP as our audio spatializer. We’re looking to replace it with Steam Audio due to a number of engineering challenges that have accrued over the years, as well as Steam Audio’s ability to support additional platforms.
On top of that, Steam Audio also has some additional features that we’d like to add to VRChat (although those won’t be included in this particular upcoming Open Beta).
As many users are aware, there’s been a behind-the-scenes beta of Steam Audio going for a… long time. As you can imagine, audio takes quite a bit of time to get right.
We’re getting very close to moving that to Open Beta, however – with the main focus being ensuring things work with our current content, within a certain reasonable frame of comparison. We want to try to avoid creators having to re-author content they’ve built using ONSP. Perfection isn’t a reasonable aim here, but we would like to get as close as we can.
Keep in mind, to some extent, there will be differences that folks notice – both positive and negative. That’s the nature of switching an audio spatializer!
Finally – and this is important! – we are mostly simply looking to replace our basic functionality via Steam Audio. While Steam Audio does potentially bring with it a lot of really exciting features, it’s likely that it will be some time before those pop up (if at all). Once again, the focus right now is content compatibility!"