Current audio formats present a fundamental trade-off between file size and functionality: lossless formats like FLAC preserve quality but lack adaptability, while lossy formats reduce size at the cost of fidelity and offer no stem-level access.We introduce the Stem-Native Codec (SNC), a novel audio container format that stores music as independently encoded stems plus a low-energy mastering residual. By exploiting the lower information entropy of separated stems compared to mixed audio, SNC achieves a 38.2% file size reduction versus FLAC (7.76 MB vs. 12.55 MB for a 2:18 test track) while maintaining perceptual transparency (STOI = 0.996). Unlike existing formats, SNC enables context-aware adaptive playback, spatial audio rendering, and user-controlled remixing without requiring additional storage. Our experimental validation demonstrates that the stems-plus residual architecture successfully decouples the conflicting requirements of compression efficiency and feature richness, offering a practical path toward next-generation audio distribution systems.

翻译：当前音频格式在文件大小与功能之间存在根本性权衡：FLAC等无损格式虽能保持音质但缺乏适应性，而有损格式虽减小了文件尺寸却以牺牲保真度为代价，且无法提供音轨级访问。我们提出原生音轨编解码器（SNC），这是一种新型音频容器格式，可将音乐存储为独立编码的音轨加上低能量母带残差。通过利用分离音轨相较于混合音频具有更低信息熵的特性，SNC相比FLAC实现了38.2%的文件大小缩减（针对2分18秒测试曲目，从12.55 MB降至7.76 MB），同时保持感知透明度（STOI = 0.996）。与现有格式不同，SNC无需额外存储即可实现情境感知自适应播放、空间音频渲染和用户可控混音。我们的实验验证表明，音轨加残差架构成功解耦了压缩效率与功能丰富性之间的冲突需求，为下一代音频分发系统提供了可行路径。