Abstract

A method is provided for analysing the self-similarity of an audio file. The method involves obtaining the audio spectrum envelope data of an audio file to be analysed; performing a clustering operation on the spectrum envelope data to produce a clustered set of data; for a first portion of the clustered data, performing a string matching operation on at least one other portion of the clustered data; and based on the results of the string matching operation, determining the at least one other portion of the clustered data most similar to said first portion of the clustered data. There is also provided a method of repairing an audio stream received over a network using similarity data to replace damaged or missing portions of data with similar "good" portions of data.