I’m curious, why does this require OpenSSL in order to compile? I’m not aware of any audio formats that use encryption, but I could be wrong.

My first thought was for connecting to https streams, but I don’t remember Winamp having this capability. “Back in the day,” I used Winamp for playing local audio and RealPlayer for what little streaming was available.

I have the utmost respect for the ffmpeg developers; writing ASM is a skill I do not possess. I do have to wonder, though, would it be easier for cross-platform compatibility to write in C instead. I have always understood that C generally compiles almost directly to assembly with little to no abstraction overhead, and it would not require platform-specific ASM code. What is the logic in choosing ASM over C? I have no doubt there is a good reason.