Title: Use soundfile for mp3 decoding instead of torchaudio
Author: polinaeterna (CONTRIBUTOR)
State: closed
Created: 2023-02-23T19:19:44Z

I've removed `torchaudio` completely and switched to use `soundfile` for everything. With the new version of `soundfile` package this should work smoothly because the `libsndfile` C library is bundled, in Linux wheels too. 

Let me know if you think it's too harsh and we should continue to support `torchaudio` decoding.

I decided that we can drop it completely because:
1. it's always something wrong with `torchaudio` (for example recently https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/issues/5488 )
2. the results of mp3 decoding are different depending on `torchaudio` version 
3. `soundfile` is slightly faster then the latest `torchaudio`
4. anyway users can pass any custom decoding function with any library they want if needed (worth putting a snippet in the docs).

cc @sanchit-gandhi @vaibhavad

Comments:
_The documentation is not available anymore as the PR was closed or merged._

@mariosasko thank you for the review! do you have any idea why `test_hash_torch_tensor` fails on "ubuntu-latest deps-minimum"? I removed the `torchaudio<0.12.0` test dependency so it uses the latest `torch` now, might it be connected?

@polinaeterna The failure is due to `torch.from_numpy` not being picklable in newer versions of PyTorch. You can replace the current definition of `_save_tensor` in `utils/py_utils.py` with the following one to fix it: 

```python
@pklregister(obj_type)
def _save_tensor(pickler, obj):
    # `torch.from_numpy` is not picklable in `torch>=1.11.0`
    def _create_tensor(np_array):
        return torch.from_numpy(np_array)

    dill_log(pickler, f"To: {obj}")
    args = (obj.detach().cpu().numpy(),)
    pickler.save_reduce(_create_tensor, args, obj=obj)
    dill_log(pickler, "# To")
    return
```

(doing a patch release now - please wait before merging ^^)

@mariosasko génial, merci!! i've integrated all your changes, can you pls take a look one more time?

Patch release is done (I did it from another branch than `main` anyway)

<details>
<summary>Show benchmarks</summary>

PyArrow==6.0.0

<details>
<summary>Show updated benchmarks!</summary>

### Benchmark: benchmark_array_xd.json

| metric | read_batch_formatted_as_numpy after write_array2d | read_batch_formatted_as_numpy after write_flattened_sequence | read_batch_formatted_as_numpy after write_nested_sequence | read_batch_unformated after write_array2d | read_batch_unformated after write_flattened_sequence | read_batch_unformated after write_nested_sequence | read_col_formatted_as_numpy after write_array2d | read_col_formatted_as_numpy after write_flattened_sequence | read_col_formatted_as_numpy after write_nested_sequence | read_col_unformated after write_array2d | read_col_unformated after write_flattened_sequence | read_col_unformated after write_nested_sequence | read_formatted_as_numpy after write_array2d | read_formatted_as_numpy after write_flattened_sequence | read_formatted_as_numpy after write_nested_sequence | read_unformated after write_array2d | read_unformated after write_flattened_sequence | read_unformated after write_nested_sequence | write_array2d | write_flattened_sequence | write_nested_sequence |
|--------|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| new / old (diff) | 0.010927 / 0.011353 (-0.000426) | 0.006232 / 0.011008 (-0.004776) | 0.119815 / 0.038508 (0.081307) | 0.034138 / 0.023109 (0.011029) | 0.349945 / 0.275898 (0.074047) | 0.404967 / 0.323480 (0.081487) | 0.008672 / 0.007986 (0.000687) | 0.005010 / 0.004328 (0.000681) | 0.091931 / 0.004250 (0.087680) | 0.042534 / 0.037052 (0.005482) | 0.374701 / 0.258489 (0.116212) | 0.401027 / 0.293841 (0.107186) | 0.053523 / 0.128546 (-0.075024) | 0.019704 / 0.075646 (-0.055942) | 0.384207 / 0.419271 (-0.035064) | 0.065350 / 0.043533 (0.021817) | 0.375074 / 0.255139 (0.119935) | 0.390458 / 0.283200 (0.107259) | 0.110549 / 0.141683 (-0.031134) | 1.719812 / 1.452155 (0.267657) | 1.748906 / 1.492716 (0.256190) |

### Benchmark: benchmark_getitem\_100B.json

| metric | get_batch_of\_1024\_random_rows | get_batch_of\_1024\_rows | get_first_row | get_last_row |
|--------|---|---|---|---|
| new / old (diff) | 0.210051 / 0.018006 (0.192045) | 0.546503 / 0.000490 (0.546013) | 0.004078 / 0.000200 (0.003878) | 0.000111 / 0.000054 (0.000056) |

### Benchmark: benchmark_indices_mapping.json

| metric | select | shard | shuffle | sort | train_test_split |
|--------|---|---|---|---|---|
| new / old (diff) | 0.030212 / 0.037411 (-0.007199) | 0.121845 / 0.014526 (0.107319) | 0.136309 / 0.176557 (-0.040247) | 0.204667 / 0.737135 (-0.532468) | 0.157327 / 0.296338 (-0.139012) |

### Benchmark: benchmark_iterating.json

| metric | read 5000 | read 50000 | read_batch 50000 10 | read_batch 50000 100 | read_batch 50000 1000 | read_formatted numpy 5000 | read_formatted pandas 5000 | read_formatted tensorflow 5000 | read_formatted torch 5000 | read_formatted_batch numpy 5000 10 | read_formatted_batch numpy 5000 1000 | shuffled read 5000 | shuffled read 50000 | shuffled read_batch 50000 10 | shuffled read_batch 50000 100 | shuffled read_batch 50000 1000 | shuffled read_formatted numpy 5000 | shuffled read_formatted_batch numpy 5000 10 | shuffled read_formatted_batch numpy 5000 1000 |
|--------|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| new / old (diff) | 0.672548 / 0.215209 (0.457339) | 6.239409 / 2.077655 (4.161754) | 2.462441 / 1.504120 (0.958322) | 2.063985 / 1.541195 (0.522791) | 2.098858 / 1.468490 (0.630368) | 1.262600 / 4.584777 (-3.322177) | 5.478462 / 3.745712 (1.732750) | 5.454672 / 5.269862 (0.184810) | 2.991866 / 4.565676 (-1.573810) | 0.153415 / 0.424275 (-0.270861) | 0.015061 / 0.007607 (0.007454) | 0.796115 / 0.226044 (0.570071) | 8.206858 / 2.268929 (5.937930) | 3.226395 / 55.444624 (-52.218229) | 2.503522 / 6.876477 (-4.372955) | 2.547489 / 2.142072 (0.405417) | 1.504776 / 4.805227 (-3.300451) | 0.256536 / 6.500664 (-6.244128) | 0.078543 / 0.075469 (0.003073) |

### Benchmark: benchmark_map_filter.json

| metric | filter | map fast-tokenizer batched | map identity | map identity batched | map no-op batched | map no-op batched numpy | map no-op batched pandas | map no-op batched pytorch | map no-op batched tensorflow |
|--------|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| new / old (diff) | 1.591109 / 1.841788 (-0.250678) | 18.153317 / 8.074308 (10.079008) | 20.465684 / 10.191392 (10.274292) | 0.229808 / 0.680424 (-0.450616) | 0.045263 / 0.534201 (-0.488938) | 0.556760 / 0.579283 (-0.022524) | 0.614985 / 0.434364 (0.180622) | 0.635675 / 0.540337 (0.095337) | 0.729817 / 1.386936 (-0.657119) |

</details>
PyArrow==latest

<details>
<summary>Show updated benchmarks!</summary>

### Benchmark: benchmark_array_xd.json

| metric | read_batch_formatted_as_numpy after write_array2d | read_batch_formatted_as_numpy after write_flattened_sequence | read_batch_formatted_as_numpy after write_nested_sequence | read_batch_unformated after write_array2d | read_batch_unformated after write_flattened_sequence | read_batch_unformated after write_nested_sequence | read_col_formatted_as_numpy after write_array2d | read_col_formatted_as_numpy after write_flattened_sequence | read_col_formatted_as_numpy after write_nested_sequence | read_col_unformated after write_array2d | read_col_unformated after write_flattened_sequence | read_col_unformated after write_nested_sequence | read_formatted_as_numpy after write_array2d | read_formatted_as_numpy after write_flattened_sequence | read_formatted_as_numpy after write_nested_sequence | read_unformated after write_array2d | read_unformated after write_flattened_sequence | read_unformated after write_nested_sequence | write_array2d | write_flattened_sequence | write_nested_sequence |
|--------|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| new / old (diff) | 0.011247 / 0.011353 (-0.000106) | 0.006823 / 0.011008 (-0.004185) | 0.101989 / 0.038508 (0.063481) | 0.036077 / 0.023109 (0.012968) | 0.413469 / 0.275898 (0.137571) | 0.505560 / 0.323480 (0.182080) | 0.007506 / 0.007986 (-0.000480) | 0.006369 / 0.004328 (0.002040) | 0.099597 / 0.004250 (0.095346) | 0.058115 / 0.037052 (0.021063) | 0.414735 / 0.258489 (0.156246) | 0.466801 / 0.293841 (0.172960) | 0.064771 / 0.128546 (-0.063775) | 0.021100 / 0.075646 (-0.054546) | 0.135407 / 0.419271 (-0.283864) | 0.068784 / 0.043533 (0.025251) | 0.410467 / 0.255139 (0.155328) | 0.465993 / 0.283200 (0.182794) | 0.119404 / 0.141683 (-0.022279) | 1.767107 / 1.452155 (0.314952) | 1.938342 / 1.492716 (0.445626) |

### Benchmark: benchmark_getitem\_100B.json

| metric | get_batch_of\_1024\_random_rows | get_batch_of\_1024\_rows | get_first_row | get_last_row |
|--------|---|---|---|---|
| new / old (diff) | 0.227038 / 0.018006 (0.209032) | 0.511389 / 0.000490 (0.510899) | 0.006723 / 0.000200 (0.006523) | 0.000118 / 0.000054 (0.000064) |

### Benchmark: benchmark_indices_mapping.json

| metric | select | shard | shuffle | sort | train_test_split |
|--------|---|---|---|---|---|
| new / old (diff) | 0.033078 / 0.037411 (-0.004333) | 0.133159 / 0.014526 (0.118633) | 0.147928 / 0.176557 (-0.028629) | 0.214005 / 0.737135 (-0.523130) | 0.151655 / 0.296338 (-0.144683) |

### Benchmark: benchmark_iterating.json

| metric | read 5000 | read 50000 | read_batch 50000 10 | read_batch 50000 100 | read_batch 50000 1000 | read_formatted numpy 5000 | read_formatted pandas 5000 | read_formatted tensorflow 5000 | read_formatted torch 5000 | read_formatted_batch numpy 5000 10 | read_formatted_batch numpy 5000 1000 | shuffled read 5000 | shuffled read 50000 | shuffled read_batch 50000 10 | shuffled read_batch 50000 100 | shuffled read_batch 50000 1000 | shuffled read_formatted numpy 5000 | shuffled read_formatted_batch numpy 5000 10 | shuffled read_formatted_batch numpy 5000 1000 |
|--------|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| new / old (diff) | 0.634829 / 0.215209 (0.419620) | 6.578640 / 2.077655 (4.500985) | 2.673598 / 1.504120 (1.169478) | 2.338671 / 1.541195 (0.797476) | 2.389104 / 1.468490 (0.920614) | 1.274938 / 4.584777 (-3.309839) | 5.746524 / 3.745712 (2.000812) | 5.992084 / 5.269862 (0.722222) | 3.092090 / 4.565676 (-1.473587) | 0.150375 / 0.424275 (-0.273900) | 0.015470 / 0.007607 (0.007863) | 0.792962 / 0.226044 (0.566918) | 8.057491 / 2.268929 (5.788563) | 3.483966 / 55.444624 (-51.960659) | 2.715038 / 6.876477 (-4.161438) | 2.747186 / 2.142072 (0.605114) | 1.532951 / 4.805227 (-3.272276) | 0.262214 / 6.500664 (-6.238450) | 0.081308 / 0.075469 (0.005839) |

### Benchmark: benchmark_map_filter.json

| metric | filter | map fast-tokenizer batched | map identity | map identity batched | map no-op batched | map no-op batched numpy | map no-op batched pandas | map no-op batched pytorch | map no-op batched tensorflow |
|--------|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| new / old (diff) | 1.698448 / 1.841788 (-0.143340) | 18.590002 / 8.074308 (10.515694) | 20.584508 / 10.191392 (10.393116) | 0.227237 / 0.680424 (-0.453187) | 0.028445 / 0.534201 (-0.505756) | 0.527874 / 0.579283 (-0.051409) | 0.602844 / 0.434364 (0.168480) | 0.672948 / 0.540337 (0.132611) | 0.788103 / 1.386936 (-0.598833) |

</details>
</details>

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