This format was originally created as an alternative to mp3. The idea was to achieve a small file size with better sound quality. The first versions weren’t quite successful, but with the development of AAC, it became possible to store sound with less loss of quality, and with the same file sizes as that of mp3.

An SPX file is a Speex audio file saved within an Ogg Vorbis container. Speex is an open source patent-free audio format designed for speech compression. It supports variable bitrate (VBR) encoding and several features not found in other audio codecs. Some examples include embedded encoding, intensity stereo encoding, and voice activity detection.