Most WordPress sites still use the stock <audio> player — functional, but plain. For us, that wasn’t enough. We wanted audio playback that matched the tone of our site: futuristic, immersive, and alive.
That’s how the Cyberpunk Waveform Plugin came to life. Instead of the default gray bar, we designed a glowing, neon waveform player with a glassy interface and pulsing play button. Every audio shortcode and Gutenberg Audio block is transformed into a cyberpunk-styled experience, turning ordinary blog posts into something that looks and feels like part of a sci-fi cityscape.
But we didn’t stop at visuals. Performance matters. Heavy .mp3 files add up, and self-hosted sites can suffer under that weight. To keep pages fast, we convert all audio into the .opus format. Opus delivers smaller file sizes without sacrificing quality — ideal for streaming and for readers who expect instant playback.
The problem? WordPress doesn’t officially support opus out of the box. That’s why we built a second plugin: WP Opus Audio Support. It’s lightweight — just a few lines of PHP — but it unlocks .opus processing across the site. Uploading and embedding .opus tracks becomes seamless, and our Cyberpunk Waveform Plugin can then visualize them just like any other audio file.
Together, these two plugins create a balance:
- Style → Cyberpunk visuals that transform audio playback into a neon experience.
- Speed → Optimized
.opusfiles for efficient delivery and fast site performance.
This isn’t just about playing music. It’s about rethinking how WordPress can serve media: faster, cooler, and more in tune with the future. With our cyberpunk-styled player and .opus optimization, WordPress audio finally feels like it belongs in tomorrow’s web.
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