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Opera's Sonic Visualizer Syncs Music to Dynamic Browser Themes
15 Nov
Summary
- Opera's new Sonic visualizer transforms Spotify music into dynamic browser backgrounds
- Sonic uses WebGPU standard to generate animated themes that respond to audio
- Opera One browser offers Spotify integration and potential Premium subscription upgrade
As of November 15th, 2025, Opera has introduced a new feature called Sonic to its Opera One browser. Sonic is a visualizer that transforms Spotify music into a dynamic, animated background for the browser.
The Sonic theme utilizes the WebGPU standard to generate these animated backgrounds that respond to the audio being played. According to Opera, the browser "captures audio from the sidebar and converts it into a power spectrum texture, where one axis represents frequency and the other represents time." This texture is then passed to a shader, which uses the user's PC graphics engine to create visual effects that sync with the music.
In addition to the Sonic visualizer, Opera One also comes with a built-in music player that is set to Spotify by default. Users will have the opportunity to upgrade to a Spotify Premium subscription as part of the browser upgrade.
While Sonic may not be as advanced as the classic Winamp visualizer, Opera has significantly more resources than the Winamp team. The company says it plans to continue iterating on the feature, potentially making it an even more compelling addition to the Opera One browser.
