diff --git a/src/BizHawk.Common/FFmpegService.cs b/src/BizHawk.Common/FFmpegService.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1763f5a25d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/BizHawk.Common/FFmpegService.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,166 @@
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Diagnostics;
+using System.Linq;
+using System.Text;
+using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
+using System.IO;
+
+namespace BizHawk.Emulation.DiscSystem
+{
+	public class FFMpeg
+	{
+		public static string FFMpegPath;
+
+		public class AudioQueryResult
+		{
+			public bool IsAudio;
+		}
+
+		private static string[] Escape(IEnumerable<string> args)
+		{
+			return args.Select(s => s.Contains(" ") ? $"\"{s}\"" : s).ToArray();
+		}
+
+		//note: accepts . or : in the stream stream/substream separator in the stream ID format, since that changed at some point in FFMPEG history
+		//if someone has a better idea how to make the determination of whether an audio stream is available, I'm all ears
+		private static readonly Regex rxHasAudio = new Regex(@"Stream \#(\d*(\.|\:)\d*)\: Audio", RegexOptions.Compiled);
+		public AudioQueryResult QueryAudio(string path)
+		{
+			var ret = new AudioQueryResult();
+			string stdout = Run("-i", path).Text;
+			ret.IsAudio = rxHasAudio.Matches(stdout).Count > 0;
+			return ret;
+		}
+
+		/// <summary>
+		/// queries whether this service is available. if ffmpeg is broken or missing, then you can handle it gracefully
+		/// </summary>
+		public bool QueryServiceAvailable()
+		{
+			try
+			{
+				string stdout = Run("-version").Text;
+				if (stdout.Contains("ffmpeg version")) return true;
+			}
+			catch
+			{
+			}
+			return false;
+		}
+
+		public struct RunResults
+		{
+			public string Text;
+			public int ExitCode;
+		}
+
+		public RunResults Run(params string[] args)
+		{
+			args = Escape(args);
+			StringBuilder sbCmdline = new StringBuilder();
+			for (int i = 0; i < args.Length; i++)
+			{
+				sbCmdline.Append(args[i]);
+				if (i != args.Length - 1) sbCmdline.Append(' ');
+			}
+
+			ProcessStartInfo oInfo = new ProcessStartInfo(FFMpegPath, sbCmdline.ToString())
+				{
+					UseShellExecute = false,
+					CreateNoWindow = true,
+					RedirectStandardOutput = true,
+					RedirectStandardError = true
+				};
+
+			Process proc = Process.Start(oInfo);
+			string result = proc.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
+			result += proc.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
+			proc.WaitForExit();
+
+			return new RunResults
+			{
+				ExitCode = proc.ExitCode,
+				Text = result
+			};
+		}
+
+		/// <exception cref="InvalidOperationException">FFmpeg exited with non-zero exit code or produced no output</exception>
+		public byte[] DecodeAudio(string path)
+		{
+			string tempfile = Path.GetTempFileName();
+			try
+			{
+				var runResults = Run("-i", path, "-xerror", "-f", "wav", "-ar", "44100", "-ac", "2", "-acodec", "pcm_s16le", "-y", tempfile);
+				if(runResults.ExitCode != 0)
+					throw new InvalidOperationException($"Failure running ffmpeg for audio decode. here was its output:\r\n{runResults.Text}");
+				byte[] ret = File.ReadAllBytes(tempfile);
+				if (ret.Length == 0)
+					throw new InvalidOperationException($"Failure running ffmpeg for audio decode. here was its output:\r\n{runResults.Text}");
+				return ret;
+			}
+			finally
+			{
+				File.Delete(tempfile);
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	internal class AudioDecoder
+	{
+		[Serializable]
+		public class AudioDecoder_Exception : Exception
+		{
+			public AudioDecoder_Exception(string message)
+				: base(message)
+			{
+			}
+		}
+
+		public AudioDecoder()
+		{
+		}
+
+		private bool CheckForAudio(string path)
+		{
+			FFMpeg ffmpeg = new FFMpeg();
+			var qa = ffmpeg.QueryAudio(path);
+			return qa.IsAudio;
+		}
+
+		/// <summary>
+		/// finds audio at a path similar to the provided path (i.e. finds Track01.mp3 for Track01.wav)
+		/// TODO - isnt this redundant with CueFileResolver?
+		/// </summary>
+		private string FindAudio(string audioPath)
+		{
+			string basePath = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(audioPath);
+			//look for potential candidates
+			var di = new DirectoryInfo(Path.GetDirectoryName(audioPath));
+			var fis = di.GetFiles();
+			//first, look for the file type we actually asked for
+			foreach (var fi in fis)
+			{
+				if (fi.FullName.ToUpper() == audioPath.ToUpper())
+					if (CheckForAudio(fi.FullName))
+						return fi.FullName;
+			}
+			//then look for any other type
+			foreach (var fi in fis)
+			{
+				if (Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(fi.FullName).ToUpper() == basePath.ToUpper())
+				{
+					if (CheckForAudio(fi.FullName))
+					{
+						return fi.FullName;
+					}
+				}
+			}
+			return null;
+		}
+
+		/// <exception cref="AudioDecoder_Exception">could not find source audio for <paramref name="audioPath"/></exception>
+		public byte[] AcquireWaveData(string audioPath) => new FFMpeg()
+			.DecodeAudio(FindAudio(audioPath) ?? throw new AudioDecoder_Exception($"Could not find source audio for: {Path.GetFileName(audioPath)}"));
+	}
+}
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