diff --git a/src/audio/utils.cpp b/src/audio/utils.cpp
index 3ac1b9867..90eec92c3 100644
--- a/src/audio/utils.cpp
+++ b/src/audio/utils.cpp
@@ -76,23 +76,34 @@ static void format_to_out_bps(char *out, int bps, int32_t out_value);
  * Loads sample with BPS width and returns it cast to
  * int32_t.
  */
-template <int BPS>
-static int32_t
-load_sample(const char *data)
-{
-        int32_t ret = 0;
-#if __BYTE_ORDER__ == __ORDER_LITTLE_ENDIAN__
-        memcpy(&ret, data, BPS);
-#else
-        memcpy((char *) &ret + 4 - BPS, data, BPS);
-#endif
-        return ret;
+template<int BPS> static int32_t load_sample(const char *data);
+
+template<> int32_t load_sample<1>(const char *data) {
+        return *reinterpret_cast<const int8_t *>(data);
+}
+
+template<> int32_t load_sample<2>(const char *data) {
+        return *reinterpret_cast<const int16_t *>(data);
+}
+
+template<> int32_t load_sample<3>(const char *data) {
+        int32_t in_value = 0;
+        memcpy(&in_value, data, 3);
+
+        if ((in_value & 1U<<23U) != 0U) { // negative
+                in_value |= 0xFF000000U;
+        }
+
+        return in_value;
+}
+
+template<> int32_t load_sample<4>(const char *data) {
+        return *reinterpret_cast<const int32_t *>(data);
 }
 
 /**
  * @brief Calculates mean and peak RMS from audio samples
  *
- *
  * @param[in]  frame   audio frame
  * @param[in]  channel channel index to calculate RMS to
  * @param[out] peak    peak RMS