Dolby Digital Plus Overview

Dolby^® Digital Plus, or Enhanced AC-3 (E-AC-3), is an advanced surround sound audio codec designed specifically for evolving media. From home theaters and PCs to mobile phones and online streaming, Dolby Digital Plus defines high-fidelity audio. You’ll get the renowned Dolby cinema experience from all your entertainment.

Dolby Digital Plus is based on core Dolby Digital technologies. Dolby Digital is the established standard for cinema, broadcast, and home theater surround sound. Dolby Digital Plus offers a number of technical advances:

New algorithms and spectral efficiencies for even better sound quality as well as bandwidth savings

Scalable architecture, allowing content creators to choose the optimal data rate for each type of media

Added channel capability—up to 7.1 channels for current media

Dolby Digital Plus Benefits

Up to 7.1 discrete channels of clear, high-fidelity surround sound

Ideal audio codec match for HD video codecs

Dolby cinematic audio experience for content across all media

Multichannel content and direct home theater connections for PCs and mobile phones

Full 5.1-channel interactive experience for Blu-ray™ BonusView™ and BD-Live™

Full 7.1-channel support for primary Blu-ray soundtracks

Easily converted to Dolby Digital, enabling compatible playback through current Dolby Digital equipped systems

Why Dolby Digital Plus?

Equipment with Dolby Digital Plus technology ensures that you’ll be ready for the future. HD programming with surround sound is now widely available across all media—broadcast, online, PCs, games, and mobile.

Dolby Digital Plus enables cinematic Dolby surround sound for all of it. You’ll be able to download content. Transfer it from one device to another. Take advantage of 7.1-channel programs when they’re offered.

Meanwhile, you’ll get the same Dolby surround sound you enjoy now. See the How It Works tab for more info.

Where You’ll Find Dolby Digital Plus

See our Products tab for the range of equipment and programming, along with specific examples.

Connects with One Cable

Dolby Digital Plus is supported by HDMI™ 1.3 and higher, enabling transmission together with high-definition video through a single cable connection.

How Dolby Digital Plus Works

Dolby® Digital Plus employs exclusive compression algorithms to efficiently reduce the file size of digital audio programs. This allows easier transmission and storage. It also brings multichannel capability to bandwidth-constrained applications including mobile networks and Internet-delivered entertainment.

On playback, our decoder applies the inverse of the encoding algorithms. Metadata, added during the encoding, instructs the decoder on such control parameters as channel configuration and loudness consistency. Dolby Digital Plus has a variety of features that add versatility while retaining exceptional clarity and fidelity. See the video for more detail.

Compatibility with Current Equipment

Because Dolby Digital Plus content is easily converted to a traditional Dolby Digital signal, you are assured of the best performance your equipment is capable of, regardless of when you purchased it. If your system includes a Dolby Digital decoder, you'll still get 5.1-channel surround sound, with the highest quality Dolby Digital signal possible.

Equipment with Dolby Digital Plus will unlock its full feature set, including 5.1- and 7.1-channel capability (depending on the program).

Dolby Digital Plus Technical Features

Scalable, allowing efficient surround sound delivery at lower bit rates for broadcast and mobile networks; higher bit rates for high-capacity media

Metadata that describes the content and in effect talks to your playback system

Sophisticated encoding and decoding technology for clear multichannel sound

Automatic stereo downmix for two-channel systems

Capability to support up to 16.1 channels, should future media require that

Products with Dolby Digital Plus

Home Theater Receivers and Systems
Blu-ray Disc Players
Computers
Mobile Phones 

Featured Products

To help give you an idea of what’s out there, we feature a number of select products from our partners. You’ll find Dolby® Digital Plus in many more products than we can show here.

Our product listings aren’t meant as specific recommendations or ratings.

Pioneer VSX-1120-K A/V Receiver
LG LHB977 Home Theater System 
Marantz UD8004 Blu-ray Player

Content with Dolby Digital Plus

Select Netflix Streaming Movies and TV Shows
Vudu™ Streaming Movies  
Select Blu-Ray™ Titles  

Dolby Digital Plus is part of the DVB standards, and is increasingly specified by the standards organizations for countries worldwide.

Dolby Digital Plus Specifications

Channels: 1.0 to 7.1 for current media applications; extensible to 16 channels; discrete

Data Rate: 32 kbps–6 Mbps, scalable; typically 768 kbps–1.5 Mbps on HD optical discs; 256 kbps for broadcast and online

Sample Rate: 48 kHz

Bit Depth: 20 bits

Supports Dolby Metadata: Yes

Connections: HDMI 1.3 or higher, IEEE 1394

Mixing/Streaming Capabilities: Yes; provides for audio descriptive services

Backward Compatibility: Yes; S/PDIF at 640 kbps to systems with Dolby Digital

Connector Types

Line Output: Two-, six-, and eight-channel analog (decoded inside player)

S/PDIF: Two-channel PCM or converted to Dolby Digital

HDMI 1.1/HDMI 1.2: Two-, six-, and eight-channel PCM and Dolby Digital

HDMI 1.3 and later: Two-, six, and eight-channel PCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby TrueHD bitstreams

Want more-detailed specifications? Check out Dolby Digital Plus professional tech specs.

Compare Dolby Digital Plus Features

Dolby Digital Plus is one of several Dolby technologies that deliver surround sound. We’ve engineered each for specific applications.

Dolby Digital Plus is the established standard for 5.1-channel surround sound on DVDs and HD broadcasts. It is also part of the mandatory Blu-ray standard.

Feature	Dolby Digital Plus	Dolby Digital	Competing Technologies	Dolby TrueHD
7.1 Channels	•		•	•
5.1 Channels	•	•	•	•
Streaming/download support	•	•	•	Limited
Multiple BonusView support for Blu-ray	•		•
Automatic stereo downmix	•	•	•	•
Support for mobile networks	•			Limited
Scalable for bandwidth-constrained applications	•
Compression	Lossy	Lossy	Lossy	Lossless
Data rates supported: Mono–multichannel	32 kbps–6 Mbps	32–640 kbps		Up to 18 Mbps