--- title: Audio Formats slug: technical/audio-formats docTags: createdAt: 2025-03-11T07:10:25.853Z --- This page covers the audio modes that different models support, recommended audio modes, and additional notes. # Supported Audio ## XC5, XD5, HD5, XT5, LS5, XS6, XD6, HD6 The audio modes supported by these player models are listed below. | **Container** | **Brand** **Name** | **Audio** | **Codec** | **Channels** | **Extension** | **Support** | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------- | -------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------ | ---------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | | Proprietary (Dolby® Digital / AC3) | Dolby® Digital / AC3 | compressed, lossy | AC3 | 5.1 | ac3 | Passthrough | | WAV / PCM audio 16-24bit, 32-192kHz (f32be, f32le, f64be, f64le, s16be, s16le, s24be, s24le, s32be, s32le, s8, u16be, u16le, u24be, u24le, u32be, u32le, u8) | None | uncompressed | None | 2-8 |
.wav | 2 channel decoded output to HDMI, Optical/SPDIF and analog | | MP3 | None | compressed | MPEG-2 Audio Layer III | 2 | .mp3 | 2 channel decoded output to HDMI, Optical/SPDIF and analog | | MP2 | None | compressed | MPEG-1 Audio Layer II or MPEG-2 Audio Layer II | 2 | .mp2 | 2 channel decoded output to HDMI, Optical/SPDIF and analog | | AAC / AAC-LATM | None | compressed | Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, AAC Low-Overhead Audio Transport Multiplex (LATM) | 2 | .m4a, .m4v, .mp4 | 2 channel decoded output to HDMI, Optical/SPDIF and analog | | Proprietary (Dolby® Digital / eAC3) | Dolby® Digital / EAC3 | compressed, lossy | EAC3 | 5.1 | .mp4,
ec3 | Passthrough | | Proprietary (DTS) | Dolby® Digital / AC3 | compressed, lossy | AC3 | 5.1 | ac3 | Passthrough | | MP2TS/TS | None | compressed | MPEG-1 Audio Layer II or MPEG-2 Audio Layer II or
MPEG-2 Audio Layer III or AAC or AC3 | 2 | .TS | 2 channel decoded output to HDMI, Optical/SPDIF and analog | | MOV | None | compressed or uncompressed | PCM, AAC, AC3, MP3 | 2 | .mov | 2 channel decoded output to HDMI, Optical/SPDIF and analog | | OGG | None | compressed | Ogg Vorbis (similar quality to MP3) | 2 | .ogg, ogz | 2 channel decoded output to HDMI, Optical/SPDIF and analog | | FLAC
(Free Lossless Audio Codec) | None | compressed | Codec by Xiph.Org | 2 | .flac | 2 channel decoded output to HDMI, Optical/SPDIF and analog | ## AU335 | **Container** | **Audio** | **Codec** | **Channels** | **Max Bit Rate** | **Extension** | **Support** | **Support**
**Method** | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------ | ---------------- | -------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | | Proprietary
(Dolby Atmos™) | n/a | a metadata format (not a compression technology) | | n/a | .mp4, ac3, ec3 | Arc/eArc (passthrough) | BrightAuthor\:connected, BrightScript | | Proprietary
(DTS™) | compressed, lossy | AC3 (perhaps others) | 5.1 | 1.5 Mb/s | .mp4, tbd | Arc/eArc (passthrough) | BrightAuthor\:connected (TBD), BrightScript (TBD) | | Proprietary
(Dolby Digital Plus™ / EAC3) | compressed, lossy | eAC3, others | 7.1 | 3 Mb/s | .mp4, ec3 | Arc/eArc (passthrough) | BrightAuthor\:connected (if ac3, ec3), BrightScript | | Proprietary
(Dolby® Digital / AC3) | compressed, lossy | AC3, others | 5.1 | 504 kb/s | .mp4, ac3, ec3 | Arc/eArc (passthrough) | BrightAuthor\:connected (if ac3, ec3), BrightScript | | WAV aka PCM audio (Analog 16-24bit, 32-96 kHz, Digital 16-24bit, 32-192kHz) | uncompressed | none | 2-8 | na | .wav | Analog Out (L/R only); Arc/eArc (eArc supports up to 8 channels) | BrightAuthor\:connected, BrightScript | | MP3 | compressed | MPEG-2 Audio Layer III | 2 | na | .mp3 | Analog Out, Arc/eArc | BrightAuthor\:connected, BrightScript | | MP2 | compressed | MPEG-1 Audio Layer II or MPEG-2 Audio Layer II | 2 | na | .mp2 | Analog Out, Arc/eArc | BrightScript | | m4a/AAC | compressed or uncompressed | PCM or (MPEG-4 Part 14) aka Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, audio only | 2 | na | .m4a | Analog Out, Arc/eArc | BrightAuthor\:connected, BrightScript | | m4v/AAC | compressed or uncompressed | PCM or (MPEG-4 Part 14) aka Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, may have DRM | 2 | na | .m4v | Analog Out, Arc/eArc | BrightScript | | mp4/AAC | compressed or uncompressed | PCM or (MPEG-4 Part 14) aka Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, often has video | 2 | na | .mp4 | Analog Out, Arc/eArc | BrightScript | | MP2TS/TS | compressed or uncompressed | PCM or MPEG-1 Audio Layer II or MPEG-2 Audio Layer II | 2 | na | .TS | Analog Out, Arc/eArc | BrightScript | | MOV | compressed or uncompressed | PCM or MPEG4 | 2 | na | .mov | Analog Out, Arc/eArc | BrightScript | | FLAC
(Free Lossless Audio Codec) | compressed | Codec by xiph.org | 2 | na | | Analog Out, Arc/eArc | BrightAuthor\:connected, BrightScript | ## Series 4 | **Container** | **Brand** **name** | **Audio** | **Codec** | **Channels** | **Max Bit Rate** | **Extension** | **Analog**
**Support** | **HDMI® supported?** | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------ | ---------------- | -------------- | --------------------------- | ---------------------- | | Proprietary
(Dolby Atmos™) | Dolby Atmos™ | n/a | a metadata format (not a compression format) | | n/a | .mp4, ac3, ec3 | No | passthrough | | Proprietary
(DTS™) | DTS™ | compressed, lossy | AC3 (perhaps others) | 5.1 | 1.5 Mb/s | .mp4, tbd | No | passthrough | | Proprietary
(Dolby Digital Plus™ / EAC3) | Dolby Digital Plus™ / EAC3 | compressed, lossy | eAC3, others | 7.1 | 3 Mb/s | .mp4, ec3 | No | passthrough | | Proprietary
(Dolby® Digital / AC3) | Dolby® Digital / AC3 | compressed, lossy | AC3, others | 5.1 | 504 kb/s | .mp4, ac3, ec3 | No | passthrough | | WAV aka PCM audio (Analog 16-24bit, 32-96 kHz), (Digital 16-24bit, 32-192kHz) | None | uncompressed | none | 2-8 | na | .wav | Yes
(L/R only) | Yes (up to 8 channels) | | MP3 | None | compressed | MPEG-2 Audio Layer III | 2 | na | .mp3 | Yes | Yes | | MP2 | None | compressed | MPEG-1 Audio Layer II or MPEG-2 Audio Layer II | 2 | na | .mp2 | Yes | Yes | | m4a/AAC | None | compressed or uncompressed | PCM or (MPEG-4 Part 14) aka Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, audio only | 2 | na | .m4a | Yes | Yes | | m4v/AAC | None | compressed or uncompressed | PCM or (MPEG-4 Part 14) aka Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, may have DRM | 2 | na | .m4v | Yes | Yes | | mp4/AAC | None | compressed or uncompressed | PCM or (MPEG-4 Part 14) aka Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, often has video | 2 | na | .mp4 | Yes | Yes | | MP2TS/TS | None | compressed or uncompressed | PCM or MPEG-1 Audio Layer II or MPEG-2 Audio Layer II | 2 | na | .TS | Yes | Yes | | MOV | None | compressed or uncompressed | PCM or MPEG4 | 2 | na | .mov | Yes | Yes | | OGG | None | compressed | Ogg Vorbis (similar quality to MP3) | 2 | na | .ogg, ogz | No | No | | FLAC
(Free Lossless Audio Codec) | None | compressed | Codec by Xiph.Org | 2 | na | | Yes | Yes | ## More Player Format Information ### XTx44, XDx34 - **FLAC** codec (with the *.ogg* file format) - **Opus** codec ### XTx43, XDx33/32, HDx24/23/22, LS424/423, 4Kx42 - **FLAC and Vorbis** codecs (with the *.ogg* file format) ### HD600 - MP3 audio files as stereo or mono at a 48kHz sampling rate ### HD2000 - MP3 audio files as stereo or mono at a 48kHz or 44kHz sampling rate - WAV audio files as stereo or mono - Dolby Digital (AC3) 5.1 audio in a video file (decode or raw pass-through) - PCM Audio in a video file (LPCM) # Recommended Formats - **AAC audio** in H.264 Video (CBR only) - **MP3 audio** files as stereo or mono at a 48kHz or 44kHz sampling rate (MPEG1/MPE2 Video), with a maximum bit depth of 16 bits, and a maximum bit-rate of 320kBit/s.  - **WAV audio** files as stereo or mono. We recommend a maximum bit depth of 24 bits at a sampling rate of 96kHz, 48kHz, or 44.1kHz (except for the HDx20, HDx10, and AU320, which may require a lower bit depth). - **M4A and AAC audio** files (Note that if you are using BrightAuthor Classic, you must be on version 4.3.0.x or later and these formats are not supported in BSN presentations) # Notes - To play videos with surround sound, you must encode an AC3 audio layer along with an video layer in a supported codec and format. - All tracks must have the same sampling rate, or you must enable the [Mixed Audio](docId\:PS-4gxSLsTOQHwBvLZSlO) feature, if you plan to output multiple audio tracks simultaneously (from either audio or video files). - Series 4 and earlier players do not decode surround sound (AC3) audio, but the audio can be passed through to a decoding device over HDMI of SPDIF. - If you are using Adobe Premiere to encode the video with the SurCode codec for audio, ensure that SurCode is in BluRay mode, not Dolby Digital mode. - Two-channel PCM and AAC currently requires specific settings and a plugin for BrightAuthor Classic and BrightSign Author, or else the output will be stereo down mix because they're handled in the "multichannel" output routing which currently isn't exposed in the UI. See [https://brightsign.box.com/s/ni3dn4eztw2jjr4sgo14jpgjkigj36jj](https://brightsign.box.com/s/ni3dn4eztw2jjr4sgo14jpgjkigj36jj) and note that: - Audio that the player can decode with 2 or fewer channels is routed as normal "stereo" audio. - Audio the player *cannot* decode, regardless of channel count, is routed as "compressed" audio. - Audio the player can decode with 3 or more channels is routed as "multichannel" audio - and that's where the UI doesn't match the output possibilities. - The pass pass-throughthrough option currently routes only "compressed" audio through to the output. "Multichannel" audio isn't affected and therefore gets down-mixed to stereo and output. - The plugin enables "Multichannel" audio to go out through HDMI when in Fixed audio mode. - We do not decode Dolby AC3, but Dolby Digital (AC3) 5.1 audio can be used in an MPEG2 or MOV video (pass through over HDMI or TOSLINK with an expander). Other multichannel audio formats may work as pass through, but they are not officially supported. - DTS audio in the TS (transport stream) video container can be used as pass through. DTS in other containers (MOV, MP4, MKV) are not currently supported. The XTx44 currently does not support DTS audio in any container. - BrightAuthor Classic version 8.0.73 fixes a bug that caused AC3 audio to play back louder than expected.  - Gefen HDMI to HDMI Plus Audio converter, (SKU: GTV-HDMI-2-HDMIAUD, UPC: 845344056111) only supports multichannel analog output for LPCM 5.1 audio input. It does NOT output analog for compressed audio formats.