Dolby Digital Details
Experience Stunning Audio Quality
The Definitive Surround Sound Experience
Dolby® Digital was first developed for multichannel cinema sound, adding impact and realism to the moviegoing experience. It quickly became essential to the movie industry, and today is a recognized standard, worldwide, in surround sound for both cinemas and home theaters. In fact, every DVD player and Blu-ray Disc™ player, nearly 60 million digital cable and satellite set-top boxes, and more than 50 million audio/video receivers are equipped with Dolby Digital technology. More than 1,500 console video games also support Dolby Digital audio. That means you can count on enjoying Dolby Digital’s rich, enveloping cinema-quality surround sound just about everywhere you go.
Compelling 5.1 Surround Sound
Dolby Digital lets you experience all of the magic of 5.1-channel surround sound while supporting monaural (single channel) and stereo (two-channel) setups. In a 5.1-channel environment, five discrete full-range channels—Left, Center, Right, Left Surround, and Right Surround—plus a sixth channel for low-frequency effects immerse you in the action.
The Left and Right channels primarily reproduce musical swells and accurately communicate movement across the screen in front of you. The Center channel mainly reproduces dialogue, focusing it on the screen. The two surround channels (Left Surround and Right Surround) envelop you in sound, and the Low-Frequency Effects (LFE) channel—the “.1” in 5.1-channel surround sound—delivers deep, powerful bass effects that you’ll both hear and feel. Most likely, your home theater system reproduces the LFE channel by a subwoofer. If you don’t have a subwoofer, though, these signals can be routed to your main speakers.
Add it all up, and Dolby Digital means a more engaging surround sound experience for you.
Technology that Consistently Delivers
When audio is turned into digital information (a process called encoding), the data is compressed so it can be broadcast, distributed on disc, or delivered online as efficiently as possible. The data is then decoded for playback. Dolby Digital is an advanced encoding/decoding technology that faithfully reproduces sound as it was originally recorded. The result? You experience stunning audio quality every time.
Want to Learn More About Dolby Digital?
Are you a Dolby licensee or looking for more technical details? Learn more about Dolby Digital implementation and specifications.