Dolby Digital Plus™ is an advanced surround sound audio technology that enables the
Dolby Audio™ experience across home theaters, smartphones, operating systems, and browsers.
Dolby Digital Plus benefits
Up to 7.1 discrete channels of high-fidelity surround sound
Provides consistent cinema-style audio across your content using an advanced surround sound audio technology designed for evolving media.
Supported natively on the latest Apple devices
Enjoy the consistent, high-quality Dolby Audio experience across Apple iOS, macOS, and tvOS.
Built into Windows 10 and Microsoft Edge
Stream content through Microsoft Edge on any Windows 10 PC or tablet, with clear dialogue and greater detail.
The sound of HDTV
Based on core Dolby Digital® technologies, the established standard for cinema, broadcast, and home theater surround sound.
Full interactive support for Blu-ray BonusView and BD-Live
Get the interactive BonusView and BD-Live features on Blu-ray Disc, like director's commentary, alternate dialogue, or alternative language soundtracks.
Premium mobile listening
Adds depth and power for clear, realistic sound through headphones and speakers using Dolby Audio, and provides faster downloads as well.
Dolby Digital Plus: consistent quality on every device
Enjoy vibrant, high-quality surround sound from all your favorite content with Dolby Digital Plus. Whether you're watching movies, TV shows, online videos, or concerts, Dolby Digital Plus ensures that you always get consistent audio quality.
The technology
Dolby Digital Plus is an audio technology based on Dolby Digital 5.1, the established standard for cinema, broadcast, and home theater surround sound. It's part of a complete ecosystem that includes content creation, program distribution, device manufacture, and customer experience.
How it works
Based on both psychoacoustic and cognitive models of audio perception, Dolby Digital Plus delivers HD-quality audio for streaming, on-demand, and downloaded content by using some of our most advanced algorithms. Dolby Digital Plus makes it possible to store and transmit high-quality digital sound to deliver the best audio quality possible on many different kinds of devices.
Compatibility with current equipment
Equipment with Dolby Digital Plus will unlock its full feature set, including 5.1- and 7.1-channel capability (depending on the program).
If your system includes only Dolby Digital, you'll still get 5.1-channel surround sound, with the highest-quality Dolby Digital signal possible — Dolby Digital Plus content is easily converted to a traditional Dolby Digital signal.
Dolby Digital Plus products and content
You can get the Dolby Digital Plus experience by purchasing home theater equipment, such as A/V receivers, Blu-ray players, or TVs with Dolby Digital Plus. It's available on PCs, tablets like the Amazon Fire, and on smartphones. Dolby Digital Plus is also a core format for Dolby Audio, built into Windows 10 and the new Microsoft Edge browser, available on PCs and the Surface tablet.
Look for content encoded with Dolby Digital Plus on Blu-ray Disc and on streaming platforms such as Netflix, Vudu, or Amazon Fire TV.
Dolby Digital Plus documents
Data sheets
Compare Dolby Digital Plus to other technologies
Dolby Digital Plus™ is one of many technologies that deliver surround sound. But how does it compare to other technologies?
Dolby Digital Plus is the established standard for 5.1-channel surround sound on DVDs and HD broadcasts. It's part of the Blu-ray Disc standard, so you can experience the clearest multichannel surround sound from your entertainment. And it's built into Windows 10, giving you crisp, clear sound from Windows apps and through the Microsoft Edge browser.
Feature |
Dolby Digital Plus |
Dolby Digital |
Competing technologies |
Dolby TrueHD |
| 7.1 channels | ||||
| 5.1 channels | ||||
| Streaming/download support | Limited | |||
| Built into Windows 10 and Microsoft Edge browser | ||||
| 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 - 6Mbps | 32 - 640 kbps | Up to 18 |
Dolby Digital Plus documents
Data sheets
The Dolby Digital Plus™ codec (E-AC-3) delivers up to 7.1 discrete channels of crisp surround sound, clear dialogue, and improved detail to your products.
A powerful and flexible multi-screen solution
Ideal for operating systems and browser builds
An updated decoder gives premium made-for-web content and apps the ability to deliver crisp, clear dialogue with dynamic range appropriate for built-in speakers and headphones.
Quality entertainment everywhere
Helps creators, operators, distributors, providers, and manufacturers provide a quality audio and entertainment experience to consumers at home and on the go.
Compatible with HTML5, built into Windows 10
Provides content providers who are programming for the Microsoft Edge browser and Windows 10 operating system with compelling audio for storytelling.
Scalable bit rates and adaptive streaming
Supports bit rates from 32 kbps to 6 Mbps, including discrete 7.1-channel surround sound at 384 kbps. It also supports adaptive bit-rate streaming.
Metadata
Dolby Digital Plus metadata gives you control over essential signal parameters, including dialogue normalization, dynamic range, and downmixing.
Compatibility
Dolby Digital Plus offers complete backward compatibility with any component equipped with Dolby Digital. Made-for-web applications using HTML5, MSE, and EME that support delivery of quality H.264 video can be complemented by this high-performance multichannel audio solution.