The most common one is found on online streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and more. Here’s a look at the popular audio standards offered by both technologies:ĭolby Digital: Maximum bitrate of 640Kbps (Blu-ray Discs) and 448Kbps (DVD) in a 5.1 surround sound system. Compression level is another point that is considered. As a rule of thumb, if the audio has a higher bitrate, it will have a better sound quality and audio transparency. To put things into perspective, a high bitrate is one of the factors that is considered while determining the audio quality. The 6.1 setup involves the addition of only a single back speaker.īut some people regard DTS better than Dolby Atmos because it offers a higher bit-rate (640 kilobits as compared to 1.5 megabits in DTS). As for the 7.1 speaker scenario, two more speakers are added to the back of the room. The position of the subwoofer doesn’t need to be specific. In the case of the 5.1 setup, one speaker is placed in the center in front of the viewer, the other two speakers are placed at a 60-degree angle on both left and right sides, and the remaining two speakers are positioned at a 120-degree angle on left and right sides. The position of these speakers is critical in creating the surround sound effect. That said, both Dolby Digital and DTS support 7.1 speaker set ups and 6.1 speaker set up as well. On the other hand, DTS uses the Adaptive Differential Pulse-Code Modulation (ADPCM) algorithm to bring down the audio file size.īoth make use of the 5.1 surround sound setup, where five are speakers and one is a subwoofer. Dolby Digital encodes audio in the AC-3 format and it uses Modified Discrete Cosine Transform (MDCT) algorithm to compress audio and reduce the audio footprint.
All 5.1 systems use the same speaker channels and configuration, having a front left and right, a center channel, two surround channels and a subwoofer.Dolby Digital vs DTS: What are the differences?īoth Dolby Digital and DTS use audio compressing tech to reduce unnecessary audio data while providing high-fidelity audio output. 5.1 is also the standard surround sound audio component of digital broadcast and music.
DOLBY DIGITAL PRO
Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, DTS, SDDS, and THX are all common 5.1 systems.
DOLBY DIGITAL FULL
It uses five full bandwidth channels and one low-frequency effects channel (the "point one"). 5.1 is the most commonly used layout in home cinema.
Part 2: What is Dolby Digital 5.1?ĭolby Digital 5.1 surround sound is the common name for six channel surround sound audio systems. A search of available Blu-ray titles indicates that the current maximum is about half that amount: 6 channels at 96 kHz and 24 bit depth (which translates into a bit rate of 13.5 Mbps uncompressed, and 9 Mbps compressed). The standard supports bit depth of up to 24 bits, and data sampling rates of up to 192 kHz - for an uncompressed maximum bit rate of 63 Mbps - but for Blu-ray the current maximum is 8 audio channels at 24 bits and 96 kHz (or as an alternative, 6 channels at 24 bits and 192 kHz) for a maximum encoded bit rate of 18 Mbps. A Dolby TrueHD bitstream can accommodate up to 14 discrete sound channels, but in practice will carry either 6 (5.1) or 8 (7.1) channels. Dolby TrueHD uses the Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP) algorithm as the basis for its audio compression, which routinely achieves 2:1 compression rations.