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Dolby Digital

Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, it is lossy compression (except for Dolby TrueHD). The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35 mm film prints. It has since also been used for TV broadcast, radio broadcast via satellite, digital video streaming, DVDs, Blu-ray discs and game consoles.

Abbreviation

DD

1986

Audio compression format, lossy compression

  • United States

Worldwide

The basis of the Dolby AC-3 multi-channel audio coding standard is the modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT), a lossy audio compression algorithm.[1] It is a modification of the discrete cosine transform (DCT) algorithm, which was proposed by Nasir Ahmed in 1972 for image compression.[2] The DCT was adapted into the MDCT by J.P. Princen, A.W. Johnson and Alan B. Bradley at the University of Surrey in 1987.[3]


Dolby Laboratories adapted the MDCT algorithm along with perceptual coding principles to develop the AC-3 audio format for cinema. The AC-3 format was released as the Dolby Digital standard in February 1991.[4][5] Dolby Digital was the earliest MDCT-based audio compression standard released, and was followed by others for home and portable usage, such as Sony's ATRAC (1992), the MP3 standard (1993) and AAC (1997).[6]

Dolby Digital

DD (an abbreviation for Dolby Digital, often combined with channel count; for instance, DD 2.0, DD 5.1)

AC-3 (Audio Codec 3, Advanced Codec 3, Acoustic Coder 3. [These are . Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding 3 is a separate format developed by Sony.])[19]

backronyms

A/52 (name of the standard)[20]

ATSC

Before 1996 it was marketed as Dolby Surround AC-3, Dolby Stereo Digital, and Dolby SRD.

[21]

Dolby Digital 1/0 – Mono (center only)

Dolby Digital 2/0 – 2-channel stereo (left + right), optionally carrying matrixed Dolby Surround

Dolby Digital 3/0 – 3-channel stereo (left, center, right)

Dolby Digital 2/1 – 2-channel stereo with mono surround (left, right, surround)

Dolby Digital 3/1 – 3-channel stereo with mono surround (left, center, right, surround)

Dolby Digital 2/2 – 4-channel quadraphonic (left, right, left surround, right surround)

Dolby Digital 3/2 – (left, center, right, left surround, right surround)

5-channel surround

Although commonly associated with the 5.1 channel configuration, Dolby Digital allows a number of different channel selections. The options are:


These configurations optionally include the extra low-frequency effects (LFE) channel. The last two with stereo surrounds optionally use Dolby Digital EX matrix encoding to add an extra Rear Surround channel.


Many Dolby Digital decoders are equipped with downmixing to distribute encoded channels to speakers. This includes such functions as playing surround information through the front speakers if surround speakers are unavailable, and distributing the center channel to left and right if no center speaker is available. When outputting to separate equipment over a 2-channel connection, a Dolby Digital decoder can optionally encode the output using Dolby Surround to preserve surround information.


The '.1' in 5.1, 7.1 etc. refers to the LFE channel, which is also a discrete channel.

Applications[edit]

Dolby Digital audio is used on DVD-Video and other purely digital media, like home cinema. In this format, the AC-3 bitstream is interleaved with the video and control bitstreams.


The system is used in bandwidth-limited applications other than DVD-Video, such as digital TV. The AC-3 standard allows a maximum coded bit rate of 640 kbit/s. 35 mm film prints use a fixed rate of 320 kbit/s, which is the same as the maximum bit rate for 2-channel MP3. DVD-Video discs are limited to 448 kbit/s, although many players can successfully play higher-rate bitstreams (which are non-compliant with the DVD specification). HD DVD limits AC-3 to 448 kbit/s. ATSC and digital cable standards limit AC-3 to 448 kbit/s. Blu-ray Disc, the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox game console can output an AC-3 signal at a full 640 kbit/s. Some Sony PlayStation 2 console games are able to output AC-3 standard audio as well, primarily during pre-rendered cutscenes.


Dolby is part of a group of organizations involved in the development of AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), part of MPEG specifications, and considered the successor to MP3.


Dolby Digital Plus (DD-Plus) and TrueHD are supported in HD-DVD, as mandatory codecs, and in Blu-ray Disc, as optional codecs.

AC3RF[edit]

In the LaserDisc world AC3RF is the term widely placed on connectors of players that support Dolby Digital.[39] Specific demodulators and receivers from the LaserDisc era (1990s thru early 2000s) also include placement of this term on connectors.[39]


LaserDisc titles with Dolby Digital tracks often have the THX logo on their covers.

– producer of DDL audio chipsets used in many sound cards and motherboards

C-Media

– Dolby Digital metadata parameter controlling decoder gain

Dialnorm

– company history and technology development

Dolby Laboratories

– analogue recording on magnetic tape, including compact cassette tapes

Dolby noise-reduction system

– first active matrix analogue surround sound format

Dolby Stereo

– Recording process, noise reduction and expander with superior fidelity over earlier A-type system

Dolby SR

– Marketed consumer name of the theatrical Dolby Stereo analog surround format

Dolby Surround

– Reference active 2:4 matrix decoding system used on Dolby Stereo soundtracks and Dolby Surround [after 1987]

Dolby Pro Logic

– lossless codec for HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc

Dolby TrueHD

– allows 6 to 8 channels of audio to be compressed into an AES3 digital audio stream

Dolby E

– formerly Digital Theater Systems

DTS (sound system)

Home cinema

Loudspeaker

– a real-time AC-3 encoder included in certain nForce2 motherboards

SoundStorm

THX

Edit this at Wikidata, Dolby Laboratories

Official website

ATSC standards

at the ATSC website

Digital Audio Compression Standard (AC-3, E-AC-3)