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Question regarding audio formats for video's

S

snukky

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 2, 2003
Messages
77
Hi

I'm not too familiar with audio formats, and i have noticed that some movies/videos contain audio formats of ac3, acc, dts etc.. - and i know that some are better than others.

If it's not too much to ask, would somebody please give me a break down or explanation of each (more than the 3 that i listed, i believe there are more) and from greatest to least quality and why?

I appreciate your time, thanks
 
If AC3 is Dolby Digital, then it's lossy and not very good (using my math it's 1/12 which means that you're mathematically losing 3/5 (on average) the quality compared lossless compression of a 5 channel 16/48 recording). I don't know what ACC is. As for DTS, there are many formats by DTS, some are lossless, some are lossy.
 
I wouldn't be concerned with the limitations of the audio format too much. Mastering quality is more important IMO.
 
Well first off, don't worry about it too much. People get too worked up over lossy compression, it really is something hard (or impossible) to notice when done well.

So AC3 is also known as Dolby Digital and is the grand daddy of digital theater codecs. It is a lossy codec with technology somewhat reminiscent of MP3, but designed for multi-channel sources and theater dynamics. It ranges from mono to 5.1 channels. It can support bitrates up to 640kbps, but on DVD it is limited to 448kbps, and in theaters it is 320kbps. It is pretty much the only audio format you are guaranteed to find on everything. Essentially every movie has an AC-3 mix and it is printed on the film. It is mandatory for support on DVD and Blu-ray and thus it is nearly always included. It is also what is used for ATSC (digital) television for sound. The X-box 360 and PS3 use a variant (Dolby Digital Live) to do 5.1 output. It is widely supported in hardware, pretty much any receiver will decode it.

Dolby has various newer formats, but none of them are called AC-3.

AAC is the Advanced Audio Codec. It is intended as a replacement for MP3 and tends to get better sound per bit. It is a technically very advanced codec and supports lots of things like high sample rates, lots of channels and so on. As a practical matter you mostly find it as a format for music downloads. Apple likes it. You also can find it paired with H.264 videos for audio, though it usually seems to be used just as a normal stereo codec.

DTS is a little more complex. It is actually a company, DTS formerly Digital Theater Systems, as well as the name of their various codecs. It is a theater format that some films have. It actually ships on separate CDs and is sync'd to the film (as opposed to AC-3 which is printed on the film). However the DTS used in theaters is not the same as what you find at home, it is a different kind of codec. The DTS at home is very much like Dolby Digital, but higher bitrate. DTS on movies can be 768kbps or 1536kbps. As a practical matter, all DVDs with DTS tend to be 768kbps. It is also pretty widely supported in hardware, most receivers handle it.

Now Blu-rays support normal DTS, but also have support for a new DTS format, DTS-MA. DTS-MA is a lossless format and also can support more than 5.1 channels. It also contains a full 1.5mbps DTS stream in it, so you can get that if your equipment doesn't support MA. You find it on most newer receivers, but not on older ones as it is a pretty new format.

In terms of explaining all the formats, no there are just too many. There are hundreds of audio formats out there. I'm happy to answer some questions about specific ones, but I can't list them all, nor is it useful. What you really need to do is decide what it is you wish to do, and then you can get a recommendation of what your options are.
 
Sycraft said:
Well first off, don't worry about it too much. People get too worked up over lossy compression, it really is something hard (or impossible) to notice when done well.

So AC3 is also known as Dolby Digital and is the grand daddy of digital theater codecs. It is a lossy codec with technology somewhat reminiscent of MP3, but designed for multi-channel sources and theater dynamics. It ranges from mono to 5.1 channels. It can support bitrates up to 640kbps, but on DVD it is limited to 448kbps, and in theaters it is 320kbps. It is pretty much the only audio format you are guaranteed to find on everything. Essentially every movie has an AC-3 mix and it is printed on the film. It is mandatory for support on DVD and Blu-ray and thus it is nearly always included. It is also what is used for ATSC (digital) television for sound. The X-box 360 and PS3 use a variant (Dolby Digital Live) to do 5.1 output. It is widely supported in hardware, pretty much any receiver will decode it.

Dolby has various newer formats, but none of them are called AC-3.

AAC is the Advanced Audio Codec. It is intended as a replacement for MP3 and tends to get better sound per bit. It is a technically very advanced codec and supports lots of things like high sample rates, lots of channels and so on. As a practical matter you mostly find it as a format for music downloads. Apple likes it. You also can find it paired with H.264 videos for audio, though it usually seems to be used just as a normal stereo codec.

DTS is a little more complex. It is actually a company, DTS formerly Digital Theater Systems, as well as the name of their various codecs. It is a theater format that some films have. It actually ships on separate CDs and is sync'd to the film (as opposed to AC-3 which is printed on the film). However the DTS used in theaters is not the same as what you find at home, it is a different kind of codec. The DTS at home is very much like Dolby Digital, but higher bitrate. DTS on movies can be 768kbps or 1536kbps. As a practical matter, all DVDs with DTS tend to be 768kbps. It is also pretty widely supported in hardware, most receivers handle it.

Now Blu-rays support normal DTS, but also have support for a new DTS format, DTS-MA. DTS-MA is a lossless format and also can support more than 5.1 channels. It also contains a full 1.5mbps DTS stream in it, so you can get that if your equipment doesn't support MA. You find it on most newer receivers, but not on older ones as it is a pretty new format.

In terms of explaining all the formats, no there are just too many. There are hundreds of audio formats out there. I'm happy to answer some questions about specific ones, but I can't list them all, nor is it useful. What you really need to do is decide what it is you wish to do, and then you can get a recommendation of what your options are.
Click to expand...

Not quite correct. On Blu-Ray discs, ONE of LPCM, DD, or DTS must be provided, but not necessarily all three. You can have just LPCM, just DD, or just DTS on a Blu Ray, although I'm not sure if there are any releases that have just one other than perhaps some classic stereo-only LPCM releases.

On the other hand, Blu-Ray players are required to play all three of the mandatory codecs.
 
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