Samsung and Google’s new spatial audio format adopts Dolby Atmos this year

Samsung and Google are ready to push the new standard: Eclipsa Audio. This format will enable a 3D audio experience on certain YouTube videos later this year. Support available across Samsung’s 2025 TV and soundbar lineup. For years, Samsung has not supported Dolby Vision HDR as dynamic HDR metadata, choosing instead to promote its recommended replacement, HDR10 Plus. Now, it looks like the company is poised to launch a similar race to support open source 3D audio.

Eclipsa Audio could eventually serve as a free alternative to Dolby Atmos, the mainstream 3D audio format that hardware manufacturers like Samsung pay to license for TVs and other devices. Samsung says that, like Atmos, this audio format supports adjusting “audio data such as sound location, intensity, and spatial reflections” to create 3D experiences.

Both companies first announced Partnership to develop spatial audio technology in 2023. It was originally called Immersive Audio Model and Format (IAMF). At the time, Samsung’s spatial audio head Nam Woo Hyun said The format will provide a “complete open-source framework for 3D audio, from creation to distribution to playback.”

The IAMF specification has also been adopted by the Alliance for Open Media, an organization that has been promoting royalty-free codec support since 2015 and whose members include companies such as Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Netflix, as well as Samsung and Google. It is. . Adding support for this audio format as well could help popularize the AV1 video codec, which has already been years in the making.

Samsung and Google are also creating a certification program with the Telecommunications Technology Association to “ensure consistent audio quality” across devices using the format. This sounds similar to how companies like Dolby and THX manage spec labels. With CES 2025 starting next week, expect to hear more details about Eclipsa Audio in the coming days.