Samsung and Google have unveiled a new audio standard called Eclipsa Audio, which will allow for 3D audio effects in certain YouTube videos this year. Support for the new format will be available in Samsung’s 2025 lineup of TVs and soundbars.
For years, Samsung has avoided using Dolby Vision HDR, preferring its own HDR10 Plus format. Now, the company seems to be planning to make a similar move in the 3D audio space, offering Eclipsa Audio as an alternative to Dolby Atmos.
This format can become a free alternative to the popular Dolby Atmos, for which equipment manufacturers such as Samsung pay license fees. Similar to Atmos, Eclipsa Audio supports «adjustments to audio data, such as the location and intensity of sounds, as well as» spatial reflections, to create a three-dimensional sound effect.
Samsung and Google started working together on spatial sound back in 2023. The technology was originally called Immersive Audio Model and Formats (IAMF). At the time, WooHyun Nam, head of Samsung’s spatial audio business, said that the format would provide «a fully open infrastructure for 3D audio: from creation to transmission and playback».
The IAMF specification has been adopted by the Alliance for Open Media, which has been promoting free codecs such as AV1 since 2015. The Alliance includes companies such as Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Samsung, and Google. If these giants add support for the new format, it will greatly increase its popularity, although even the introduction of AV1 took years.
Samsung and Google are developing a certification program with the Telecommunications Technology Association to ensure consistent sound quality on devices using the new format. This is similar to the certification implemented by companies like Dolby and THX for their standards.
More details about Eclipsa Audio will be revealed at CES 2025, which begins next week.
Source: The Verge