Describes the channel layout of an audio stream.
- Items
- 7
- Uses
- 2
Items7
- Monaural audio streams contain only one Center channel.
- Stereophonic audio streams consist of two channels: Left and Right.
- Quadrophonic audio streams consist of four channels: Left, Right, BackLeft, and BackRight. Quadrophonic streams can encode forward/backward spatial information that stereo streams might struggle with.
- Surround sound audio streams consist of five channels: Left, Right, Center, BackLeft, and BackRight. Surround sound streams encode spatial information with better resolution front and center.
- 5.1 surround sound consists of six channels: Left, Right, Center, BackLeft, BackRight, and a Sub (subsonic) low‑frequency channel. 5.1 surround sound benefits from low frequencies being less directional in order to encode higher resolution spatial information versus simple 5‑channel surround sound.
- 7.1 surround sound consists of eight channels: Left, Right, Center, SurroundLeft, SurroundRight, BackLeft, BackRight, and a Sub (subsonic) low‑frequency channel. 7.1 surround sound is an improvement over 5.1 surround sound, offering better spatial resolution directly to the left and right as well.
- 7.1.4 surround sound consists of twelve channels: Left, Right, Center, SurroundLeft, SurroundRight, BackLeft, BackRight, Sub, TopLeft, TopRight, TopBackLeft, and TopBackRight. 7.1.4 is the only currently supported channel layout that encodes height information.