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In 2023, Samsung announced that it was working with Google and others to create a new spatial audio format. Immersive Audio Model and Formats was pitched as “the first open source-based audio technology standard adopted by” the Alliance for Open Media, the consortium that developed the royalty-free AV1 video coding format and the derivative AVIF image format.
Early this year, Samsung announced that the new format, now branded Eclipsa Audio, will be supported on the company’s 2025 TVs and soundbars, initially in select YouTube videos. Google’s said it intends to bake Eclipsa Audio support into Chrome later this year, and that eventually, it’ll be baked into right AOSP. Here’s what you need to know.
What exactly is Eclipsa Audio?
Eclipsa Audio is an open-source spatial audio format. Spatial audio allows devices to simulate sounds coming from different positions and distances, making for a more immersive listening experience. Dolby Atmos is currently the most popular spatial audio format, but it’s not the only one. There are also options like DTS:X, as well as manufacturer-specific implementations like Sony 360 Reality Audio and Apple Spatial Audio.
Eclipsa Audio is open-source and free to use for both content creators and hardware manufacturers. That could make it an appealing alternative to the ubiquitous Dolby Atmos, which requires a paid license.
A true spatial audio experience requires both media and hardware that support the feature. Tools to create Eclipsa Audio files are already available, and YouTube will begin supporting Eclipsa Audio-enabled videos this year. These videos will initially support spatial audio on Samsung’s 2025 TVs and soundbars, but Google said in a blog post in January that Eclipsa Audio playback will be available on TVs and soundbars “from multiple manufacturers” before the year is out.
What will Eclipsa Audio do?
Samsung claims that, as opposed to spatial audio content created to be played on a surround-sound setup comprising multiple speakers, Eclipsa Audio can deliver “a dynamic 3D audio effect fine-tuned for the viewer’s home environment” without the need for speakers positioned around the room. It’s safe to assume Eclipsa Audio won’t magically deliver an experience that competes with a full surround-sound setup using just built-in TV speakers or a soundbar, but it’ll be interesting to see what it can manage once the format is available in the wild.
A new standard in a field that already has multiple viable options always has the potential to further complicate things, but Eclipsa Audio’s open-source status could be a net win for consumers. In order to offer support for the popular Atmos audio standard, hardware manufacturers pay for a license from Dolby. That extra cost is factored into the price of devices like TVs and soundbars.
Eclipsa Audio, by contrast, is free to use. The standard has been adopted by the Alliance for Open Media, which has 53 member companies — including industry heavyweights like Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix, Nvidia, and more. Given AOM’s membership and Google’s promise to built support for Eclipsa Audio directly into Android in the future, there’s potential here for the new standard to take off. Ideally, increased competition in the space could help lower costs for consumers.
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There’s still plenty we don’t know about Eclipsa Audio. Though Google has said that the format will be supported by devices from multiple manufacturers within the year, Samsung is currently the only company confirmed to support the new standard. We also haven’t heard anything about Eclipsa Audio spatial audio in personal audio devices like earbuds and headphones.
Whether Eclipsa Audio can become meaningful competition to the ubiquitous Dolby Atmos standard remains to be seen. The first Eclipsa Audio content will be available on YouTube on Samsung’s 2025 TVs sometime this year.
