Dolby Atmos is a surround system introduced by Dolby Laboratories in April 2012 at CinemaCon 2012 and debuted on ‘’Brave’’ two months later. It is the both the successor to Dolby Digital and Dolby Surround 7.1 theatrically and an extension of the Dolby TrueHD format in the home. Unlike prior systems, which encoded sounds to certain channels; this new system makes use of additional speakers with height, usually ceiling-mounted. This is a new process known as spatial encoding, meaning sounds can be implemented as objects, enabling a greater degree of flexibility in audio tracks, speaker placement, and immersivity.
In theaters, a very high amount of speakers can be placed, up to 128 channels, with a "bed" of 9.1 surround audio, allowing for 118 spare channels to be used. When the format arrived in the home in September 2014, it was instead implemented as part of a special spatial code inside of a TrueHD stream, of which Atmos-compatible receivers can decode the extra data while older receivers can interpret it as a TrueHD stream instead. This version requires a one LFE track to be present, with up to 34 speakers being available. One of the more common setups involve a 7.1 surround setup with four additional speakers above them being height speakers, henceforth a 7.1.4 setup; but can go up to a 24.1.10 (24 floor speakers, ten height speakers) configuration.
Dolby Atmos has become the dominant form of audio for most new 4K UHD discs and holds a near-monopoly on the theatrical audio market on new major releases.
Trivia[]
Old Atmos logo
- The first film to make use of an Atmos soundtrack was Brave on June 22, 2012, while the first Blu-ray to make use of one was Transformers: Age of Extinction on September 30th, 2014.
- Some early releases of Atmos-compatible films were upmixes of Dolby Surround 7.1 content as they were originally intended for that sound system before Atmos was introduced.
- Most new home media releases from Paramount, Universal, Warner Bros., and Lionsgate (among others) make use of an Atmos soundtrack on both their 4K UHD releases as well as their Blu-ray counterparts. Sony and Disney (and formerly Fox), meanwhile, kept the Atmos soundtracks to their UHD releases. (with select exceptions from the former two companies)
- Real-time decoding solutions for games exist for Atmos, mainly from a smattering of Microsoft and EA games like Battlefield 1 and Gears 5. This would be added to Xbox One X and One S in 2017, and would continue into those systems' successors in 2020, the Xbox Series X/S. Support for real-time Dolby Atmos decoding was later added to the PlayStation 5 in 2023.
- More lossy interpretations of Atmos exist, as spatial encoding can also be added to a Dolby Digital Plus stream. This is the implementation used by streaming services for their Atmos support.