Supported Audio Formats

This page covers the audio modes that different models support, recommended audio modes, and additional notes.

XC2055, XC4055 and XT2145

The audio modes supported by these player models are:

Stream / Codec Name	Common Name

Stream / Codec Name	Common Name
aac	AAC
ac3	AC3 or Dolby Digital
eac3	EAC3 or AC3+ or Dolby Digital Plus
opus	Opus
mp2	MPEG1 Layer 2 or MP2
mp3	MPEG1 Layer 3 or MP3
vorbis	Vorbis
dts	DTS audio
pcm_XXXXX	PCM audio (all types are supported)
truehd	Dolby TrueHD
mlp	Meridian Lossless
adpcm_XXXX	ADPCM audio (all types are supported)
flac	FLAC

AU335

The audio modes supported by these player models are:

Container	Brand name	Audio	Codec	Channels	Max bit rate	Extension	Support	Support method

Container	Brand name	Audio	Codec	Channels	Max bit rate	Extension	Support	Support method
Proprietary	Dolby Atmos™	n/a	a metadata format (not a compression technology)		n/a	.mp4, ac3, ec3	Arc/eArc (passthrough)	BrightAuthor: connected, BrightScript
Proprietary (DTS™)	DTS™	compressed, lossy	AC3 (perhaps others)	5.1	1.5 Mb/s	.mp4, tbd	Arc/eArc (passthrough)	BrightAuthor: connected (TBD), BrightScript (TBD)
Proprietary (Dolby Digital Plus™ / EAC3)	Dolby Digital Plus™ / EAC3	compressed, lossy	eAC3, others	7.1	3 Mb/s	.mp4, ec3	Arc/eArc (passthrough)	BrightAuthor: connected (if ac3, ec3), BrightScript
Proprietary (Dolby® Digital / AC3)	Dolby® Digital / AC3	compressed, lossy	AC3, others	5.1	504 kb/s	.mp4, ac3, ec3	Arc/eArc (passthrough)	BrightAuthor: connected (if ac3, ec3), BrightScript
WAV aka PCM audio (Analog 16-24bit, 32-96 kHz), (Digital 16-24bit, 32-192kHz)	None	uncompressed	none	2-8	na	.wav	Analog Out (L/R only); Arc/eArc (eArc supports up to 8 channels)	BrightAuthor: connected, BrightScript
MP3	None	compressed	MPEG-2 Audio Layer III	2	na	.mp3	Analog Out, Arc/eArc	BrightAuthor: connected, BrightScript
MP2	None	compressed	MPEG-1 Audio Layer II or MPEG-2 Audio Layer II	2	na	.mp2	Analog Out, Arc/eArc	BrightScript
m4a/AAC	None	compressed or uncompressed	PCM or (MPEG-4 Part 14) aka Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, audio only	2	na	.m4a	Analog Out, Arc/eArc	BrightAuthor: connected, BrightScript
m4v/AAC	None	compressed or uncompressed	PCM or (MPEG-4 Part 14) aka Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, may have DRM	2	na	.m4v	Analog Out, Arc/eArc	BrightScript
mp4/AAC	None	compressed or uncompressed	PCM or (MPEG-4 Part 14) aka Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, often has video	2	na	.mp4	Analog Out, Arc/eArc	BrightScript
MP2TS/TS	None	compressed or uncompressed	PCM or MPEG-1 Audio Layer II or MPEG-2 Audio Layer II	2	na	.TS	Analog Out, Arc/eArc	BrightScript
MOV	None	compressed or uncompressed	PCM or MPEG4	2	na	.mov	Analog Out, Arc/eArc	BrightScript
OGG	None	compressed	Ogg Vorbis (similar quality to MP3)	2	na	.ogg, ogz	None	BrightAuthor: connected, BrightScript
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec)	None	compressed	Codec by Xiph.Org	2	na		Analog Out, Arc/eArc	BrightAuthor: connected, BrightScript

Series 4

The audio modes supported by these player models are:

Container	Brand name	Audio	Codec	Channels	Max bit rate	Extension	Analog supported?	HDMI^® supported?

Container	Brand name	Audio	Codec	Channels	Max bit rate	Extension	Analog supported?	HDMI^® supported?
Proprietary	Dolby Atmos™	n/a	a metadata format (not a compression format)		n/a	.mp4, ac3, ec3	No	passthrough
Proprietary (DTS™)	DTS™	compressed, lossy	AC3 (perhaps others)	5.1	1.5 Mb/s	.mp4, tbd	No	passthrough
Proprietary (Dolby Digital Plus™ / EAC3)	Dolby Digital Plus™ / EAC3	compressed, lossy	eAC3, others	7.1	3 Mb/s	.mp4, ec3	No	passthrough
Proprietary (Dolby® Digital / AC3)	Dolby® Digital / AC3	compressed, lossy	AC3, others	5.1	504 kb/s	.mp4, ac3, ec3	No	passthrough
WAV aka PCM audio (Analog 16-24bit, 32-96 kHz), (Digital 16-24bit, 32-192kHz)	None	uncompressed	none	2-8	na	.wav	Yes (L/R only)	Yes (up to 8 channels)
MP3	None	compressed	MPEG-2 Audio Layer III	2	na	.mp3	Yes	Yes
MP2	None	compressed	MPEG-1 Audio Layer II or MPEG-2 Audio Layer II	2	na	.mp2	Yes	Yes
m4a/AAC	None	compressed or uncompressed	PCM or (MPEG-4 Part 14) aka Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, audio only	2	na	.m4a	Yes	Yes
m4v/AAC	None	compressed or uncompressed	PCM or (MPEG-4 Part 14) aka Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, may have DRM	2	na	.m4v	Yes	Yes
mp4/AAC	None	compressed or uncompressed	PCM or (MPEG-4 Part 14) aka Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, often has video	2	na	.mp4	Yes	Yes
MP2TS/TS	None	compressed or uncompressed	PCM or MPEG-1 Audio Layer II or MPEG-2 Audio Layer II	2	na	.TS	Yes	Yes
MOV	None	compressed or uncompressed	PCM or MPEG4	2	na	.mov	Yes	Yes
OGG	None	compressed	Ogg Vorbis (similar quality to MP3)	2	na	.ogg, ogz	No	No
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec)	None	compressed	Codec by Xiph.Org	2	na		Yes	Yes

Additional Player Audio Format Information

XTx44, XDx34

FLAC codec (with the .ogg file format)
Opus codec

XTx43, XDx33/32, HDx24/23/22, LS424/423, 4Kx42

FLAC and Vorbis codecs (with the .ogg file format)

HD600

MP3 audio files as stereo or mono at a 48kHz sampling rate

HD2000

MP3 audio files as stereo or mono at a 48kHz or 44kHz sampling rate
WAV audio files as stereo or mono
Dolby Digital (AC3) 5.1 audio in a video file (decode or raw pass-through)
PCM Audio in a video file (LPCM)

Recommended Formats

AAC audio in H.264 Video (CBR only)
MP3 audio files as stereo or mono at a 48kHz or 44kHz sampling rate (MPEG1/MPE2 Video), with a maximum bit depth of 16 bits, and a maximum bit-rate of 320kBit/s.
WAV audio files as stereo or mono. We recommend a maximum bit depth of 24 bits at a sampling rate of 96kHz, 48kHz, or 44.1kHz (except for the HDx20, HDx10, and AU320, which may require a lower bit depth).
M4A and AAC audio files (Note that if you are using BrightAuthor, you must be on version 4.3.0.x or later and these formats are not supported in BSN presentations)

Notes

To play videos with surround sound, you must encode an AC3 audio layer along with an video layer in a supported codec and format.
All tracks must have the same sampling rate, or you must enable the Mixed Audio feature, if you plan to output multiple audio tracks simultaneously (from either audio or video files).
Series 4 and earlier players do not decode surround sound (AC3) audio but the audio can be passed through to a decoding device over HDMI of SPDIF.
If you are using Adobe Premiere to encode the video with the SurCode codec for audio, ensure that SurCode is in BluRay mode, not Dolby Digital mode.
Two-channel PCM and AAC currently requires specific settings and a plugin for BrightAuthor and BrightAuthor:connected, or else the output will be stereo down mix because they're handled in the "multichannel" output routing which currently isn't exposed in the UI. See https://brightsign.box.com/s/ni3dn4eztw2jjr4sgo14jpgjkigj36jj and note that:
- Audio that the player can decode with 2 or fewer channels is routed as normal "stereo" audio.
- Audio the player cannot decode, regardless of channel count, is routed as "compressed" audio.
- Audio the player can decode with 3 or more channels is routed as "multichannel" audio - and that's where the UI doesn't match the output possibilities.
- The pass through option currently routes only "compressed" audio through to the output. "Multichannel" audio isn't affected and therefore gets down-mixed to stereo and output.
- The plugin enables "Multichannel" audio to go out through HDMI when in Fixed audio mode.
We do not decode Dolby AC3, but Dolby Digital (AC3) 5.1 audio can be used in an MPEG2 or MOV video (pass through over HDMI or TOSLINK with an expander). Other multichannel audio formats may work as pass through, but they are not officially supported.
DTS audio in the TS (transport stream) video container can be used as pass through. DTS in other containers (MOV, MP4, MKV) are not currently supported. The XTx44 currently does not support DTS audio in any container.
BrightAuthor version 8.0.73 fixes a bug that caused AC3 audio to play back louder than expected.
Gefen HDMI to HDMI Plus Audio converter, (SKU: GTV-HDMI-2-HDMIAUD, UPC: 845344056111) only supports multichannel analog output for LPCM 5.1 audio input. It does NOT output analog for compressed audio formats.