How Dolby Atmos Works

From theater to headphones in one mix.

That's what makes Dolby unique; its ability to "fold down" a full 7.1.4 Atmos mix to 5.1, 2.0, or even "binaural" headphones.

This means listeners do NOT need all 11 speakers to listen to the mix. Atmos will decode the mix appropriate to the whatever speaker set the listener is using, including the impressive "binaural" mode for headphones.

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What makes Dolby Atmos unique?

Speakers Everywhere

Dolby Atmos was initially created for the film industry to strategically place sound throughout an entire theater.

Speakers are placed not only to the side and behind the listener, but also above with speakers in the ceiling.

Music's Next Era

The transition to mixing music in Dolby Atmos began a few years ago.

Though still in the early years, many artists are starting to either remix older song in Atmos, and some are producing, arranging, and mixing with Atmos in mind from the start.

Playback Compatibility

What makes Atmos special is its ability to "fold down" the Atmos mix.

What this means is that an Atmos mix automatically decodes to any speaker arrangement (mono, stereo, even headphones) to deliver spatial fidelity -- with or without all the speakers.

The Future of Mixing

Thanks to these flexibility and playback-agnostic features, Atmos is here to stay.

How do we know? Luxury cars have begun installing Atmos speakers sets, and major platforms like iTunes, Amazon Music, and Tidal now support Atmos.

Deciphering Mix Numbers

Traditional stereo mixing has been around for roughly 70 years and is known as a 2.0 mix. (Seeing a connection yet?)

Next came Surround Sound, called a 5.1 mix because of what it adds to that pair of stereo speakers: another center speaker, two more speakers in the back of the room, with the remaining ".1" indicating the one sub woofer.

7.1 Surround Sound adds additional speakers along the sides of the room.

Dolby Atmos takes this even further by adding speakers to the ceiling for a "height" channel, thereby creating a 5.1.4 mix (the ".4" being the 4 speakers in the ceiling).

Of course, many theaters may have even more speakers, but for music purposes

a 7.1.4 mix is considered Atmos standard.

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