MPEG Surround Now International Standard
Agere Systems, Coding Technologies, Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS and Philips Applied Technologies announced at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona that the MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group) has finalized the standardizations process of the MPEG Surround format. Developed by the four parties, MPEG Surround is now an international standard.
MPEG Surround is a brand new, feature-rich, open standard compression technique for multichannel audio signals. Operating on top of any core audio codec such as AAC, HE-AAC and MPEG-1 Layer II, the system provides an unrivalled set of features including full backward compatibility to stereo equipment and a wide scalability in terms of bit rate used for describing the surround sound image. In combination with HE-AAC, MPEG Surround can carry a five or seven channel surround program at a total bit rate of 64 kb/s or less.
The compatibility enables an easy upgrade path for existing stereo broadcasting and other media services to a more desirable surround sound listening experience. Specifically for portable applications, MPEG Surround offers a binaural mode, providing spatial rendering and reproduction of multi-channel audio on stereo headphones.
All parties interested in capitalizing on the benefits of MPEG Surround can obtain the MPEG-D standard document IS 23003-1 describing the MPEG Surround technology. The MPEG Surround logo is available through the four developing parties.
More information on the MPEG Surround International Standard.
