Codec type indication for Dolby Atmos content

For HTTP Live Streaming streams containing Dolby Digital Plus tracks with Dolby Atmos content, the CODEC attribute of the EXT-X-STREAM-INF parameter must include a value of ec-3 for indication of the audio codec. In addition, a CHANNELS attribute must be included in the #EXT-X-MEDIA parameter.

The value of the CHANNELS attribute is the number of decodable objects followed by a slash (/) and then JOC. JOC is the audio coding identifier for a Dolby Digital Plus bitstream with joint object coding data. The number of decodable objects is the decimal representation of the eight-bit bit field for complexity_index_type_a in the EC3SpecificBox of a Dolby Digital Plus audio track. The complexity_index_type_a parameter has a value range of 1 to 16.

For example, for a media presentation containing a Dolby Digital Plus bitstream with Dolby Atmos content, the CHANNELS attribute of the #EXT-X-MEDIA parameter must include the JOC identifier:

#EXT-X-MEDIA:TYPE=AUDIO,GROUP-ID="ATMOS",LANGUAGE="eng",
NAME="ATMOS Track",AUTOSELECT=YES,DEFAULT=YES,CHANNELS="16/JOC",
URI="../../DDP/ChID_voices_6ch_256kbps_ddp_sub.m3u8"

To ensure playback on systems that are not Dolby Atmos enabled, use one of the following options:

  • Include an equivalent 5.1 bitstream in your manifest with the CHANNELS attribute set to 6. The 5.1 bitstream must be added to the same #EXT-X-MEDIA group as the Dolby Atmos bitstream. We recommend adding a 5.1 bitstream since it provides lower bit rate options.
  • Reuse the Dolby Atmos bitstream and add an additional entry with the CHANNELS attribute set to 6 to the same #EXT-X-MEDIA group. In this way you only need to prepare one media asset.