What is Dolby Atmos? The surround sound format, explained

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Dolby Atmos is a popular spatial audio format that aims to enhance your movie-watching, music-listening, and gaming experience with sound effects from all directions, including from above your head. 

What began as a premium surround sound format that only enthusiasts could afford to adopt has become a mainstream feature on many soundbars, like the Sonos Arc, and even a few smart speakers, including the Amazon Echo Studio. And, with support from streaming services like Disney Plus, Netflix, and Apple Music, the number of Dolby Atmos movies, TV shows, and albums grows daily.

But, while you've likely seen the Dolby Atmos logo show up when browsing titles on your smart TV or phone, you might be left wondering exactly what the format does and what gear you need to take advantage of it. 

Here's everything you need to know about Dolby Atmos, including how the format works and what products and services support it.

What is Dolby Atmos?

Dolby Atmos is a spatial surround sound format for cinemas and home theaters. Atmos was first introduced in movie theaters in 2012 with the release of Pixar's "Brave" before expanding to home theater products and home video titles in 2014.

The core of what makes Dolby Atmos audio unique rests in its use of object-based audio mixing and support for overhead sound effects.

Before Dolby Atmos technology, most soundtracks for movies and TV shows used a process called "channel-based mixing." Under this method, audio mixes were designed with a fixed number of channels for a fixed number of speakers. For instance, in a 5.1 speaker setup, there's a channel for left, right, center, left surround, right surround, and low-frequency speakers. Sound designers had to place all of a movie's audio effects within those specific channels/locations to create surround sound.

However, with Dolby Atmos, mixers are no longer limited to only designing sound within fixed channels. Instead, they can now create individual audio objects that can be freely moved around a virtual mixing environment. 

For example, if a filmmaker wants to place a hovering helicopter into a movie's soundtrack, they can now position and reposition that individual sound effect wherever they'd like in a virtual mixing space. Metadata then tells a Dolby Atmos system where that specific sound is and how it should be directionally positioned in real time to match the location and number of speakers in your room. 

In other words, audio mixes don't have to be rigidly designed for 2.1, 5.1, 7.1, or other specific speaker setups. Since effects exist as objects, they can simply be scaled to work within whatever Dolby Atmos configuration you have. As long as your gear supports decoding the format, you can play a Dolby Atmos audio mix on a simple two-speaker stereo system. Then, if you decide to upgrade to a system with more speakers down the line, that same audio mix will seamlessly scale to your upgraded setup, placing sound effects wherever they're supposed to go all around your room.

Since object-based mixing frees sound designers from the confines of typical channel placement, Dolby Atmos audio can also come from more locations than ever before, including above your listening area. Effects like rain, soaring spaceships, and falling debris can actually sound like they're overhead. 

What gear do I need to play Dolby Atmos content?

To enjoy Dolby Atmos audio at home, you'll need a sound system that supports Dolby Atmos, a source device capable of outputting Dolby Atmos, and access to Dolby Atmos-encoded content. For a traditional home theater setup, this means having an audio-video (AV) receiver with Dolby Atmos processing wired to multiple speakers and connected to a smart TV, Blu-ray player, streaming device, or gaming console with Atmos support.

Alternatively, you can opt for a soundbar system or a single stand-alone speaker with built-in Atmos capabilities instead of buying a receiver and multiple speakers. Check out our guides to the best soundbars and best Dolby Atmos soundbars for our top picks.

Since Dolby Atmos is a scalable technology, you have many options regarding the number of speakers you need, making it easy to set up an Atmos system for different budget levels. Atmos systems are classified using a string of three numbers separated by decimal points. 

For example, one popular Atmos configuration is called a 5.1.2 system. The first number represents how many standard ear-level speakers are included (left, right, center, surrounds). The second number indicates if the system has a subwoofer. The final number indicates how many height speakers are included for overhead sound.

Popular Atmos configurations for the home start with simple 3.0.2 setups and move up to 11.1.4 setups. The home theater version of Atmos technology is capable of up to a 24.1.10 setup. 

Here are some of our recommendations for Dolby Atmos speaker and soundbar systems.

What do I need to get overhead Dolby Atmos audio?

You have three primary options for enjoying the overhead benefits of Dolby Atmos audio: ceiling speakers, up-firing speakers, or virtual processing. 

You'll get the best Dolby Atmos height performance by installing actual in-ceiling or on-ceiling speakers in your room and then wiring them to a Dolby Atmos AV receiver. This will provide the most realistic overhead audio since the sound will genuinely originate from above your head. Unfortunately, installing speakers in your ceiling can be tricky, inconvenient, and costly. Thankfully, there's a far simpler solution you can opt for with up-firing speakers.

Up-firing speakers are ear-level speakers that are angled in a specific way to beam sound upward to bounce audio off your ceiling and back down to your ears. This process simulates the effect of sound coming from above. Up-firing drivers can be built into bookshelf speakers, floor-standing speakers, or soundbars. They can also be purchased as separate modules that you can place on top of existing speakers to add height support.  

It's important to note that the effectiveness of up-firing speakers relies heavily on the height and design of your room. Dolby recommends a flat ceiling with a height between 7.5 and 12 feet. Though not as convincing as in-ceiling speakers, up-firing speakers can still provide a worthwhile sense of overhead audio if implemented correctly in the right kind of room.

Finally, Dolby Atmos can also be reproduced purely through virtual processing techniques that rely on psychoacoustics. This method is used on some soundbars, like the Sonos Beam, to simulate a sense of height from regular ear-level speakers without up-firing drivers. Generally, this is the least effective method, and we typically recommend opting for a system that uses up-firing speakers instead.

Can I listen to Dolby Atmos with headphones?

In addition to speakers and soundbars, Dolby Atmos audio playback is also supported through headphones. 

Though some headphones are advertised as being designed with Atmos and other spatial audio formats in mind, any pair of headphones can play Atmos audio as long as they're connected to a compatible Atmos device playing an Atmos title. However, some devices, like Xbox consoles, require you to purchase a license in order to unlock Dolby Atmos output to headphones. 

In order to create an immersive surround sound effect through headphones when listening to Atmos content, Dolby uses 360-degree binaural audio techniques informed by Dolby Atmos metadata. 

Where can I find Dolby Atmos movies and TV shows?

Once you've got Atmos-capable audio gear, you'll need to find movies and TV shows with Atmos audio mixes. Thankfully, that shouldn't be too difficult since Dolby Atmos content is readily available on Blu-ray discs and streaming apps. Many of the best streaming services like Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV Plus, Paramount Plus, and Max all offer a growing selection of titles with Atmos. However, support is sometimes restricted to certain plans. 

Dolby Atmos playback from these services is available via apps on smart TVs and media players from various manufacturers, including many of the models we recommend in our guides to the best TVs and best streaming devices. With that said, specific app support for Atmos can vary from device to device. 

For instance, Paramount Plus supports Atmos playback through its app on many Roku devices, but it does not support Atmos playback through its app on LG smart TVs. You must check each service's webpage to see which device apps support Atmos playback.

It's also important to note that the version of Dolby Atmos used on streaming services is not lossless. This means the audio quality has been compressed to create a smaller file suitable for streaming. To enjoy lossless Dolby Atmos soundtracks with the very best audio quality, you'll need to watch Dolby Atmos movies on Blu-ray or 4K Blu-ray discs. Studios like Disney, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, and Sony all support Dolby Atmos on Blu-ray. Check out our guide to the best 4K Blu-ray players for our top recommendations.

Where can I find Dolby Atmos music?

Some artists are now mixing their music using Dolby Atmos technology, and some older albums have been remixed using the format. 

Three of our picks for the best music streaming services currently offer select songs with Dolby Atmos. These services include Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music, and Tidal.

When browsing through albums and artists on each service, you'll see a Dolby Atmos logo next to songs that support the format. However, Atmos support from these apps is often restricted to certain devices, so check each service's website to see if your device is compatible.

Do video games support Dolby Atmos?

Yes, several popular video games now offer support for Dolby Atmos audio. The Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One X, Xbox One S, and Windows 10/11 PCs are all capable of supporting games with Dolby Atmos through compatible speaker systems, soundbars, and headphones.

The PS5 can also support Atmos gaming through compatible speaker systems and soundbars, but the PlayStation 5 does not currently support Atmos gaming through headphones.

What is DTS:X?

Though Dolby Atmos dominates the immersive audio market, rival audio brand DTS has a competing format with similar object-based mixing technology and overhead audio support. This format is called DTS:X.

For all intents and purposes, DTS:X performs exactly like Dolby Atmos. The standard version of the format is scalable to a variety of speaker setups with support for up to 11.1 discrete speakers, and there's a DTS:X Pro version that can scale to up to 30.2 discrete speakers. Overhead audio is also supported with DTS:X through in-ceiling or up-firing speakers.

DTS:X support is found on many AV receivers that support Dolby Atmos. Select soundbars also support the format, but Dolby Atmos is more common. Likewise, Atmos content is far more prevalent than DTS:X, especially on streaming services. 

Sony's Bravia Core service that's exclusive to Sony TVs, is the only notable streaming platform that currently supports DTS:X. However, at CES 2024, Disney Plus announced plans to bring a version of DTS:X to some of its streaming titles in the near future.

DTS:X support is more widespread on Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray discs, but still not as common as Dolby Atmos. Studios like Universal, Paramount, Lionsgate, and Warner Brothers offer DTS:X tracks on select discs.