Audio Encoding

DVD-Video discs can carry up to 8 streams of audio using a number of non-compressed and compressed audio coding methods.  Each audio stream can contain from 2 (stereo) to 6 (surround sound) channels depending on the source material available.

Multi-channel audio is down-mixed to stereo in players with no surround sound decoder. The number of streams available will depend on the number of channels used per stream, the coding method used and the video bit rate required.

Normally, when video is present, a compressed format should be used. Audio coding formats available for DVD-Video include:

Dolby Digital
MPEG-1 & MPEG-2
Linear PCM
DTS


Bit rates for Dolby Digital encoded audio:

Mode	Channels	Downmix to stereo	Bit rates
1/0	Mono	Mono	64kb/s to 448kb/s
2/0	Stereo (L & R)	Stereo	128kbs to 448kb/s
3/0	Stereo + center	Stereo	192kbs to 448kb/s
2/1	Stereo + rear	Dolby Surround encoded stereo	192kb/s to 448kb/s
3/1	Stereo, center + rear	Dolby Surround encoded stereo	256kb/s to 448kb/s
3/2	Stereo, center + surround	Dolby Surround encoded stereo	320kbs to 448kb/s

Bit rates for LPCM audio:

SamplingFrequency	Bit Resolution	Max channels	Max Bit rate
48kHz	16 bits	8	6.144Mb/s
48kHz	20 bits	6	5.76Mb/s
48kHz	24 bits	5	5.76Mb/s
96kHz	16 bits	4	6.144Mb/s
96kHz	20 bits	3	5.76Mb/s
96kHz	24 bits	2	4.608Mb/s