Dolby E is a

lossy audio compression In information theory, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Any particular compression is either lossy or lossless. Lossless compressio ...

and decoding technology developed by Dolby Laboratories that allows 6 to 8 channels of audio to be compressed into an

AES3 AES3 is a standard for the exchange of digital audio signals between professional audio devices. An AES3 signal can carry two channels of pulse-code-modulated digital audio over several transmission media including balanced lines, unbalanced ...

digital audio stream that can be stored as a standard stereo pair of digital audio tracks. Up to six channels, such as a 5.1 mix, can be recorded as 16-bit Dolby E data. However, if more than six channels are required, such as 5.1 plus a stereo LtRt, the

data must be formatted as 20-bit audio. This increases capacity to eight channels. Dolby E should never reach home viewers, as it is intended for use during post-production when moving multichannel material between production facilities or broadcasters. It is decoded prior to transmission. It is very important to ensure that a Dolby E stream is never played through monitors or headphones without decoding. Undecoded Dolby E data will be converted to analog as full scale (0

dBFS Decibels relative to full scale (dBFS or dB FS) is a unit of measurement for amplitude levels in digital systems, such as pulse-code modulation (PCM), which have a defined maximum peak level. The unit is similar to the units dBov and decibels r ...

) digital noise that can easily damage

loudspeakers A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A ''speaker system'', also often simply referred to as a "speaker" or "l ...

or hearing. Unambiguous media labeling is essential to avoid this.

Products

Dolby E encoding and decoding is implemented using commercially available hardware or software.

Hardware

*Dolby DP571 *Dolby DP572 *Dolby DP568 *Dolby DP580 *Dolby DP591 *Dolby DP600 *Dolby DP600C

Software

FFmpeg FFmpeg is a free and open-source software project consisting of a suite of libraries and programs for handling video, audio, and other multimedia files and streams. At its core is the command-line ffmpeg tool itself, designed for processing of vid ...

(only decoding) *

Avisynth AviSynth is a frameserver program for Microsoft Windows, Linux and macOS initially developed by Ben Rudiak-Gould, Edwin van Eggelen, Klaus Post, Richard Berg and Ian Brabham in May 2000 and later picked up and maintained by the open source communi ...

(only decoding) * Emotion Systems 'eNGINE'Dolby Encode and Decode using The eNGINE
/ref> * Minnetonka Audio 'AudioTools Server' * Minnetonka Audio SurCode for Dolby E * Neyrinck SoundCode For Dolby E

References

External links

Description from Dolby websiteDolby E - Multimedia Wiki
{{Dolby Laboratories Digital audio Dolby Laboratories