Netflix improves sound on Android with a new codec for ‘studio quality’ audio

Netflix has announced the integration of a new audio codec in its Android app, Extended HE-AAC with MPEG-D DRC (xHE-AAC). This codec allows the sound to be better adapted to the transmission conditions to make it easier to understand the dialogue in noisy environments, also for Get studio-quality audio whenever your mobile allows it.

With the popularization of streaming content we have saved ourselves from carrying large multimedia files since, as long as there is an Internet connection, we can play a multitude of songs, movies or series with the simplicity of pressing a button. Netflix is ​​one of the services that has made streaming the most popular, it is also one of the ones that applies the most technology to playback on smartphones. In Android it now supports the xHE-AAC audio codec.

Sound capable of adapting to playing conditions

All of us who have used Netflix have encountered drops in playback quality at some point due to the instability of Internet access. As usual, these drops are translated into the ‘pixelation’ of the image, there may also be a loss of quality in the audio, an aspect where Netflix affects especially with the latest change in its Android app.

As Netflix claims in his web page, the company has introduced the HE-AAC audio codec extended with MPEG-D DRC to Android for improve hearing adaptation to the playing environment. This codec is developed by Fraunhofer, the famous German research institute (creators of the MP3 format). And it allows for higher quality sound on all streams while adapting to swings in the connection to deliver stereo bit rates above 500 kbit / s.

Thanks to the aforementioned codec Netflix can ‘scale the audio to studio quality’ as long as the conditions for it are met (that the Internet connection is stable and offers sufficient download speed). In addition, Netflix ensures that it has improved the dynamic range of the audios so that they are heard clearer even in high noise situations. This should prevent conversations from being overlooked during action movie hot spots, such as explosions.

Support for the xHE-AAC codec is now available within the Netflix Android app. To dispose of it requires that the telephone have at least Android 9

, also that the mobile offers sufficient quality in sound hardware. And it cannot be selected: it will be the application that adapts the audio automatically.

Via | Engadget

More information | Netflix

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The news

Netflix improves sound on Android with a new codec for ‘studio quality’ audio

was originally published in

Xataka Android

by
Ivan Linares

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