Eclipsa Audio, a 3D spatial sound technology co-developed by Google and Samsung Electronics, is spreading from YouTube and smart TVs to content creation tools. It is drawing attention as an open technology that does not rely on proprietary audio specifications controlled by specific companies.

According to Japanese media outlet Gigazine on Oct. 29 (local time), Eclipsa Audio is a spatial sound technology that expresses not only left-right and front-back sound, but also height and distance. It aims to recreate effects such as an airplane passing overhead or the roar of a crowd surrounding a concert venue as if the listener were in the real space.

The technology is based on the IAMF specification unveiled in 2023 by the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia), which includes Google and Samsung Electronics among its participants. IAMF is not a codec that directly compresses audio. It is a format that carries multiple audio data streams and spatial information and defines how they are rendered. It can be used with various audio compression methods, including Opus and AAC.

It supports 5.1.2-channel and 7.1.4-channel formats that add height information to existing 5.1-channel surround sound. It also handles Ambisonics, which records surrounding sound spatially without a specific speaker layout. Features for combining multiple audio sources also make it possible to separate dialogue and sound effects or adjust audio to match the playback environment.

Barriers to content production are also falling. Google released a free open-source production plugin in June last year, enabling compatible editing programs to adjust sound positioning and create video files that include spatial audio. YouTube has also supported uploads of videos that include Eclipsa Audio tracks since January last year.

During playback, audio output is tailored to a TV or soundbar speaker configuration, while headphones use differences in sound delivered to each ear to create a sense of space. Samsung Electronics applied the technology to its 2025 TV and soundbar lineups, and AOMedia released Open Audio Renderer 1.0, a common playback specification, in May this year.

The technology has also expanded into recording equipment. Sony this month introduced the ECM-AX10, a smartphone microphone certified for Eclipsa Audio. The product uses four omnidirectional microphones to record surrounding sound spatially. However, actual listening requires playback devices or software that support the specification.