Auro-3D

Auro-3D is an immersive 3D audio format developed by the Belgium-based company Auro Technologies.

It is designed along three layers of sound (surround, height and overhead ceiling), building on the single horizontal layer used in the 5.1 or 7.1 sound format. Auro-3D creates a spatial sound field by adding a height layer around the audience on top of the traditional 2D surround sound system. This additional layer reveals both localized sounds and height reflections complementing the sounds that exist in the lower surround layer. The height information that is captured during recording is mixed into a standard 5.1 surround PCM carrier, and during playback the Auro-3D decoder extracts the originally recorded height channels from this stream.

AuroMax expands on the basic layout used by Auro 11.1 and Auro 13.1 by dividing the side, rear and ceiling channels into "zones", to allow for placement of sound at discrete points along the theatre wall or ceiling as well as within the theatre itself. The principle employed is similar to other object based formats such as Dolby Atmos or DTS:X.

The Auro-3D technology consists of the Auro-3D Engine and a Creative Tool Suite. The engine comprises the Auro-Codec and the Auro-Matic upmixing algorithm to convert legacy content into the Auro-3D format. The Creative Tool Suite is a set of plugins that can be used to create native immersive 3D audio content. Auro-3D is fully compatible with all existing production processes and theatre systems, and the format also offers a host of compatibility features such as Single Inventory Distribution (multiple formats are combined in one PCM carrier) and full DCI compliancy.

Auro-3D comes in a variety of listening formats that are compliant with market standards:

Home Theater (Small Rooms): Auro 9.1, Auro 10.1 (with added Top Ceiling channel, the so-called "Voice Of God")

Cinema (Large Rooms): Auro 11.1 (with added Front Height Center channel), Auro 13.1 (with added Left Rear Surround & Right Rear Surround channel), AuroMax 22.1, AuroMax 26.1 (allowing placement of objects)

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