LDAC (codec)
LDAC is a proprietary audio coding technology (encoder is open under Apache 2.0 license) developed by Sony, which allows streaming high-resolution audio over Bluetooth connections at up to 990 kbps at 24 bit/96 kHz. It is used by various Sony products, including headphones, smartphones, portable media players, active speakers and home theaters.
Developed by | Sony |
---|---|
Type of format | Audio codec |
LDAC is an alternative to Bluetooth SIG's SBC and LC3 codecs. Its main competitors are Qualcomm's aptX-HD/aptX Adaptive and the HWA Union/Savitech's LHDC.[1]
LDAC is a lossy codec,[2][3] which employs a hybrid coding scheme based on the Modified discrete cosine transform[4] to provide more efficient data compression. By default, LDAC is set to Best Effort, which switches between 330/660/990 kbps depending on connection strength.[5]
Starting from Android 8.0 "Oreo", LDAC is part of the Android Open Source Project, enabling every OEM to integrate this standard into their own Android devices freely.[6][7] The encoder library is open source and the implementation for Linux is already present in bluez-alsa[8] and pulseaudio-modules-bt.[9][10] It is available on Fedora with RPM Fusion since Fedora 30.[11] However the decoder library is proprietary, so receiving devices require licenses.[12]
On 17 September 2019, the Japan Audio Society (JAS) certified LDAC with their Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification. Currently the only codecs with the Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification are LDAC and LHDC.[13]
See also
- List of codecs
- AptX
- LHDC (codec)
- SBC (codec) and LC3 (codec)
- Lossy data compression
References
- "Best Wireless Headphones of 2018". 13 November 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
- Darko, John H. (29 March 2017). "The inconvenient truth about Bluetooth audio". DAR__KO. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
- "What is Sony LDAC, and how does it do it?". AVHub. 24 August 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
- "libldac android source code".
- "The ultimate guide to Bluetooth headphones: LDAC isn't Hi-res". SoundGuys. 16 December 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
- "What you need to know about Sony's LDAC". 22 August 2017.
- "platform/external/libldac - Git at Google". android.googlesource.com. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
- "LDAC support? · Issue #104 · Arkq/bluez-alsa". GitHub. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- H.H, Bao (20 March 2019), Adds Sony LDAC, aptX, aptX HD, AAC codecs (A2DP Audio) support to PulseAudio on Linux: EHfive/pulseaudio-modules-bt, retrieved 20 March 2019
- eischmann (11 February 2019). "Better Bluetooth sound quality on Linux". Brno hat. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- "1671064 – Review Request: libldac - LDAC library from AOSP". bugzilla.redhat.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- "Audio over Bluetooth: most detailed information about profiles, codecs, and devices". habr.com. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- Yeow, Goh Beng (17 September 2019). "Japan Audio Society certifies LHDC™ for "Hi-Res Audio Wireless" certification". Porta-Fi™. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
External links
- Official website
- https://www.sony.com.au/microsite/hiresaudio/ldac.html
- LDAC codec source code in the Android Open Source Project