Play audio in Dolby Atmos or surround sound on your Apple TV

Apple TV is designed to deliver the best sound experience that your home entertainment system supports. Find out which audio formats are supported on Apple TV and the setups you can use to play sound in the highest quality.

Audio formats supported on Apple TV

Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD automatically play sound in the highest quality that's supported by your home entertainment system setup and that's available with content that you watch.

If your home entertainment system doesn't support the audio format that Apple TV automatically selects, you can manually change the audio format. Go to Settings > Video and Audio > Audio Format and turn on Change Format. From here, you can choose the following:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1: Plays audio on multiple speakers and a subwoofer, such as a 5.1 speaker setup.

  • Stereo: Supported audio quality for all televisions, films and TV shows that plays sound through a right and left channel.

Setups you can use

On Apple TV 4K with the latest version of tvOS, you can listen to music, films and TV shows in Dolby Atmos. You can use the following setups to play sound in Dolby Atmos or surround sound:

  • One or two HomePod speakers*

  • A television that supports Dolby Atmos audio

  • A Dolby Atmos-compatible sound bar with a television that supports Dolby Atmos audio

  • A Dolby Atmos-enabled AV receiver

* Your Apple TV and HomePod speakers will automatically play sound in Dolby Atmos or surround sound if it's available with content that you watch. HomePod mini doesn't support Dolby Atmos. If you want to set up home theatre audio with HomePod, find out how.

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