Netflix makes spatial audio available on all devices

 Netflix announced today that spatial audio will be available on all platforms. It will enable customers who do not have multichannel speakers to experience surround sound with only stereo speakers. On non-Apple devices, the functionality can transform a conventional stereo audio track into 3D spatial audio. Netflix has collaborated with Sennheiser to utilize the same 3D audio technology featured on the Sennheiser Ambeo soundbar to accomplish this.

As long as you access the stereo track, the spatial audio will function on any non-Apple device, including smartphones, tablets, and televisions. Because all processing is done within the Netflix app, no extra features are required on the playing device.

Currently, only a limited quantity of spatial audio content is available. To find all of the supported content, search for "spatial audio." As of now, Netflix is the only source of available content.

To determine whether the video is playing in spatial audio, check the title screen for a 5.1 or Dolby Atmos logo. If you see these logos, it means the device will instead play the surround sound audio track and will not enable spatial audio. Most televisions, for example, will play the surround sound track automatically with no ability to manually switch, so you will not hear the Netflix spatial audio but rather the TV's internal audio processing.

This may appear overly convoluted and counterintuitive, and it is. Fortunately, on Apple devices, things are much simpler. Netflix simply employs the built-in spatial audio functionality found on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and tvOS devices, and it works with all material that includes 5.1 or Dolby Atmos recordings. All you need is a current device that supports spatial audio and compatible Apple headphones, such as the AirPods 3, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, and some Beats models. Spatial audio content is now available for all subscription tiers globally and can be found by searching for "spatial audio."