AudioChannelLayout

The AudioChannelLayout enum describes the channel layout of an audio stream. Audio streams contain one or more channels that are intended to be rendered simultaneously with a particular arrangement of speakers. In general, more channels impact performance but provide higher spatial quality.

Items

Name	Value	Description
Mono	0	Monaural audio streams contain only one Center channel.
Stereo	1	Stereophonic audio streams consist of two channels: Left and Right.
Quad	2	Quadrophonic audio streams consist of four channels: Left, Right, BackLeft, and BackRight. Quadrophonic streams can encode forward/backward spatial information that stereo streams might struggle with.
Surround_5	3	Surround sound audio streams consist of five channels: Left, Right, Center, BackLeft, and BackRight. Surround sound streams encode spatial information with better resolution front and center.
Surround_5_1	4	5.1 surround sound consists of six channels: Left, Right, Center, BackLeft, BackRight, and a Sub (subsonic) low‑frequency channel. 5.1 surround sound benefits from low frequencies being less directional in order to encode higher resolution spatial information versus simple 5‑channel surround sound.
Surround_7_1	5	7.1 surround sound consists of eight channels: Left, Right, Center, SurroundLeft, SurroundRight, BackLeft, BackRight, and a Sub (subsonic) low‑frequency channel. 7.1 surround sound is an improvement over 5.1 surround sound, offering better spatial resolution directly to the left and right as well.
Surround_7_1_4	6	7.1.4 surround sound consists of twelve channels: Left, Right, Center, SurroundLeft, SurroundRight, BackLeft, BackRight, Sub, TopLeft, TopRight, TopBackLeft, and TopBackRight. 7.1.4 is the only currently supported channel layout that encodes height information.

Mono

Monaural audio streams contain only one Center channel.

Field	Value
value	0

Stereo

Stereophonic audio streams consist of two channels: Left and Right.

Field	Value
value	1

Quad

Quadrophonic audio streams consist of four channels: Left, Right, BackLeft, and BackRight. Quadrophonic streams can encode forward/backward spatial information that stereo streams might struggle with.

Field	Value
value	2

Surround_5

Surround sound audio streams consist of five channels: Left, Right, Center, BackLeft, and BackRight. Surround sound streams encode spatial information with better resolution front and center.

Field	Value
value	3

Surround_5_1

5.1 surround sound consists of six channels: Left, Right, Center, BackLeft, BackRight, and a Sub (subsonic) low‑frequency channel. 5.1 surround sound benefits from low frequencies being less directional in order to encode higher resolution spatial information versus simple 5‑channel surround sound.

Field	Value
value	4

Surround_7_1

7.1 surround sound consists of eight channels: Left, Right, Center, SurroundLeft, SurroundRight, BackLeft, BackRight, and a Sub (subsonic) low‑frequency channel. 7.1 surround sound is an improvement over 5.1 surround sound, offering better spatial resolution directly to the left and right as well.

Field	Value
value	5

Surround_7_1_4

7.1.4 surround sound consists of twelve channels: Left, Right, Center, SurroundLeft, SurroundRight, BackLeft, BackRight, Sub, TopLeft, TopRight, TopBackLeft, and TopBackRight. 7.1.4 is the only currently supported channel layout that encodes height information.

Field	Value
value	6