Dolby E

Dolby E is a lossy audio compression and decoding technology developed by Dolby Laboratories that allows 6 to 8 channels of audio to be compressed into an AES3 digital audio stream that can be stored as a standard stereo pair of digital audio tracks.

Dolby E logo.

Up to six channels, such as a 5.1 mix, can be recorded as 16-bit Dolby E data. However, if more than six channels are required, such as 5.1 plus a stereo LtRt, the AES3 data must be formatted as 20-bit audio. This increases capacity to eight channels.

Dolby E should never reach home viewers, as it is intended for use during post-production when moving multichannel material between production facilities or broadcasters. It is decoded prior to transmission.

It is very important to ensure that a Dolby E stream is never played through monitors or headphones without decoding. Undecoded Dolby E data will be converted to analog as full scale (0 dBFS) digital noise that can easily damage loudspeakers or hearing. Unambiguous media labeling is essential to avoid this.

Products

Dolby E encoding and decoding is implemented using commercially available hardware or software.

Hardware
  • Dolby DP571
  • Dolby DP572
  • Dolby DP568
  • Dolby DP580
  • Dolby DP591
  • Dolby DP600
  • Dolby DP600C

Software
  • FFmpeg (only decoding)[1]
  • Avisynth (only decoding)[2]
  • Emotion Systems 'eNGINE'[3]
  • Minnetonka Audio 'AudioTools Server'[4]
  • Minnetonka Audio SurCode for Dolby E[4]
  • Neyrinck SoundCode For Dolby E

References
  1. DolbyE Decoding with FFMpeg 5.1
  2. DolbyE decoding with Avisynth
  3. Dolby Encode and Decode using The eNGINE
  4. "Minnetonka Audio". www.telosalliance.com.
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