Browse Definitions :
Definition

AC-3 (Dolby Digital)

TechTarget Contributor
By

AC-3, also known as Dolby Digital , is a perceptual digital audio coding technique that reduces the amount of data needed to produce high-quality sound. Perceptual digital audio coding takes advantage of the fact that the human ear screens out a certain amount of sound that is perceived as noise. Reducing, eliminating, or masking this noise significantly reduces the amount of data that needs to be provided. Dolby Laboratories developed two other perceptual coding systems, AC-1 and AC-2. Building upon Dolby's two previous coding systems, AC-3 was the first coding system designed specifically for multichannel digital audio. AC-3 is the sound format for digital television ( DTV ), digital versatile discs ( DVD s), high definition television ( HDTV ), and digital cable and satellite transmissions.

AC-3 is a 5.1 format, which means that it provides five full-bandwidth channels, front left, front right, center, surround left, and surround right. A low-frequency effect (LFE) channel is included for the sound needed for special effects and action sequences in movies. The LFE channel is one-tenth of the bandwidth of the other channels and is sometimes erroneously called the subwoofer channel. AC-3 also has a downmixing feature that ensures compatibility with devices that do not support the 5.1 format.

This was last updated in January 2011
Networking
Security
  • timing attack

    A timing attack is a type of side-channel attack that exploits the amount of time a computer process runs to gain knowledge about...

  • privileged identity management (PIM)

    Privileged identity management (PIM) is the monitoring and protection of superuser accounts that hold expanded access to an ...

  • possession factor

    The possession factor, in a security context, is a category of user authentication credentials based on items that the user has ...

CIO
  • Systems Modeling Language (SysML)

    Systems Modeling Language (SysML) helps teams design, develop, test and deploy complex physical systems.

  • business process reengineering (BPR)

    Business process reengineering (BPR) is a management practice in which business processes used are radically redesigned to ...

  • innovation management

    Innovation management involves the process of managing an organization's innovation procedure, starting at the initial stage of ...

HRSoftware
  • employee resource group (ERG)

    An employee resource group is a workplace club or more formally realized affinity group organized around a shared interest or ...

  • employee training and development

    Employee training and development is a set of activities and programs designed to enhance the knowledge, skills and abilities of ...

  • employee sentiment analysis

    Employee sentiment analysis is the use of natural language processing and other AI techniques to automatically analyze employee ...

Customer Experience
  • customer profiling

    Customer profiling is the detailed and systematic process of constructing a clear portrait of a company's ideal customer by ...

  • customer insight (consumer insight)

    Customer insight, also known as consumer insight, is the understanding and interpretation of customer data, behaviors and ...

  • buyer persona

    A buyer persona is a composite representation of a specific type of customer in a market segment.

Close