Develop for MPEG-H

 

MPEG-H Audio is the world’s most advanced Next-Generation Audio system for delivery of immersive and personalized audio via broadcast and OTT. It is the only NGA system on the air 24/7 in continuous broadcast. It is a mature technology fully implemented in consumer products today.

Low-complexity software implementations, patent licensing, decoder and product certification are available to manufacturers and developers.

To make sure that different devices interoperate smoothly, such as TV sets, set-top boxes, sound bars, AV receivers and others, the MPEG-H Audio System trademark program has been developed. It supports manufacturers in implementing and testing the features of the MPEG-H Audio System so that content providers and consumers can enjoy the full feature set and benefits of this new audio technology.

Software Implementations

Fraunhofer’s MPEG-H development and support team allows you to speak directly and immediately to our software developers and engineers.

MPEG-H encoder and decoder software is available or under development for many DSP and SOC embedded platforms as well as traditional x86 computers and mobile operating systems.

Fraunhofer IIS has provided software and integration support to software developers and device manufacturers since its invention of MP3. We have many customers who are entering their third decade of using our software products. Our software is usually licensed to consumer manufacturers for a one-time fee with no per-unit royalties. Note that patent licensing is entirely separate from software licensing. Information on the patent licensing program is available below.

Fraunhofer IIS supplies optimized audio encoder and decoder mobile libraries for use with Android-based systems, the Apple iOS Software Development Kit (SDK), and other mobile platforms. For example, Fraunhofer supplies the FDK library that is used in the Android OS for encoding and decoding AAC. It includes surround sound up to 7.1 channels and full loudness metadata support. Over one billion Android users now use the AAC framework provided by the FDK.

For real-time implementations on embedded processor cores, SOCs, and DSPs, Core Design Kits (CDKs) are available. They are optimized for devices with limited resources in terms of memory and computational power, such as TV sets, set-top boxes, sound bars, AV receivers, or smartphones. The CDKs are mainly written in plain C programming language for maximum portability and optionally include processor specific optimization in subroutines. The CDKs can be directly compiled for a wide range of 16-bit or 32-bit embedded processors and DSPs, thus offering a common, easily maintainable code base for a variety of target platforms. Code can be licensed in source code form or as object code libraries for various compiler tool chains:

  • Cadence/Tensilica HiFi Audio DSP
  • Analog Devices Sharc DSP Family
  • ARM based processors
  • Source code for other platforms

PC-based SDKs and applications for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X are available as source or object code.

Standardization & Adoption

MPEG-H 3D Audio or ISO/IEC 23008-3 is an open, international standard from MPEG, the international standards group responsible for many globally dominant media standards such as MP3, AAC, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AVC/H.264 and HEVC/H.265. Already adopted by ATSC, DVB, TTA (Korean TV) and SBTVD (Brazilian TV) TV standards, the MPEG-H Audio System is the sole audio codec selected for ATSC 3.0 broadcasting in South Korea and the first NGA system used on-the-air since broadcasts began in South Korea on May 31, 2017.

Streaming Standards and Specifications

Dedicated CMAF Media Profiles standardised in ISO/IEC

Included in the CTA WAVE Content Specification

ISO BMFF Based DVB Services over IP Based Networks specified by DVB

Standardized Interoperability Point for ATSC 3.0 by DASH Industry Forum

Adopted by HbbTV for broadcast, broadband and hybrid delivery

Virtual Reality Standards & Specifications

Selected by 3GPP as the only Audio Codec for Video Streaming over Mobile Networks

Selected by the VR Industry Forum as the only audio codec for delivery of VR experiences

Dedicated OMAF Media Profile standardised in ISO/IEC

Patent Licensing

In June 2021, Via Licensing announced the availability of an MPEG-H patent pool.

A patent license for the related Fraunhofer IP is either available through the MPEG-H patent pool, administered by Via Licensing: https://www.via-corp.com/licensing/mpeg-h/, or from Fraunhofer directly.

Please contact us for an individual license.

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