THX Joins the Alliance for Open Media to Help Develop Immersive Audio Open Format

The Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) announced that THX has joined the organization and its efforts, currently being promoted by Google to create an alternative immersive audio open format to rival Dolby Laboratories’ widely successful licensed technologies. As a member of AOMedia, THX says it will collaborate with the Alliance’s community of Internet and media technology member companies to drive open standards for cutting-edge video, audio, and multimedia advancements worldwide.

Swedish audio DSP pioneer Dirac promoted a demonstration of the world's first in-car IAMF spatial audio installation in cooperation with Google Open Media and sound design house Vaudeville Sound. The Immersive Audio Model and Formats container format is being promoted for User Generated Content (UGC) and professional audio applications, as an open format alternative, which Google will support for Youtube content. Dirac setup an immersive system on a Volvo to showcase the potential applications for automotive.

The Alliance for Open Media is a non-profit industry consortium formed to develop open, royalty-free technology for multimedia delivery that can "serve as alternatives" to the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) standards. The organization is the creator of the AV1 Video Codec and now proposes an Immersive Audio Model and Formats (IAMF) Container Specification that the organization says will enable ecosystem-wide innovation in the Immersive/Spatial audio domain.