Kristofer Kjörling

An Overview of the Coding Standard MPEG-4 Audio Amendments 1 and 2: HE-AAC, SSC, and HE-AAC v2

In 2003 and 2004, the ISO/IEC MPEG standardization committee added two amendments to their MPEG-4 audio coding standard. These amendments concern parametric coding techniques and encompass Spectral Band Replication (SBR), Sinusoidal Coding (SSC), and Parametric Stereo (PS). In this paper, we will give an overview of the basic ideas behind these techniques and references to more detailed information. Furthermore, the results of listening tests as performed during the final stages of the MPEG-4 standardization process are presented in order to illustrate the performance of these techniques.

Delivering Scalable Audio Experiences using AC-4

AC-4 is a state-of-the-art audio codec standardized in ETSI (TS 103 190 and TS 103 190-2) and included in the DVB toolbox (TS 101 154 V2.2.1 and DVB BlueBook A157) and, at the time of writing, is a candidate standard for ATSC 3.0 as per A/342 part 2. AC-4 is an audio codec designed to address the current and future needs of video and audio entertainment services, including broadcast and Internet streaming. As such, it incorporates a number of features beyond the traditional audio coding algorithms, such as capabilities to support immersive and personalized audio, support for advanced loudness management, video-frame synchronous coding, dialog enhancement, etc. This paper will outline the thinking behind the design of the AC-4 codec, explain the different coding tools used, the systemic features included, and give an overview of performance and applications. It further outlines metadata aspects (immersive and personalized, essential for broadcast), metadata carriage, aspects of interchange of immersive programing, as well as immersive playback and rendering.