Samsung Electronics has teamed with Google on a new spatial sound standard, Eclipsa Audio, that could emerge as a free alternative to Dolby Atmos. On display at CES 2025 in Las Vegas this week, the format is rolling out across Samsung’s line of 2025 TVs and soundbars, and Google will support it on the content side by enabling Eclipsa 3D audio on some YouTube videos this year. Samsung has been a notable holdout on Dolby Vision HDR embracing instead the competing HDR10+. Now the South Korean electronics giant seems to be staking out its own turf in 3D audio, advocating for open source.

On the hardware side, Samsung has the clout to move markets, and Google is a formidable content partner. A newsroom post positions Samsung as the TV display leader “for 18 consecutive years … with the largest market share over 75 inches worldwide.”

Like Atmos, Eclipsa Audio allows sound techs to adjust “audio data such as the location and intensity of sounds, along with spatial reflections” to create a more immersive sound experience, according to Samsung.

It will be available across Samsung’s new TV lineup, from Crystal UHD to Neo QLED 8K, which will be on display at CES 2025 today through Friday. Using that expansive canvas, the Eclipsa partners plan to usher in new means of audio artistry, “empowering creators to craft dynamic, immersive audio content” designed for optimal performance on Samsung TVs.

“Eclipsa is part of a wider effort by Google and Samsung to take on Dolby Atmos” with a royalty-free alternative, writes TechRadar, emphasizing that “the absolutely tiny profit margins in the TV manufacturing industry” might make the absence of a license fee “an appealing option” for set makers while fostering creativity with underlying tech that is open source, allowing others “to freely use and modify it.”

The Verge points out that Samsung and Google’s spatial audio partnership dates back to 2023, when the companies announced a joint effort to develop the Immersive Audio Model and Formats (IAMF) standard, “a complete open-source framework for 3D audio, from creation to delivery and playback.”

The IAMF spec was adopted by the Alliance for Open Media, which in addition to Samsung and Google includes Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Netflix among its members. If the AOM adds support for Eclipsa, “it could help it catch on,” adds The Verge.