Samsung and Google plan to bring Eclipsa Audio, a new open-source 3D audio standard, to some YouTube videos later this year on Samsung's 2025 TVs and soundbars
Samsung and Google are ready to push a new standard, Eclipsa Audio. … Over the years, Samsung notably hasn't supported Dolby Vision HDR …
Context & Ripple Effects
Samsung has been extending audio features across phones, earbuds, TVs, and laptops through its earlier Auracast and 360 Audio rollout. Google, meanwhile, had already explored open spatial-audio tooling through Resonance Audio and was reported to be pursuing royalty-free HDR and 3D-audio formats under Project Caviar.
This matters because YouTube distribution and Samsung’s TV hardware give a new open 3D-audio format both a playback surface and a content destination. It shifts the standard from a technical effort toward a consumer-device deployment.
First-order effects
- Owners of supported 2025 Samsung TVs and soundbars will be able to receive Eclipsa Audio on participating YouTube videos later in the year.
- Samsung and Google gain an integrated hardware-and-platform launch path for an open-source 3D-audio standard, while creators and publishers get a new delivery format to consider.
Second-order effects
- Device makers, soundbar vendors, and video platforms evaluating immersive audio will have to weigh support for Eclipsa alongside existing proprietary and platform-specific formats.
- Availability on YouTube makes content encoding and playback compatibility more consequential: support from creators and production tools will determine whether the format becomes visible beyond a limited set of videos.
Third-order effects
- If other hardware and video services adopt it, Eclipsa could strengthen a broader move toward open media standards that reduce dependence on single-vendor licensing and certification ecosystems.
- The outcome remains contingent on cross-device interoperability and content adoption; a launch on one TV line and selected videos alone does not establish a durable standard.
The trend: Eclipsa is one data point in the push to pair open media formats with large consumer platforms so standards can gain adoption through distribution as well as hardware support.