Dolby Audio vs Dolby Atmos: Know the Difference Before You Buy Your Next Soundbar or Speaker System

Don’t be fooled. Dolby Audio and Dolby Atmos aren’t even close to the same technology.

illustration of two people watching a TV in a home theater

Published April 25, 2024

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Dolby Atmos is one of the most sought-after features home audio. The immersive audio technology enables a speaker system to create virtual height and side channels, which trick your ears into thinking that sound is coming from all around you, instead of just right in front of you. Essentially, Dolby Atmos makes it sound like you’re in a movie, not staring at one.

However, Dolby makes a lot of digital technologies and that has the potential to confuse people shopping for a soundbar or home-theater solution. For example, Dolby Audio, which you’ll often see on boxes and product pages, is not Dolby Atmos. Not even close. So what is the key difference and why does it matter?

What is Dolby Audio?

Dolby Audio is a 2D audio technology that makes subtle enhancements to whatever you’re watching — be it a sporting event, streamed movie or even a DVD or Blu-ray — so that it sounds generally better. It automatically adds detail so that you can better hear dialogue, for example.

roku streambar — The Roku Streambar (pictured) features Dolby Audio, not Dolby Atmos.

Dolby Audio also adjusts the volume so when there’s a quick cut scene or you’re even switching between channels, you’re not going from extreme highs to extreme lows (or vice versa).

What is Dolby Atmos?

Dolby Atmos is a 3D immersive technology that allows a speaker or speaker system to fool your brain into thinking that sound is coming from all around you. It essentially mimics the effect of watching a movie in the cinema, as if speakers were positioned all around you, even when when they’re not.

sonos era 300 dolby atmos — Most TV streaming services support Atmos content. However, only three streaming music services allow you to listen to Dolby Atmos tracks: Apple Music, Amazon Prime Music and Tidal.

The important thing to note about Dolby Atmos is that everything in the audio chain has to support it or you won’t get its immersive effect. So if you’re watching a movie at home, the soundbar, television and the content source— be it a movie from a streaming service like Netflix or Max, or a physical disc like a DVD or a Blu-ray — all have to support Dolby Atmos.

Everything in the audio chain has to support Dolby Atmos or you won’t get its immersive effect.

The good thing is that Dolby wants to make Atmos widespread and has licensed its technology into a lot of home-theater systems and soundbars, as well as headphones and TVs. A lot of streaming services, such as Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video are supporting additional Atmos content, as well.

Which streaming services support Dolby Atmos?

Most of them. If you’re streaming a show or movie from a service like Netflix, Apple TV, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video or Max, there’s a very good chance that you can find content that supports Dolby Atmos. Most of these streaming services will actually show an Atmos icon to indicate that a particular program supports Atmos.

Atmos is definitely more established in the home-theater realm and that’s why there are a ton of soundbars and home-theater systems that support it; most new-age movies and shows support it, as well.

There are only three music streaming services that support Dolby Atmos: Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited and Tidal.

A lot of music is rendered for Dolby Atmos, too, but these tracks aren’t quite as easy to listen to. The main reason is that there are only three music streaming services that support Dolby Atmos tracks. They are Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited and Tidal. So if you listen to Spotify or Pandora, you’re out of luck.

When using one of the mentioned services that support music rendered for Dolby Atmos, you can often tell if the track supports it by the sight of a “Dolby Atmos” icon.

Which speakers support Dolby Atmos?

homepod v sonos era 300 — There are a lot of soundbars and home theater systems that support Dolby Atmos. The Sonos Era 300 and Apple’s newest HomePod are the rare wireless speakers that do.

In 2024, a lot of speakers support Dolby Atmos. In fact, the vast majority of midrange and high-end soundbars and home-theater systems all support Dolby Atmos. The only ones that do not are the more budget-friendly options— sub $300 — as they don’t have the necessary speakers to play the immersive content. That said, not all play Dolby Atmos content quite the same way.

The best Dolby Atmos soundbars, home-theater systems and wireless speakers all have upward-firing drivers.

The best Dolby Atmos soundbars, home-theater systems and wireless speakers all have upward-firing drivers, which are better able to create virtual height and side channels and thus do a better job of tricking your ears into thinking that sounds are coming from all around you: from your left, right, center and above.

There’s a growing breed of speakers and soundbars supporting Dolby Atmos that don’t have these upward-firing drivers. The Sonos Beam (Gen 2) is one such example. The Atmos package that Dolby provides speaker and soundbar manufacturers is smart enough to figure out what kind of system it is — be it a 2.0-channel soundbar or 7.1.2 home-theater system — and then render the Atmos audio so that it sounds best. But it’s never going to sound as good or immersive as when playing on speakers with upward-firing drivers.

As far as standalone wireless speakers go, there are fewer options. No portable speaker can play Dolby Atmos over Bluetooth. (Things are a little different when it comes to wireless headphones, as the headphones need to be Atmos enabled.)

There are quite a few wireless speakers that can play Dolby Atmos over Wi-Fi, and it’s becoming more common for these kinds of wireless speakers to be optimized for Dolby Atmos. The Sonos Era 300 and the HomePod (2nd-Gen), for example, both have upward-firing drivers and can play Dolby Atmos in a way that’s super immersive.