Which audio codecs does Blu-ray Disc support?
Blu-ray Disc supports a slew of audio codecs–but not every player is required to support every flavor within those codecs. According to the Blu-ray Disc Association, every Blu-ray Disc player must be able to reproduce at least two channels of audio from any of the six codec streams indicated in the Blu-ray spec: Lossless PCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, and DTS-HD. Sound confusing? That’s because it is. “In other words,” explains Andy Parsons, chair of the U.S. region of the Blu-ray Disc Association’s Promotional Committee, “if a DTS-HD stream is present, a player must be able to reproduce at least two channels of the legacy or ‘core’ DTS signal that can be derived from [the DTS-HD stream].” The same is true for Dolby TrueHD. The only “optional” aspect of any codec in the BD spec, adds Parsons, is whether a player can make full use of the more advanced audio possibilities, such as a full 7.1 channels or lossless DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD. Although the Blu-ray Di
