- Eclipsa Audio is a new rival to Dolby Atmos from Samsung and Google
- LG TVs support the audio format involved, but not the name
- It all depends on which bit is open source and which bit has to be licensed
Recently, I covered news of a report that LG is adding Eclipsa Audio support to its 2026 TVs and some 2025 TVs. But LG has now clarified to TechRadar that while Eclipsa Audio sources should work on its TVs technologically, the company does not support the Eclipsa Audio name.
What exactly is going on? There are four layers to this onion, so let’s peel them through one by one.
1. What is Eclipsa Audio in broad terms?
Eclipsa Audio is the name of a new 3D audio format that can compete with Dolby Atmos. It is built on a free and open new technology. The idea behind it is to reduce the cost barriers to access to spatial audio for small creators in particular, and allow wide use of spatial audio on all kinds of video and audio.
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Samsung was one of the companies mainly involved in its creation, and you can read more about the logic behind it in our interview with the VP of Samsung Audio Labs.
2. What is the technology behind Eclipsa Audio?
The audio technology behind Eclipsa Audio is called IAMF (Immersive Audio Model & Format), and it is an open source audio data container for adding 3D-sensing positional information to audio formats, including height information. The development of it was led by Samsung and Google.
As a free and open format, anyone can implement it without paying a fee or royalties for its use, as long as they follow the rules of the open source license under which it is available.
3. What happens to the name Eclipsa Audio?
Eclipsa Audio is the name chosen by Google and Samsung as a consumer-friendly brand for the IAMF 3D format. Although IAMF is free for anyone to use, the name Eclipsa Audio is not.
It’s part of “a certification and trademark licensing program” run by Google and Samsung to “provide quality assurance to manufacturers and consumers for products that support Eclipsa Audio”.
So if companies want to say they support Eclipsa Audio, they need approval from Google and Samsung, which presumably includes access to upcoming products for certification.
4. So what does LG support?
LG fully supports the IAMF technology, but they have chosen not to participate in Google and Samsung’s certification and licensing program, so the Eclipsa Audio name will not be found on their products.
It’s confusing, but it makes sense. If you were LG’s TV team, would you send your latest new products to Samsung ahead of their launch for approval?
As things stand, anything with IAMF support should fully work with LG’s compatible TVs – meaning that if a video on YouTube says it supports Eclipsa Audio, it should deliver the full experience on an LG TV. It’s just that LG can’t call it Eclipsa Audio in its settings or information screens when playing.
5. Which LG TVs support Eclipsa Audio?
According to the original report by FlatpanelsHD, all of LG’s 2026 TVs will support IAMF audio, and it will also be added to select 2025 TVs: LG G5, LG C5, LG CS5 and LG QNED9M.
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