Fraunhofer IIS, primary developer of the xHE-AAC audio codec, and Ateme, a global leader of video compression and delivery solutions, have collaborated successfully to bring xHE-AAC encoding for live and file-based content to the TITAN family of products.
Ateme’s video compression and delivery solutions help tier-one content providers, service providers, and streaming platforms to boost their viewership and subscription engagement. By integrating Fraunhofer’s xHE-AAC audio codec for live and on-demand content encoding, Ateme’s customers can improve the quality of experience of their services by ensuring uninterrupted streaming with all types of content and consistent loudness. They can also generate higher revenue streams based on the increased coding efficiency and ad insertion capabilities of the latest AAC family member. xHE-AAC encoding in TITAN products enables seamless audio bitrate switching over DASH and HLS with a usable bit rate range that spans from 12 kbit/s to 500 kbit/s and above for stereo services. Due to the built-in mandatory support of MPEG-D DRC loudness and dynamic range control, xHE-AAC provides the best user experience on any device and in any listening environment.
“Delivering outstanding audio-visual experiences across devices is fundamental to keep consumer engaged. On mobile, extreme bandwidth constraints and background noise require specific care. Native xHE-AAC support in our TITAN transcoding and NEA packaging solutions helps content distributors to leverage the format compression efficiency and built-in loudness and dynamic range control. Our longstanding partnership with Fraunhofer was instrumental to achieve such deep integration,” declared Thomas Burnichon, VP Innovation Strategy at Ateme.
“Ateme has already integrated our personalized and immersive MPEG-H Audio codec that is widely used by broadcasters and streamers,” says Marc Gayer, Head of Business Department & Deputy Division Director Audio and Media Technologies at Fraunhofer IIS. “With the availability of xHE-AAC encoding for OTT streaming services in TITAN products, Ateme’s customers can now optimize and improve also their stereo audio content offerings.”
xHE-AAC playback including mandatory MPEG-D DRC metadata is natively supported in billions of consumer playback platforms including Microsoft Windows 11 as well as in Google’s, Amazon’s, and Apple’s operating systems. Netflix and other service providers are delivering Billions of hours of xHE-AAC content each month.
Demonstrations of xHE-AAC live streaming will be available at Fraunhofer’s NAB booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC, Central Hall, booth #C3529).
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