Summary
- Apple Spatial Audio Format supports anchoring sounds to real-world space, so audio stays fixed as you move. You need compatible software and hardware to experience the effect.
- While ASAF is coming to iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple TVs, Apple’s primary target appears to be visionOS devices like the Vision Pro.
- Don’t expect it on non-Apple devices anytime soon.
Full disclosure: I’m not a fan of spatial audio in most respects. When it works, it can be impressive — for instance, adding an extra layer of immersion to movies. But it’s not always mixed properly, and even when it is, I can live without it. It often feels gimmicky. To paraphrase an argument I’ve made elsewhere, many of my favorite movies were originally mixed for stereo or Dolby Surround — it’s not like I’m upset that I can’t hear the Hueys flying overhead in Apocalypse Now. I’ve also put my money where my mouth is, buying a Sonos Ray soundbar instead of one with support.
At its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple revealed plans for a new standard dubbed Apple Spatial Audio Format, or ASAF. Learning more about it caught my attention, and I think it could have legitimately important implications not just for movies and TV shows, but the worlds of augmented and virtual reality. That’s true even if ASAF doesn’t catch on beyond first-party Apple devices. Handled properly, it might make me a believer.
What is Apple Spatial Audio Format, and what’s the big deal?
Your own space, not just a director’s
Traditionally, spatial audio formats have positioned sounds relative to the listener or audio output, which is perfectly fine in most circumstances. If you’re watching a movie or listening to music with Atmos, there’s no need to do anything more complicated. That first sentence might have you a little confused — maybe even wondering what the alternative could possibly be.
The answer is positioning sound objects relative to real-world space. As you move around, ASAF objects can appear to remain stationary, or follow their own unique panning. Returning to the example of Apocalypse Now, those helicopters might initially sound like they’re flying overhead, but grow distant if you walk into the kitchen still wearing your headphones. ASAF can even take the acoustics of your room into account, much like a Sonos speaker does when you calibrate it with Trueplay.
As you move around, ASAF objects can appear to remain stationary, or follow their own unique panning.
Getting the full effect is, of course, contingent on the right gear and software. You not only need an Apple device (for now anyway), but compatible headphones, and some technology capable of painting an audio “map” of your room. Indeed, if you’re watching a movie using stationary speakers, ASAF probably won’t make a difference, no matter if a studio has the perfect Dolby Atmos mix. That’s something important to note, while I’m at it — ASAF isn’t intended to replace standards like Atmos, not yet anyway. Much like Apple’s current spatial audio tech, Atmos can be served through ASAF without one format overruling the other.
Critical to ASAF is APAC, or the Apple Positional Audio Codec. This supports bitrates as low as 64kbps and as high as 768kbps, which might initially be disappointing to audiophiles wanting lossless audio. If it’s any comfort, that’s consistent with the quality of Atmos streaming over services like Netflix, so you won’t be missing much unless you’re a purist.
Apple hasn’t said much about when and where we can expect ASAF to make a big impact. I was hoping to hear more at the company’s 2025 ‘Awe Dropping’ event a couple of weeks ago, but it was mostly dominated by the iPhone 17 series and brand-new AirPods Pro 3, plus a host of other products.
Apple has at least confirmed that the format is coming to most of its operating systems, including tvOS, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS. The glaring gap here is watchOS, but simulating a real-time 3D sound environment might be too intense for an Apple Watch chip handling other tasks such as workout tracking. In fact, Apple Watches don’t even support the current incarnation of spatial audio, although that could hypothetically change with future models.
What’s the real purpose of Apple Spatial Audio Format?
Mixed reality, maybe leaving Dolby behind
The main target of ASAF seems to be visionOS, but so far found only the Vision Pro. visionOS 26, due this fall, will let people tie both apps and widgets to fixed spots in their real-world environments. That opens up a number of audio and video possibilities, for which ASAF makes sense — imagine having a music widget that only streams in your office, or a 100-inch virtual “TV” you can only hear clearly in your living room. You’ll also be able to share games, video, and some other experiences with visionOS users in the same location, for which accurate audio positioning could be vital.
ASAF should improve the overall immersiveness of Apple’s AR experience. Something I’d personally love to see is a first-party “window” widget that projects photorealistic animated scenery with ambient audio. Think of that “forest” Ripley sits in front of Aliens as an example.
But really, it’s the possibilities I haven’t thought of that might be the most exciting. AR is still in its infancy, so many concepts have yet to be explored. Others have been considered, but have been beyond the scope of AR technology until recently, if they aren’t to this day. Naturally, you can expect ASAF to be a prominent part of any future visionOS devices, including lighter and cheaper models.
The combination of visionOS 26 and ASAF opens up a number of possibilities for audio and video — imagine having a music widget that only streams in your office, or a 100-inch virtual “TV” you can only hear clearly in your living room.
One possibility people have speculated on is that ASAF could become a meaningful alternative to Dolby Atmos. The problem with Atmos, as far as tech companies are concerned, is that it can’t be used without paying royalties. The amount Dolby receives from Apple is unknown, but it’s presumably in the millions. Naturally, then, it’s in Apple’s interests to encourage as many app and media creators as possible to skip the middleman.
Is that idea plausible? I don’t think so. Media creators typically need to target as many platforms as possible to turn a profit, so at most they might include enhanced ASAF mixes alongside Atmos — unless Apple is willing to pay for exclusivity. Either way, growth potential will be limited if Apple isn’t willing to extend its format to platforms like Android, Google TV, and Roku OS, or make it so dead simple to produce an enhanced track that it would be foolish not to.
More likely is that other companies — possibly including Dolby — will want to imitate ASAF and come up with their own interpretations, hopefully cross-platform. A few years from now, we may all be walking through our own custom sound fields.
