- ASAF offers Dolby Atmos -style space audio, with more effects
- Available for all Apple Watchos platforms
- Mainly focused on vision pro
Apple has introduced a new format for the space monitoring space audio: ASAF. Apple’s space audio format promises “truly immersive audio experiences” and was presented in silence at the WWDC 2025 event last week, not in the key note, but in a session for application developers.
As Flatpanelshd explains, there are two components here: ASAF, which is used in audio and video production to place audio elements in a three -dimensional space, and APAC (Apple positional audio code), which is the codec used to deliver it.
If you are thinking “no other Audio format “You are not alone: Samsung and Google are also promoting Eclipsa’s audio as Dolby Atmos rival.
However, Apple is and is not a rival Dolby Atmos: Flatpanelshd reports that Dolby Atmos can be delivered within the new Apple format, which can then add some additional space audio tricks in addition. Therefore, this seems to be less than replacing atmos than expanding … although providing an alternative could be a large part of Apple’s plan.
What does Asaf mean for the future of audio?
That is a very good question, because at this time ASAF is for Apple devices: tvos, iOS, iPados, macos and visionos. The iPhone 16 can be used to capture Asaf Audio, and that ease of capture is probably something to pay attention to.
Initially, according to Apple’s presentation, it seems that the approach, the very destined words game is in the visiones. Apple has ordered the use of APAC with all immersive video titles, although the codec can be used as a container for Dolby Atmos data instead of Asaf if the creator is already using that format.
The idea with the additional 3D skills of ASAF is that they can alter the space sound not only based on their own monitoring and positioning of the head, but also depending on the virtual environment in which it is found, changing elements such as volume and reverb to make the sound seem that it coincides with the world in which it is located. Therefore, you can see why it goes beyond Dolby Atmos, who only means that he is sitting in the center of a virtual theater.
However, an additional appeal here may not be technical; It can be financial. Dolby Atmos requires producers’ royalty payments, and Samsung told us that one of Eclipsa’s audio objectives was partly to ensure that the creators of smaller -scale content could create and offer easily also space audio videos.
Apple can offer a similar approach: where it previously maintained its proprietary formats, it has become more open in recent years and its Apple lossless audio codec dropped its royalty scheme in 2011. Apparently, ASAF can be created using standard industry software and accessories.
According to reports, the APAC codec works at bits rates as low as 64 Kbps and maximizes 768 kbps, which may seem low, is the same maximum bits rate as Apple, Netflix and others use to transmit Dolby Atmos at this time, so it will coincide with the current quality standards.
