The following is a list of film sound systems .
| Year | Name | Number of films |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 12-Track Digital Sound | 40 |
| 2015 | 2-Track Digital Sound (REMBS) | 586 |
| 1953 | 3 Channel Stereo | 51 |
| 1953 | 4-Track Stereo (CinemaScope) | 586 |
| 1955 | 6-Track Stereo (Todd-AO and compatibles) | 89 |
| 1955 | 70 mm 6-Track | 527 |
| 1934 | Afifa Ton-Kopie | 1 |
| 1950 | AGA Sound System | 7 |
| 1909 | Animatophone | 3 |
| 2010 | Auro 11.1 | 115 [1] |
| 1928 | Aurofone | 1 |
| 2015 | AuroMax | ? |
| 1943 | B.A.F. Sound System | 2 |
| 1907 | Biophone | 2 |
| 1938 | Blue Seal Noiseless Recording | 1 |
| 1929 | Bristolphone | 2 |
| 2001 | Broadway Surround | 1 |
| 1909 | Cameraphone | 1 |
| 1921 | Case | 1 |
| 1990 | CDS | 11 |
| 1974 | Chace Surround | 8 |
| 1905 | Chronophone | 106 |
| 1910 | Chronomegaphone | 1 |
| 1990 | Cinema Digital Sound | 5 |
| 1907 | Cinematophone | 53 |
| 1904 | Cineophone | 2 |
| 1904 | Cinephone Lubin | 57 |
| 1952 | Cinerama 7-Track | 13 |
| 1911 | Cinephonograph | 1 |
| 1949 | Cinesound | 10 |
| 1904 | Cinophone | 2 |
| 2010 | Datasat Digital Sound | 501 |
| 1923 | De Forest Phonofilm | 213 |
| 2002 | Digitrac Digital Audio System | 12 |
| 1975 | Dolby Stereo | 12497 |
| 2012 | Dolby Atmos | 281 [2] |
| 1992 | Dolby Digital | 19652 |
| 1999 | Dolby Digital EX | 288 |
| 1987 | Dolby Stereo SR | 5865 |
| 2009 | Dolby Surround 7.1 | 50 |
| 1993 | DTS | 3735 |
| 1996 | DTS 70 mm | 28 |
| 2001 | DTS-8 | 2 |
| 1999 | DTS-ES | 93 |
| 1994 | DTS-Stereo | 137 |
| 2015 | DTS:X | 42 [3] |
| 1996 | DX Stereo | 3 |
| 1940 | Fantasound | 1 |
| 1929 | Filmtone | 2 |
| 1998 | Full Range Recording System | 5 |
| 1920 | Gaumontphone | 1 |
| 1898 | Hollmann–Eaves | 1 |
| 1973 | IMAX 6-Track | 25 |
| 2014 | IMAX 12-Track | ? |
| 1933 | International Recording Engineers System | 2 |
| 1992 | Iwerks Digital Audio | 5 |
| 1894 | Kinetophone (Dickson) | 7 |
| 1888 | Kinetophone (Edison) | 1 |
| 1958 | Kinopanorama 9-Track | 6 |
| 1913 | Kinoplasticon | 12 |
| 1956 | Klangfilm Magnetocord | 3 |
| 1954 | Klangfilm-Stereocord | 3 |
| 1990 | LC-Concept Digital Sound | 22 |
| 1969 | Li-Westrex System | 1 |
| 1979 | Kintek Stereo | ? |
| 1938 | Magnaphone Western Electric | 3 |
| 1962 | Magnetocord | 1 |
| 1988 | Matrix Surround | 24 |
| 1904 | Mono | 137936 |
| 1925 | Movietone | 20 |
| 1938 | Optiphone | 5 |
| 1964 | Ortiphone | 1 |
| 1907 | Oskar Messter | 1 |
| 1949 | Perspecta Stereo | 58 |
| 1933 | Phillips Sound | 3 |
| 1900 | Phono-Bio-Taleaux | 1 |
| 1900 | Phono-Cinema-Theatre | 7 |
| 1921 | Phono-Kinema | 11 |
| 1922 | Phonofilm | 248 |
| 1921 | Photokinema | 8 |
| 1925 | Photophone (RCA) | 3 |
| 1914 | Polyscope | 2 |
| 1936 | Pulvári System | 5 |
| 1970 | Quadrophonic | 3 |
| 1975 | Quintaphonic | 1 |
| 1993 | Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) | 2005 RTG |
| 1974 | Sensurround | 13 |
| 1992 | Servotron Stereo | 5 |
| 1985 | Sonics | 4 |
| 1996 | Sonics-DDP | 47 |
| 1994 | Sonix | 13 |
| 1928 | Sonora-Bristolphone | 1 |
| 1977 | Sound 360° | 2 |
| 1992 | Sound Trax Surround Stereo | 4 |
| 1995 | Soundelux | 1 |
| 1965 | Spectra-Stereo | 2 |
| 1949 | Stereo | 45374 |
| 1978 | Super Space Sound | 1 |
| 1929 | Synchrotone | 2 |
| 1939 | Synthetic | 4 |
| 1932 | Systemi A. Shorin | 2 |
| 1940 | Système Cottet | 3 |
| 1933 | Tagephone | 1 |
| 1983 | THX Ltd. | 1732 |
| 2005 | TMH Labs 10.2 Channel Sound | 1 |
| 1928 | Tobis (Tonbild Syndicat) | 80 |
| 1922 | Tri-Ergon Sound System 68 mm | 2 |
| 1984 | Ultra Stereo | 1007 |
| 1938 | Variray Blue Seal Recording | 3 |
| 1935 | Visatone | 3 |
| 1980 | Vistasonic | 2 |
| 1925 | Vitagraph | 3 |
| 1926 | Vitaphone | 356 |
| 1911 | Vivaphone | 1 |
| 1921 | Western Electric | 20 |
| 1925 | Westrex (Fox & Western Electric) | 5 |
| 1938 | Wicmar and Blue Seal Noiseless Recording | 1 |
70 mm film is a wide high-resolution film gauge for motion picture photography, with a negative area nearly 3.5 times as large as the standard 35 mm motion picture film format. As used in cameras, the film is 65 mm (2.6 in) wide. For projection, the original 65 mm film is printed on 70 mm (2.8 in) film. The additional 5 mm contains the four magnetic stripes, holding six tracks of stereophonic sound. Although later 70 mm prints use digital sound encoding, the vast majority of existing and surviving 70 mm prints pre-date this technology.
Sony Dynamic Digital Sound is a cinema sound system developed by Sony, in which compressed digital sound information is recorded on both outer edges of the 35 mm film release print. The system supports up to eight independent channels of sound: five front channels, two surround channels and a single sub-bass channel. The eight channel arrangement is similar to large format film magnetic sound formats such as Cinerama and Cinemiracle. The five front channels are useful for very large cinema auditoriums where the angular distance between center and left/right channels may be considerable. SDDS decoders provide the ability to downmix to fewer channels if required.
Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, it is lossy compression. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35 mm film prints. It has since also been used for TV broadcast, radio broadcast via satellite, digital video streaming, DVDs, Blu-ray discs and game consoles.
A home cinema, also called a home theater or theater room, is a home entertainment audio-visual system that seeks to reproduce a movie theater experience and mood using consumer electronics-grade video and audio equipment and is set up in a room or backyard of a private home. Some studies show that films are rated better and generate more intense emotions when watched in a movie theater, but convenience is a major appeal for home cinemas. In the 1980s, home cinemas typically consisted of a movie pre-recorded on a LaserDisc or VHS tape; a LaserDisc Player or VCR; and a heavy, bulky large-screen cathode-ray tube TV set, although sometimes CRT projectors were used instead. In the 2000s, technological innovations in sound systems, video player equipment, TV screens and video projectors have changed the equipment used in home cinema set-ups and enabled home users to experience a higher-resolution screen image, improved sound quality and components that offer users more options. The development of Internet-based subscription services means that 2020s-era home theatre users do not have to commute to a video rental store as was common in the 1980s and 1990s.
Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener. Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to surround sound, theater sound systems commonly had three screen channels of sound that played from three loudspeakers located in front of the audience. Surround sound adds one or more channels from loudspeakers to the side or behind the listener that are able to create the sensation of sound coming from any horizontal direction around the listener.
The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in the United States in 1978. Its diameter typically spans 30 cm (12 in). Unlike most optical-disc standards, LaserDisc is not fully digital, and instead requires the use of analog video signals.
Dolby Laboratories, Inc. is a British-American technology corporation specializing in audio noise reduction, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and HDR imaging. Dolby licenses its technologies to consumer electronics manufacturers.
The Empire, Leicester Square is a cinema currently operated by Cineworld on the north side of Leicester Square, London, United Kingdom.
5.1 surround sound is the common name for surround sound audio systems. 5.1 is the most commonly used layout in home theatres. It uses five full-bandwidth channels and one low-frequency effects channel. Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, DTS, SDDS, and THX are all common 5.1 systems. 5.1 is also the standard surround sound audio component of digital broadcast and music.
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying motion picture film by projecting it onto a screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras. Modern movie projectors are specially built video projectors.
Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an analog sound track or digital sound track, and may record the signal either optically or magnetically. Earlier technologies were sound-on-disc, meaning the film's soundtrack would be on a separate phonograph record.
DTS, Inc. is an American company. DTS company makes multichannel audio technologies for film and video. Based in Calabasas, California, the company introduced its DTS technology in 1993 as a competitor to Dolby Laboratories, incorporating DTS in the film Jurassic Park (1993). The DTS product is used in surround sound formats for both commercial/theatrical and consumer-grade applications. It was known as The Digital Experience until 1995. DTS licenses its technologies to consumer electronics manufacturers.
Dolby Stereo is a sound format made by Dolby Laboratories. It is a unified brand for two completely different basic systems: the Dolby SVA 1976 system used with optical sound tracks on 35mm film, and Dolby Stereo 70mm noise reduction on 6-channel magnetic soundtracks on 70mm prints.
Dolby TrueHD is a lossless, multi-channel audio codec developed by Dolby Laboratories for home video, used principally in Blu-ray Disc and compatible hardware. Dolby TrueHD, along with Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3) and Dolby AC-4, is one of the intended successors to the Dolby Digital (AC-3) lossy surround format. Dolby TrueHD competes with DTS's DTS-HD Master Audio, another lossless surround sound codec.
An audio/video receiver (AVR) or a stereo receiver is a consumer electronics component used in a home theater or hi-fi system. Its purpose is to receive audio and video signals from a number of sources, and to process them and provide power amplifiers to drive loudspeakers, and/or route the video to displays such as a television, monitor or video projector. Inputs may come from a TV, FM, or AM tuner, satellite receiver, DVD players, Blu-ray Disc players, VCRs or video game consoles, among others. The AVR source selection and settings such as volume, are typically set by a remote controller.
Qube Cinema Technologies is an Indian company operating in film and television technology. It provided digital non-linear editing and digital cinema sound to the Indian market in the 1990s. The company then began work in digital cinema products and deployment during the early years of the century.
Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels, interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horizontal nor vertical limitations. Following the release of Atmos for the cinema market, a variety of consumer technologies have been released under the Atmos brand. The initial cinema Atmos systems used in-ceiling speakers, then upward-firing speakers were introduced as an alternative for consumer products. Atmos is also used on some devices that do not have a height channel, such as headphones, televisions, mobile phones, and tablets.
Auro 11.1 is one of the cinematic speaker layouts of the Auro-3D format, invented in 2005 by Wilfried Van Baelen.
Auro-3D is an immersive 3D audio format developed by the Belgium-based company Auro Technologies.
Dolby Cinema is a premium cinema created by Dolby Laboratories that combines Dolby proprietary technologies such as Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, as well as other signature entrance and intrinsic design features. The technology competes with IMAX and other premium large formats such as Cinemark XD and Regal's RPX.
