MediaCapabilities: query spatial audio with decodingInfo()

Adds APIs for detecting whether spatial audio formats, i.e., Dolby Atmos and DST:X, can be rendered. Spatial audio rendering describes the UA's ability to to render spatial audio to a given output device; it can be used in conjunction with the stream's mime type to determine support for a specific spatial audio format.

To detect spatial audio support, online content providers need to know 1) whether the client can decode the codec to which the spatial audio format is tied, i.e., Dolby Digital Plus for Dolby Atmos, and 2) whether the client's audio device can render spatial audio.Today, online content providers can query decoding but not rendering. This API allows sites to do the latter and enables the following: - Capable clients enjoy high-end media playback experience. - Otherwise, spatial content does not get served to preserve network bandwidth and, potentially, playback quality.

Demo

• TBD

Documentation

• https://github.com/w3c/media-capabilities/blob/master/explainer.md#spatial-audio

Specification

Editor's draft

Status in Chromium

Blink components: Blink>Media>Capabilities

In development (tracking bug)

Consensus & Standardization

• Firefox: No signal
• Edge: Positive
• Safari: Positive
• Web Developers: Positive

Owners

• ving@microsoft.com
• gwhit@microsoft.com
• gurvir@microsoft

Last updated on 2020-08-01