Dolby Atmos

Dolby Atmos is an object-based audio format. Traditional surround assigns each sound to a channel — rear left, centre, and so on. Atmos instead treats each sound as an object with a position in three-dimensional space, including height, and lets the playback system work out how best to reproduce that position on whatever equipment you have.

The practical difference is the vertical dimension. Rain overhead, a helicopter passing above, footsteps on the floor above you — traditional surround cannot place these, because it has no height channels.

How you can hear it

With speakers, through upward-firing speakers that bounce sound off the ceiling, or ceiling-mounted speakers. Many Atmos soundbars use the bounce approach, which works better in a room with a flat, reasonably low ceiling than in a large or irregular one.

With headphones, through Dolby Atmos for Headphones, which simulates the same positioning on ordinary stereo headphones. This is the accessible route and costs nothing in hardware.

Do games support Dolby Atmos?

On Xbox, yes — Atmos is supported for games, and plenty of titles use it. You enable it through the Dolby Access app.

On PlayStation, PS5 supports Atmos for compatible setups, but Sony''s own 3D audio system is what most PlayStation games are built around, and it is the one that works on any stereo headphones.

On PC, Atmos works through Dolby Access with supported games and hardware.

Support is decided game by game. In a title without it, enabling Atmos changes nothing.

Worth it or not?

For films, Atmos is a clear upgrade and widely used. For games, it is good where supported, but on PlayStation the platform''s own 3D audio covers most of the same ground without extra equipment.

If you are buying a soundbar or receiver anyway, Atmos support is worth having — it costs little extra now and covers films as well as games. If you are considering buying equipment purely for Atmos in games, the case is weaker than the marketing suggests.