difference between Dolby surround and Dolby Digital?

[Red96TA]

Can someone explain the differences? If I convert a wav to ac3, which one can I claim it is?

[freestyler]

Both are "Dolby Digital", the notation simply refers to the encoding scheme.

If you take your average stereo wav and make an ac-3 out of it, it would be "Dolby Digital 2.0" (stereo).

"Dolby Surround" refers to the multichannel offerings of Dolby Digital (5.1, 5.1 EX, 5.0, Pro Logic).

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong

-Free

[OmegaSupreme]

Dolby Surround is different than Dolby Digital.

Dolby surround refers to the old analog systems (ie. Dolby Surround, Dolby Pro-Logic) that used phase information to mix all the channels into a stero signal.

Dolby Digital is... well digitally encoded with a perceptual audio codec. AC3 is Dolby Digital.