True 5.1 in MP4s

[antonred17]

Even though many mp4 movies i've downloaded contain 6 channel audio, none of them gives true 5.1 surround sound on my sound system like mkvs or DVDs. I made comparisons with a few popular video players with the same results. I'm not talking about sound quality but multichannel precision. I just wanted to know if its a sound encoding thing or a container one, for which format to preffer in the future.

Thank you in advance.

[Baldrick]

Check if they really contain 5.1 channels with mediainfo.

Maybe aac 5.1 audio and your players decodes it to stereo or something.

[antonred17]

Yeah maybe, but they only behave like that when playing mp4. Anyway, thanks man.

[enim]

Even though many mp4 movies i've downloaded contain 6 channel audio, none of them gives true 5.1 surround sound

Do Not Trust downloaded stuff. As none them give you true surround effect because of faulty & buggy encoders, and stupid uploaders who encoded without any proper knowledge. In most of your cases either one or more channels are already muted.

In case of muted channel(s), mediainfo will be fooled with many channels.

Open audio in any audio editor like for say Audacity with ffmpeg input plugin and physically verify if any channel(s) is muted or not.

I just wanted to know if its a sound encoding thing or a container one, for which format to preffer in the future.

If you target hardware players MKV with 5.1 AC3 is universal container.
If you target mobile devices MP4 with multi-channel is universal container.

[hello_hello]

Do Not Trust downloaded stuff. As none them give you true surround effect because of faulty & buggy encoders, and stupid uploaders who encoded without any proper knowledge. In most of your cases either one or more channels are already muted.

I've no idea where you get that idea. It's simply not true.