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Dolby Digital Plus surround sound plugs into Microsoft's Edge

Windows 10 won't have Media Center included but this week Microsoft revealed that it will have support for surround sound in some new ways, and it could make Netflix streaming even better. Beyond supporting Dolby Digital Plus in the Windows 10 OS -- similar to Windows 8 -- its Edge browser (formerly known as Project Spartan) will be the first one with built-in support for the surround sound audio codec. Microsoft and Dolby are explaining to developers how they can not only create 5.1 audio mixes for content, but also include the code to make it fall back to stereo on other we browsers.

Even if you don't have a home stereo hooked up to your PC or tablet, the two claim that Windows 10's support for Dolby Digital Plus portable mode will make for louder and clearer audio played back via laptop speakers or headphones. Netflix isn't mentioned by name, but this support could bring surround sound streaming through the web browser with those new media extensions, something it doesn't currently support on Silverlight or HTML5. On PCs it does support surround sound via the Windows 8 app, but another option couldn't hurt, and after five years of waiting we're more than ready for it to arrive.

[Image credit: Tomasz Wyszołmirski]