Dolby Atmos is the best way to experience a movie or show on Disney+. Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology which adds height channels, allowing sounds to be interpreted as three-dimensional objects. In other words, Dolby Atmos will literally make it sound like the Millennium Falcon is flying by above you.
Recently we’ve been
Dolby Atmos Not Working On Disney Plus?
A recent app update has broken Dolby Atmos support on Disney+ for any device that runs Android. This includes devices such as Firesticks, Chromecast, Sony TV, Nvidia Shield and more.
Instead of Dolby Atmos being used, regular Dolby Digital 5.1 is being used instead.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much that be done to resolve this issue. Many have experienced success in casting from a phone onto their TVs instead.
Disney is likely aware of the issue, and will eventually release an update to fix Dolby Atmos support. However, there is no timeline on when that might happen.
When we get word of an update to fix this bug, we’ll be sure to update this article.
Update: Atmos appears to be restored on Disney+ for many users as October 29.
Update Nov 16: We are hearing reports that Atmos has once again broken on Disney+. Any you experiencing issues with Dolby Atmos? Let us know in the comments!
Without Atmos, not much advantage to paying for Disney+
I’m using Sony A80J TV only 2 channels appear when playing Dolby-Atoms. Others apps playing Atoms no problem! Really want to cut the Disney+ account😓
Disney plus is now working with Atmos on steamers and internal tv apps
I have the same A80J. Atmos didn’t work for the past months. I checked today (11/1) and it works now! Internal Disney+ app. I checked both Disney and Marvel movies and both have Atmos.
It’s so annoying, it only outputs to 2 channels if it’s normally atmos.
This isn’t the first time it happened and isn’t it funny their toy is broken again but they’re billing department never seems to glitch now does it especially when they’ve increased the prices across the Disney universe
Not working on newest Fire tv cube.
Same here with fire tv cube 3rd gen. But prime video wont give me atmos either.
Doesn’t seem to be an issue on LG 77 C1 or the Samsung picked up in March.
No atmos no disney for me.
Apple TV (2021) is producing Atmos but it is absolutely problematic
Atmos is now working on Fire TV and Internals apps for Sony TVs
Suddenly come back again ? Or need to do something?
Atmos is fully restored as of today
Huzzah!
Hi, d+ has no atmos for me in my apple tv , how can I resolve
Totally annoying with only 2.0 channels for supposedly ATMOS tracks with Fire Stick 4K MAX device. Hate the situation where we’re held hostage by these large corporations, in this case, not even an expected correction date. Will contact Disney+ billing dept. for a credit on my monthly charge. Note that the Roku Ultra device appears to process the ATMOS track properly, for now…
I had the problem before but it’s fixed now for me.
My Pioneer receiver is displaying that Dolby atmos is again being detected on Disney+.
D+ is not play atmos on my apple tv , how to resolve
Hi All,
On my HT-system (Sony KD55AG8, Sony STR-DN1080) Disney+ app does not playing with Dolby Atmos, only with Dolby Digital+, but there is no problem with Netflix, Amazon Prime, and AppleTV apps.
I can only get Stereo with Disney+ on Chromecast.
All the other apps, Amazon prime, Hbo Max, Netflix work fine with Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital+.
Why can’t Disney+ fix this problem with an update?
I found an interesting phenomenon, on the other Sony TV (KD55XG9505) in the bedroom, the same version of the Disney+ app (v2.14.1-rc1) is installed, but on this device the text Dolby Atmos appears on the cover image of the test movie (Avengers Endgame) too! It seems as if the app chooses based on the SoC in the TV, on which it allows and which does not Dolby Atmos sound.
In the exact same situation as you. 🙁
Have you found a solution yourself? Or do we just need to sit on our hands until a update fixes it. I seriously don’t understand how it is possible for it to jump down from Dolby 5.1 to 2.0 PCM. I wonder if they tried to fix the problem with Atmos and the issue just became worse. I only realised atmos was missing a week or two before this disaster update.
Gosh, I wish I knew it’s very frustrating and frankly, I think what Disney+ has done. They have reduced some of their bandwidth behind the scenes to save money and they are going to offer another tear in order to get Dolby Atmos consistently.
2022 Philips PUS8007 with Android 1, and Sonos Arc
No Atmos via the app, just DD+ 5.1. Tried casting to the built in Chromecast with an even worse result, 2.0 PCM.
Atmos works fine with Netflix, HBO and Amazon Prime.
Only getting PCM 2 channel audio Chromecast.
App 2.15.3-rc5
Just updated and still no atmos only 5.1 not very good app support is it
Atmos still broken Apple TV
Not working since last update from Disney Plus on Android..
Dolby Atmos still not working with Disney plus on my 2022 Hisense 75inch, all good though as i use my 4k apple tv to run the disney app and it works fine that way, wish they would hurry up and update the app to fix this problem as all other apps through the tv work fine with atmos available content
1 janvier 2023… ne marche toujours pas sur Shield Tv Pro , Philips Oled 807 … que du 5.1 …
Still no dolby atmos on disney plus. LG C1 55 inch and Q990B Samsung sound bar. Disney Plus app suppprt is a Joke
Also no atmos with Tcl C715 connected to a bar 8132 with hdmi arc.
Contacted to disney ,and answer: Tcl Tv is not a compatible tv with disney….
I can not belive it….
After the January 26th app update, movies with Dolby Digital+ sound only play PCM stereo sound. Congratulations Disney, the quality of the service has gone down the frog’s ass..
Got the exact same issue from Atmos to dd 5.1 to now pcm 2.0. Did you find a solution from tinkering with your streaming device/ tv? Or do we have to wait for Disney to update once again? HBOMAX got the same downgrading from Atmos to DD 5.1 now.
TV-2022 Nov, Panasonic TH-55LX800H
Denon AV amp AVR-X6500H 11.2 Channels
Build-in Netflix apps can work the Dolby Atmos properly on TH-55LX800H. Yes, it’s working.
BUT
Disney+ apps CAN NOT work the Dolby Atmos on TH-55LX800H, no matter how I tried all alternative settings. NO, it can’t work.
Same here. Sony KD65XE9005 with Denon AVR X2600 with 5.1.2 channels. DD+ works perfectly on Netflix and Prime video, but recently I cant get DD+ on disney plus. Used to work fine before.
Sony Android TV 55X8500E though to Denon AVR-S650H. Bought Disney + Subscription in Nov 2022. Up until a few weeks ago DD+ worked with no problems. Since then only 5.1 PCM available with 4K content. I tried changing settings but couldn’t get DD+ back. I did note that previously movie titles showed ATMOS quality sound. Now movies only show 5.1. I contacted Disney help desk and was told it is a known problem and that the tech team is working on it. I was given a ticket number. I was also told that if problem wasn’t fixed in two weeks to ring back.
Nokia Streaming Box 8010 – Dolby Atmos via Netflix, HBO MAX, but with Disney + only DDP 5.1…
Waiting for your update with the case.
I rang Disney help desk again on 21 March to check if the DD+ Atmos options had been restored. I explained the problem again and gave my ticket number. I was then ask to go through a series of fault finding questions and details of my setup. This took about 40 minutes. I was told that this information would be passed on the Technical Group to help solve the problem. I was advised that I would receive a reply from the Technical Group with in 10 working days.
Do you have any news?
Samsung Q60a TV’s Disney Plus have no Dolby Atmos for few months, but it must not the setting problem. I watch Apple Tv and Netflix via TV’s app and they do pass Atmos signal. Please help🙏🏽🙏🏽
Disney Help stated that Disney no longer support DD & DD+ and now only support Dolby Atmos. The implication is that to experience multichannel audio via Disney one must now have Dolby Atmos compatible equipment or devices. So setups using older, non-Atmos compatible AV equipment and streaming devices, will now seemingly only get LPCM 2.0 Channel audio streamed to them, i.e. these setups, like mine, that used to get DD+ from Disney+ no longer get DD+ audio streamed to them, only LPCM 2.0 (48kHz). I know that Prime Video still stream DD+ and from what I’ve read, Netflix too, also continue to accommodate older AV Equipment & Devices with DD+ audio streams.
I pointed out to the Help Rep what I was told does not match the information on Disney’s Help Centre at ‘Help Centre > Watching Disney+ > Audio Quality on Disney+’ provided below:
– Which audio formats are supported?
Disney+ offers a growing library of content in “5.1 surround sound” and “Dolby Atmos”. Surely by “5.1 surround” content Disney mean DD or DD+ because Dolby Atmos is distinguished in the sentence from 5.1 surround sound. Otherwise they would state Dolby Atmos 5.1?
– Why am I getting low-quality audio?
If you’re getting low-quality audio, try these troubleshooting steps to help resolve the issue:
Make sure the title you’re watching supports the audio format you need. Duh!
Confirm that your audio system is compatible with DD+ (for 5.1 surround sound) and/or Dolby Atmos. My AV Amp is most definitely compatible with DD+ but not Atmos.
All components should support high-bandwidth digital content, including HDMI cables. Love the lack of detail here! Does whoever wrote this even now what they are talking about? To the best of my knowledge my setup ticks this box.
Older audio components can have an impact on quality and possibly prevent playback entirely. Again a major lack of detail. But as far as I’m concerned, my equipment should get me DD+, and indeed used too, until Disney changed ‘something’.
Check your internet connection. Yes, the connection is fine. Prime Video works fine and delivers DD+ audio.
Take a speed test on your device and compare the results with our recommended connection speeds. Result, all good.
I also saw some interesting information from Wikipedia about DD+ and its relation to Dolby Atmos. “Dolby Atmos bitstreams are encoded to be backwards compatible with DD+ decoders, and as such Dolby Atmos can be decoded by DD+ compatible devices. This has been marketed by Dolby, as the lossy compression variation of Dolby Atmos under the label “Dolby Digital Plus Atmos” to differentiate it from the lossless DolbyHD-based original. Most DD+ bitstreams are now encoded in Atmos encoding”.
The first part above implies Disney+ Atmos streams should indeed deliver a DD+ stream as well, but the second part mentions “DD+ Atmos” which I have not heard of until now. And finally the last part implies again that most DD+ streams are encoded in Atmos encoding”.
I don’t pretend to have any deep knowledge about streamed content from the likes of Disney+ and how the audio in particular works. But what I find troubling is that the Disney+ Help reps who should have an understanding, do not!
So after being told that Disney no longer support DD & DD+ and now only support Dolby Atmos I assumed I would not be able to get multichannel audio from Disney+ because I don’t have Atmos compatible equipment.
But I just so happened to have a Fire TV Stick 4K Max that I purchased but had not even unboxed. This streaming device is officially Atmos compatible. I installed it in my setup and found to my suprise I could get DD+ audio via the Disney+ app on the Fire TV Stick 4k Max. So Disney+ Help gave bad info when stating that DD+ is no longer available. But they got it partly right when stating Dolby Atmos compatible equipment is required now. So are the multichannel audio streams from Disney+ all now Dolby Atmos streams? Is this the fundamental ‘change’ Disney made that has caused so many problems and so much confusion for Disney+ customers? Does this explain why a Dolby Atmos compatible device is now required? Because DD+ will now only be extracted from an Atmos stream by a compatible device that can do it? And if no Atmos compatible device is used then DD+ cannot be extracted from the Atmos stream, only LPCM 2.0?
I have the Fire TV Stick 4K Max plugged into a HDMI input on my ‘non-Atmos’, Sony KD-55X9000F 4K TV. The Sony TV ARC HDMI input is connected to my ‘non-Atmos’, Sony STR-DN1040 AV Amp ARC output. HDMI Control must be enabled on both the TV and AV Amp before starting a stream to ensure a DD+ audio stream.
I have not tested a Google Chromecast with Google TV 4K because I do not have one, but it should work because it supports Dolby Atmos. I have a Discrete Chromecast Ultra 4K and most likely another Ultra 4K imbedded inside my Sony 4K TV, both of which do not have support for Atmos. Hence, neither provide DD+ audio from Disney+ streams.
It seems Disney has raised hardware requirements for their streaming service. If I had an Atmos compatible AV Amp I would get Dolby Atmos Audio, but because I don’t, my Amp gets the DD+ stream that is encoded into the Atmos stream, because it has that decoder. It follows, that when there is no Atmos compatible device in a setup (like the Fire TV Stick 4K Max in my case) the audio stream drops to LPCM 2.0 Channel.
Perhaps Disney decided those without Atmos equipment & Devices can get by with the simulated multichannel surround modes such as Dolby PLII or Neo: 6 that most AV amps can create from 2-channel audio sources. Another option is to use DSP Sound Fields if available. Note, LPCM 2.0 is high quality uncompressed 2-channel audio (CD quality). DD+ is compressed multichannel audio, usually 5.1, but it can accommodate more channels. Although DD+ is compressed audio, it’s preferable to many because the discrete 5.1 channels provide better surround sound effects steering compared to an AV Amp simulated multichannel audio from a 2.0 Channel source.
I cannot understand why Disney made whatever decision they did to make a change that will have disabled discrete multichannel audio for all their customers that have legacy AV equipment or devices. I can only assume it was a money saving exercise at the expense of many potentially disappointed customers. I’m disappointed.
Perhaps this is just the result of further technical progress? One thing for sure is that Disney have done a terrible job in rolling out this change by not informing their customers.