Developer hacks Apple TV 4K to support Blu-ray quality Dolby Atmos TrueHD audio

A Reddit user has developed a workaround to enable lossless Dolby TrueHD audio with Atmos effects on the third-generation Apple TV 4K. While the device officially supports only the compressed Dolby Digital Plus codec, the new method decodes TrueHD and its 3D metadata separately, maps them to a 9.1.6-channel configuration, and converts the output into Apple’s proprietary Positional Audio Codec (APAC). This process allows the hardware to deliver high-quality spatial audio that rivals Blu-ray performance. Currently, the solution requires users to build the software themselves using Xcode and an Apple developer account, though there are proposals to integrate this functionality into open-source media players like Nuvio. The project relies on existing open-source tools such as the AetherEngine and LibTrueHD, aiming to provide an alternative to closed-source solutions while offering the community greater transparency and control over audio processing on tvOS.