Apple - macOS Overview

Mar 13, 2025
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Apple-macOS-Overview

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sryan1.5548589383693281E12, 3/13/2025 7:48 PM

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kciec, 3/13/2025 7:51 PM

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Dolby Audio™ and Dolby Atmos™

Support for Dolby Audio was first introduced in 2015 with macOS El Capitan (10.11) and support for Dolby Atmos was added with macOS Catalina (10.15) in October 2019.

Mac laptops released in 2018 or later can play Dolby Atmos and Dolby Audio content over the device speakers for a great spatial and immersive audio experience.

Mac computers with Apple silicon can play Dolby Atmos and Dolby Audio content over Spatial Audio headphones such as Air Pods Pro and Air Pods Max.

macOS ships with native CoreAudio decoders for all the major Dolby formats:

Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital Plus
Dolby Atmos (using the Dolby Digital Plus with JOC format)

The macOS Dolby audio decoders are accessible to all developers building apps on the platform, and support for Dolby Audio and/or Dolby Atmos playback is also built into native applications such as Safari, QuickTime Player, QuickLook, DVD Player, etc.

AVFoundation - Media playback

Dolby Vision

Starting with macOS Catalina (10.15), Dolby Vision HDR playback is supported on macOS, taking advantage of the P3 Wide Color support on Mac displays and also leveraging the full brightness range of the display. Macs from 2018 and later (and also iMac Pro) are enabled for a new generation of video content that can make full use of the display’s capabilities, with stunning, accurate colors, true blacks, high brightness, and greatly increased contrast.

Just like for Dolby Audio, support for playing back Dolby Vision content is integrated deeply into the OS, including native support in AVPlayer and the HTTP Live Streaming stack. This means that any developer can easily create an app that streams Dolby Vision HDR content.

Creating content in Dolby formats

Support for encoding content in Dolby Audio and Dolby Vision is included in a number of content creation applications on macOS, including in Apple’s own suite of professional applications with support for Dolby formats encoding and decoding in Final Cut Pro, Compressor, and Motion.

Device support

Devices based on Apple M series chips

Mac model	Dolby Vision Playback	Dolby Atmos (using Dolby Digital Plus with JOC)	Dolby Audio (using Dolby Digital / Dolby Digital Plus)
iMac / iMac Pro (Apple Silicon, 2021 and later) MacBook Air (Apple Silicon, 2020 and later) MacBook Pro (Apple Silicon, 2020 and later)	Dolby Vision playback is supported on devices running macOS 10.15 and later. Supported Dolby Vision profiles: Dolby Vision profile 5 Dolby Vision profile 8.4 Support for the Dolby Vision profiles below is limited to devices running on the Apple M3 chip or newer. Dolby Vision profile 10 Dolby Vision profile 10.4	Playback on built-in speakers (macOS 10.15 and later) Playback when connected to Spatial Audio headphones (macOS 10.15 and later)	Playback on built-in speakers (macOS 10.11 and later) Playback when connected to Spatial Audio headphones (macOS 10.11 and later)
Mac Studio (Apple Silicon, 2022 and later) Mac Pro (Apple Silicon, 2023 and later) Mac mini (Apple Silicon, 2020 and later)	Dolby Vision playback is supported: On devices running macOS 10.15 and later. When a capable display is connected (e.g. Pro Display XDR). Supported Dolby Vision profiles: Dolby Vision profile 5 Dolby Vision profile 8.4 Support for the Dolby Vision profiles below is limited to devices running on the Apple M3 chip or newer. Dolby Vision profile 10 Dolby Vision profile 10.4	Playback when connected to Spatial Audio headphones (macOS 10.15 and later)

Mac model

Dolby Vision Playback

Dolby Atmos
(using Dolby Digital Plus with JOC)

Dolby Audio
(using Dolby Digital / Dolby Digital Plus)

iMac / iMac Pro (Apple Silicon, 2021 and later)

MacBook Air (Apple Silicon, 2020 and later)

MacBook Pro (Apple Silicon, 2020 and later)

Dolby Vision playback is supported on devices running macOS 10.15 and later.

Supported Dolby Vision profiles:

Dolby Vision profile 5
Dolby Vision profile 8.4

Support for the Dolby Vision profiles below is limited to devices running on the Apple M3 chip or newer.

Dolby Vision profile 10
Dolby Vision profile 10.4

Playback on built-in speakers (macOS 10.15 and later)
Playback when connected to Spatial Audio headphones (macOS 10.15 and later)

Playback on built-in speakers (macOS 10.11 and later)
Playback when connected to Spatial Audio headphones (macOS 10.11 and later)

Mac Studio (Apple Silicon, 2022 and later)

Mac Pro (Apple Silicon, 2023 and later)

Mac mini (Apple Silicon, 2020 and later)

Dolby Vision playback is supported:

On devices running macOS 10.15 and later.
When a capable display is connected (e.g. Pro Display XDR).

Supported Dolby Vision profiles:

Dolby Vision profile 5
Dolby Vision profile 8.4

Support for the Dolby Vision profiles below is limited to devices running on the Apple M3 chip or newer.

Dolby Vision profile 10
Dolby Vision profile 10.4

Playback when connected to Spatial Audio headphones (macOS 10.15 and later)

Devices based on Intel chips

Mac model	Dolby Vision Playback	Dolby Atmos (using Dolby Digital Plus with JOC)	Dolby Audio (using Dolby Digital / Dolby Digital Plus)
MacBook Air (Intel, 2018 and later) MacBook Pro (Intel, 2018 and later)	Dolby Vision playback is supported on devices running macOS 10.15 and later. Supported Dolby Vision profiles: Dolby Vision profile 5 Dolby Vision profile 8.4	Playback on built-in speakers (macOS 10.15 and later)	Playback on built-in speakers (macOS 10.11 and later) Playback when connected to Spatial Audio headphones (macOS 10.11 and later)
Mac Pro (Intel, 2019 and later) Mac mini (Intel, 2018 and later)	Dolby Vision playback is supported: On devices running macOS 10.15 and later. When a capable display is connected (e.g. Pro Display XDR). Supported Dolby Vision profiles: Dolby Vision profile 5 Dolby Vision profile 8.4	Not supported
iMac (Intel, 2019 and later)	Dolby Vision playback is supported on devices running macOS 10.15 and later. Supported Dolby Vision profiles: Dolby Vision profile 5 Dolby Vision profile 8.4	Not supported

Mac model

Dolby Vision Playback

Dolby Atmos
(using Dolby Digital Plus with JOC)

Dolby Audio
(using Dolby Digital / Dolby Digital Plus)

MacBook Air (Intel, 2018 and later)

MacBook Pro (Intel, 2018 and later)

Dolby Vision playback is supported on devices running macOS 10.15 and later.

Supported Dolby Vision profiles:

Dolby Vision profile 5
Dolby Vision profile 8.4

Playback on built-in speakers (macOS 10.15 and later)

Playback on built-in speakers (macOS 10.11 and later)
Playback when connected to Spatial Audio headphones (macOS 10.11 and later)

Mac Pro (Intel, 2019 and later)

Mac mini (Intel, 2018 and later)

Dolby Vision playback is supported:

On devices running macOS 10.15 and later.
When a capable display is connected (e.g. Pro Display XDR).

Supported Dolby Vision profiles:

Dolby Vision profile 5
Dolby Vision profile 8.4

Not supported

iMac (Intel, 2019 and later)

Dolby Vision playback is supported on devices running macOS 10.15 and later.

Supported Dolby Vision profiles:

Dolby Vision profile 5
Dolby Vision profile 8.4

Not supported

Support in web browsers

Browser	Dolby Vision Playback	Dolby Atmos (using Dolby Digital Plus / JOC)	Dolby Audio (using Dolby Digital / Dolby Digital Plus)
Apple Safari	Capabilities detection APIs: MediaCapabilities (Dolby Vision profile 5 and profile 8) MediaSource (isTypeSupported) (Dolby Vision profile 5 and profile 8) Media playback methods: Native playback path (support for Dolby Vision profile 5 and profile 8.4)	Capabilities detection APIs: Not supported Media playback methods: Native playback path	Capabilities detection APIs: MediaCapabilities MediaSource (isTypeSupported) Media playback methods: Native playback path
Google Chrome	Not supported	Not supported	Not supported
Mozilla Firefox	Not supported	Not supported	Not supported
Microsoft Edge	Not supported	Not supported	Not supported