ISO/IEC 14496-3 (2009-08)

ISO/IEC 14496-3:2009 integrates many different types of audio coding: natural sound with synthetic sound, low bitrate delivery with high-quality delivery and lossless coding, speech with music, complex soundtracks with simple ones, and traditional content with interactive and virtual-reality content. By standardizing individually sophisticated coding tools - as well as a novel, flexible framework for audio synchronization, mixing and downloaded post-production - ISO/IEC 14496-3:2009 creates adequate technology for a new, interactive world of digital audio.
ISO/IEC 14496-3:2009, unlike previous audio standards created by ISO/IEC and other groups, does not target a single application such as real-time telephony or high-quality audio compression. Rather, it applies to every application requiring the use of advanced sound compression, synthesis, manipulation or playback. ISO/IEC 14496-3:2009 specifies state-of-the-art coding tools in several domains. As these tools are integrated with the other parts of ISO/IEC 14496, new possibilities for object-based audio coding, interactive presentation, dynamic soundtracks, and other sorts of new media are enabled.
Since a single set of tools is used to cover the needs of a broad range of applications, interoperability is a natural feature of systems that build on ISO/IEC 14496-3:2009.