How to Convert EAC3 Audio to AC3 or AAC With XMedia Recode

Your file has an EAC3 soundtrack and something in the chain will not play it - a TV, an older phone, a car stereo, a program that just gives you silence. Converting the audio track fixes it for good.

EAC3, also written E-AC-3 and sold as Dolby Digital Plus, is the audio on most streaming rips and a great many Blu-ray remuxes.

It sounds excellent, and it is not supported everywhere.

The reason is licensing rather than difficulty.

Dolby charges for the decoder, so budget devices and some free apps leave it out and hand you a silent video or a blunt "EAC3 Audio Not Supported" message.

This guide converts that track to AC3 or AAC using XMedia Recode, which is free, and leaves the video completely untouched so the job takes minutes rather than hours.

First, check you actually need to convert

Converting re-encodes audio that has already been compressed once, so a little quality goes every time. If you can solve the problem by changing player instead, do that.

• Watching on a computer, phone or tablet? Install a player that already decodes EAC3 - our roundup of players that decode EAC3 out of the box covers the good ones.
• On Android specifically? VLC for Android handles it with nothing to configure, and PotPlayer does the same on Windows.
• Attached to MX Player? The MX Player Custom Codec restores EAC3 without touching your files - see EAC3 audio not supported in MX Player for the version matching.

Convert when you cannot install anything on the device that has to play the file. Smart TVs, USB playback, car head units, games consoles, older tablets and anything you are sending to someone else all fall into that group.

AC3 or AAC? Decide before you start

This is the only real decision in the process, and it depends entirely on what has to play the file.

AC3 is the safe default for anything that reaches a television. It has been in every set-top box and receiver for two decades, and it carries 5.1 without argument.

AAC wins on phones and browsers, but it will usually downmix your surround track to stereo, which is a real loss on a film. If that trade matters to you, our comparison of DTS, AC3 and AAC goes into where each one is genuinely better.

Step 1: Load the file into XMedia Recode

Download XMedia Recode free and install it. It is Windows only, and there is nothing bundled with it.

Open the program and click Open File, then pick the video with the EAC3 track. XMedia Recode reads the streams and lists every audio track it finds.

Step 2: Choose the output container

Go to the Format tab and pick your container. This is the wrapper, not the audio format, and the two choices behave differently.

• MKV holds as many audio tracks as you like, so pick it if you want to keep the original EAC3 alongside the new track.
• MP4 is the safer bet for TVs, phones and anything reading from a USB stick, because some devices will not open MKV at all.

If your target device is fussy enough to lack an EAC3 decoder, it is often fussy about containers too. MP4 is the more conservative answer.

Step 3: Set the video to Copy

This is the step the job actually turns on, and it is the one most people miss.

Copying the video and re-encoding one audio track is a partial remux, and it is why this job is so quick. Our guide on the difference between transcoding and remuxing explains why one costs hours and the other does not.

Step 4: Convert the audio track

Open the Audio tab and select the EAC3 track from the list. Set Mode to Convert, then choose your Codec.

Two settings sit underneath the codec and both are worth a moment.

1. Bitrate. For AC3 in 5.1 use 448 kbps, the broadcast standard, and for AAC in stereo 192 to 256 kbps is plenty.
2. Channels. Leave it at the source layout to keep 5.1, or set it to 2.0 if the target is a phone, a laptop or a single speaker.
3. Sample rate. Leave this alone - the source is almost always 48 kHz and changing it gains you nothing.

Want to keep the original as well? Add a second audio track in the same tab, set the first to Copy and the second to Convert, and the output carries both.

Step 5: Add to queue and encode

Click Add to Queue, then Encode. XMedia Recode writes a new file and leaves your original exactly where it was.

With the video set to Copy this finishes fast, often quicker than the film is long. If it is grinding away for hours, go back and check Step 3.

If it still does not play

A converted file that behaves no better usually has one of four things wrong with it.

• Silent output. The new track was probably added without the old one being deselected, so the device is still landing on EAC3 - remove or reorder the tracks so your new one is first.
• The file is enormous. The video got re-encoded, which means Step 3 did not take.
• The TV still refuses it. The container may be the problem rather than the audio, so try MP4 instead of MKV.
• Audio drifts out of sync. Rare with Copy on the video, and usually a variable frame rate in the source - check what the file actually contains before re-running it.

Not sure what you are starting with? The online codec finder tells you what is inside a file without installing anything.

Other tools that do this job

XMedia Recode is the friendliest option on Windows, but it is not the only one.

• MKVToolNix swaps and reorders tracks inside MKV files without re-encoding anything, which is ideal when you already have an AC3 track to add.
• eac3to is the specialist for Dolby formats, handling EAC3, TrueHD and DTS-HD from the command line.
• HandBrake and FFmpeg both do the same job, the first with presets and the second with total control.
• For a bare audio file rather than a video, the online audio converter handles it in your browser.

Quick questions

Set the video to Copy, convert only the audio track, and pick AC3 for a television or AAC for a phone. Done that way the file plays everywhere and the picture is untouched.

The rest of the audio codecs section covers the formats around it, and Windows Sonic, Dolby Atmos and DTS explains what your system is doing with them.

Download XMedia Recode and see how it handles your files, or tell us how you got on if you have already tried it.