LC3 and LC3Plus - New audio codecs used in Bluetooth LE audio in Bluetooth 5.2

hajj_3 · 8th January 2020, 10:54

https://www.bluetooth.com/learn-abou...logy/le-audio/
https://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/ff/...ation/lc3.html
https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_tr...90v010101p.pdf
https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts...24v010101p.pdf
https://www.anandtech.com/show/15349...or-next-decade

Interesting new developments in the Bluetooth 5.2 spec, it supports a new audio standard called LE audio which is a complete re-write of the audio stack, it uses the Low Complexity Communications Codec (LC3) and an optional one called LC3plus which i think is for higher bitrates.

LE audio supports bluetooth hearing aids and can send the fairly new wideband phone call audio codec EVS (enhanced voice services) to bluetooth LE devices.

LC3 and LC3plus was co-created by Fraunhofer IIS and Ericsson. The LC3plus codec can not only be used for Bluetooth, it also supports VoIP or DECT. I'm not sure whether this means that EVS can also be used between cellphones and voip phones using the LC3plus without re-encoding or not.

LC3 offers nearly 3x better compression than the older SBC codec used by Bluetooth. Also apparently this codec is better than Opus at 32kbps.

hajj_3 · 10th January 2020, 15:23

It seems as though Qualcomm announced their own propriatory voice call codec that works with bluetooth called AptX a few days ago: https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releas...ty-voice-calls

8th January 2020, 10:54	#1 \| Link
hajj_3 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 1,126	LC3 and LC3Plus - New audio codecs used in Bluetooth LE audio in Bluetooth 5.2 https://www.bluetooth.com/learn-abou...logy/le-audio/ https://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/ff/...ation/lc3.html https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_tr...90v010101p.pdf https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts...24v010101p.pdf https://www.anandtech.com/show/15349...or-next-decade Interesting new developments in the Bluetooth 5.2 spec, it supports a new audio standard called LE audio which is a complete re-write of the audio stack, it uses the Low Complexity Communications Codec (LC3) and an optional one called LC3plus which i think is for higher bitrates. LE audio supports bluetooth hearing aids and can send the fairly new wideband phone call audio codec EVS (enhanced voice services) to bluetooth LE devices. LC3 and LC3plus was co-created by Fraunhofer IIS and Ericsson. The LC3plus codec can not only be used for Bluetooth, it also supports VoIP or DECT. I'm not sure whether this means that EVS can also be used between cellphones and voip phones using the LC3plus without re-encoding or not. LC3 offers nearly 3x better compression than the older SBC codec used by Bluetooth. Also apparently this codec is better than Opus at 32kbps. Last edited by hajj_3; 8th January 2020 at 12:48.

10th January 2020, 15:23	#2 \| Link
hajj_3 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 1,126	It seems as though Qualcomm announced their own propriatory voice call codec that works with bluetooth called AptX a few days ago: https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releas...ty-voice-calls