The DTS Music Disc DTS Audio CD or 5.1 Music Disc is an audio Compact Disc

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 that contains music in surround sound

Surround sound

Surround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...

 format. It is a predecessor of DVD Audio. Physically, it conforms to the Red Book

Red Book (audio CD standard)

Red Book is the standard for audio CDs . It is named after one of the Rainbow Books, a series of books that contain the technical specifications for all CD and CD-ROM formats.The first edition of the Red Book was released in 1980 by Philips and Sony; it was adopted by the Digital Audio Disc...

 standard, except for the way the music is encoded on the CD. Where regular CDs store the music as linear PCM, the DTS-CD stores music using the DTS

Digital Theater System

DTS is a series of multichannel audio technologies owned by DTS, Inc. , an American company specializing in digital surround sound formats used for both commercial/theatrical and consumer grade applications...

 format, with the same fixed bitrate as 16-bit linear PCM, namely 1,411,200 bit/s or roughly 1,378 Kib

Kibibit

The kibibit is a multiple of the bit, a unit of digital information storage, prefixed by the standards-based multiplier kibi , a binary prefix meaning 210...

/s.

As opposed to other surround formats, such as Super Audio CD

Super Audio CD

Super Audio CD is a high-resolution, read-only optical disc for audio storage. Sony and Philips Electronics jointly developed the technology, and publicized it in 1999. It is designated as the Scarlet Book standard. Sony and Philips previously collaborated to define the Compact Disc standard...

 and DVD-Audio

DVD-Audio

DVD-Audio is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio is not intended to be a video delivery format and is not the same as video DVDs containing concert films or music videos....

, which require a specialized player, a DTS-CD is compatible with most standard CD and DVD players with a digital (S/PDIF

S/PDIF

S/PDIF is a digital audio interconnect used in consumer audio equipment over relatively short distances. The signal is transmitted over either a coaxial cable with RCA connectors or a fiber optic cable with TOSLINK connectors. S/PDIF interconnects components in home theaters and other digital high...

) output. These players will recognize the disk as a standard audio CD. The only requirement is an audio processor, usually a receiver

AV receiver

AV receivers or audio-video receivers are one of the many consumer electronics components typically found within a home theatre system. Their primary purpose is to amplify sound from a multitude of possible audio sources as well as route video signals to your TV from various sources. The user may...

that can decode the DTS audio stream.

Available surround content variations include 5.1, 5.1 ES, and 6.1 ES, each with or without the optional LFE channel.