ATSC has announced the completion of a major revision to A/85, its Recommended Practice titled Techniques for Establishing and Maintaining Audio Loudness for Digital Television. It is the document’s first comprehensive update since 2013 and reflects more than a decade of change in television production, distribution and content delivery.
The revised practice adds numerous technical clarifications and introduces two new annexes. One gives guidance for maintaining consistent loudness in streaming media services using both metadata-based and non-metadata-based audio codecs; the other is a Loudness and True Peak Quick Reference intended to make implementation simpler for engineers and content providers.
The updated A/85 covers recommendations for audio measurement, monitoring, production, metadata management, dynamic-range control and loudness management across the creation and delivery chain. As media organizations move toward IP-based and hybrid broadcast-broadband models, extending loudness guidance beyond traditional broadcast workflows supports more consistent audio presentation while reducing operational complexity for multiplatform delivery.