Broadcom, Inc., a leader in semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions, will soon be offering chips equipped with Fraunhofer IIS’s LC3 audio codec implementation.
LC3 (Low Complexity Communication Codec) is the audio codec for Bluetooth LE Audio. This new audio architecture will enhance the performance of Bluetooth audio products in the future – both for voice calls and for media playback including music.
The LC3 codec, jointly developed by Fraunhofer IIS and Ericsson, provides high voice and audio quality even at low bit rates, thus overcoming major shortcomings of today’s wireless communication platforms. A reduction of the required bit rate by about 50 percent compared to its predecessor, the SBC codec, enables energy-saving audio services. This prolongs the battery life of the products or facilitates the creation of smaller devices. The codec’s complexity meets the requirements of wireless communication platforms and it operates at low latency and with reasonable memory requirements. Thanks to LC3’s flexible codec design, applications are not limited to voice and standard wireless music streaming services, but can be extended to high-resolution music streaming by implementing the LC3plus superset.
“We are very pleased to welcome Broadcom as a new licensee of our LC3 implementation. Bluetooth SIG has recently adopted the codec specification, so we can expect the first products soon,” says Manfred Lutzky, head of the Audio for Communications department at Fraunhofer IIS.
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