Audio communications protocols

thumb|S/PDIF and TOSLINK connectors on a piece of audio equipment

AirPlay is a proprietary wireless communication protocol stack/suite developed by Apple Inc. that allows the streaming of multimedia and device screens, together with related metadata, between compatible devices. Originally implemented only in Apple's own software and hardware, the company has since licensed the AirPlay protocol stack to third-party manufacturers and it has been implemented on devices such as television sets and home audio systems. AirPlay works through either a direct peer-to-peer connection between devices or through an infrastructure local network.

TOSLINK (Toshiba Link) is a standardized optical fiber connector system. Generically known as optical audio, the most common use of the TOSLINK optical fiber connector is in consumer audio equipment in which the digital optical socket carries (transmits) a stream of digital audio signals from audio equipment (CD player, DVD player, Digital Audio Tape recorder, computer, video game console) to an AV receiver that can decode two channels of uncompressed, pulse-code modulated (PCM) audio; or decode compressed 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound audio signals, such as Dolby Digital and DTS. Unlike an HDMI c

AES3 is a standard for the exchange of digital audio signals between professional audio devices. An AES3 signal can carry two channels of pulse-code-modulated digital audio over several transmission media including balanced lines, unbalanced lines, and optical fiber.

'''AC'97' (Audio Codec '97; also 'MC'97' for Modem Codec '97'') is an audio codec standard developed by Intel Architecture Labs and various codec manufacturers in 1997. The standard was used in motherboards, modems, and sound cards.

Inter-Integrated Circuit Sound (I²S, I2S or IIS) is a serial interface protocol for transmitting two-channel, digital audio as pulse-code modulation (PCM) between integrated circuit (IC) components of an electronic device. An I²S bus separates clock and serial data signals, resulting in simpler receivers than those required for asynchronous communications systems that need to recover the clock from the data stream.

specification for the audio sub-system of personal computers

content format for messaging among computers, sound synthesizers, and other multimedia devices