The Netflix update makes your Android phone’s bad speakers sound better

Netflix detailed an update for its Android app that should reduce the buffer and make the audio sound better and easier to hear over background noise. This was made possible thanks to the adoption of the xHE-AAC codec, which a Netflix blog post says should “improve intelligibility in noisy environments, adapt to changing cellular connections and scale to studio quality”. Netflix’s use of the codec was announced earlier this month and is available on devices running Android 9 and above.

xHE-AAC uses metadata to solve some different audio problems that people have when watching programs on mobile devices. Netflix explains that this is usually a problem with loud background noise that makes content difficult to hear, combined with weak, tiny speakers that sound bad when you try to turn up the volume. Inconsistent dialogue levels also mean that you have to constantly increase and decrease the volume between shows.

Netflix says xHE-AAC offers better dynamic range control, a technology that reduces the difference between the loudest and quietest parts of a show. The quiet content gets louder so you can hear it over background noise, and the volume of the loud content is reduced to avoid cuts, all in theory without sacrificing audio quality. Netflix also claims that the volume of dialogue is kept consistent across programs.

Finally, the codec also supports “continuous bit rate switching”, which means that it should work best in environments with inconsistent internet speeds. Netflix added adaptive bit rate functionality similar to its TV apps in 2019.

Netflix says the user test demonstrated the benefits of the codec. Volume changes between content are “noticeably low” and viewers stop using the speakers built into their phones 7% less often with the new codec. Netflix says it hopes to take the codec to other platforms that support it. For those who are following, iPhones have been compatible with xHE-AAC since the launch of iOS 13 in 2019.