Auracast Auracast broadcast audio (Bluetooth LE Audio)

What Auracast is

Auracast is a set of defined broadcast configurations built on Bluetooth LE Audio, specified through the Public Broadcast Profile. The Bluetooth SIG's overview paper (version 1.0, May 2024) describes the headline capability as broadcast audio, "where transmitters can broadcast audio to an unlimited number of receivers at the same time." It was first designed to complement telecoil hearing loops, and consumer electronics companies adopted it for sharing music, joining conference audio, hearing public announcements, and listening to TVs in public spaces.

The SIG's vocabulary has three roles. The transmitter is the device that sends an Auracast broadcast, the receiver is the device that plays it, and the assistant helps a receiver join. A phone app often plays the assistant: it scans advertisements, shows a selection screen that the SIG compares to picking a Wi-Fi network, and hands the receiver the details it needs. That is why earbuds without a screen can still join a stream.

How Auracast works

The audio is coded with LC3, the Low Complexity Communication Codec that the SIG released as a specification in September 2020. Every Auracast transmission must support the Standard Quality LC3 configuration, which the SIG describes as mono or stereo quality comparable to Bluetooth Classic audio, and a transmitter can step up to a High Quality configuration. Fora Soft's codec summary gives the underlying numbers: LC3 accepts 8, 16, 24, 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz sample rates, uses 10 ms or 7.5 ms frames, and Google's open source liblc3 accepts 16 to 320 kbit/s per stream. In Bluetooth SIG listening tests cited there, LC3 at 80 to 96 kbit/s scored higher than SBC at 132 to 198 kbit/s.

Streams can be public or private. The SIG says most public uses need no encryption, but "all Bluetooth LE Audio streams can be encrypted," with the key called the Broadcast_Code, usually an alphanumeric string like a Wi-Fi password or a QR code. A single TV can also send multiple streams at once, for example two languages, or a Dialogue Boost track alongside the main mix. The SIG's overview notes that most Amazon programs already have a Dialogue Boost audio track.

Latency is where Auracast earns its place near a TV. The SIG says LE Audio latency can be "almost an order of magnitude lower than those commonly experienced with Bluetooth Classic audio." Fora Soft lists LC3 codec delay at 12.5 ms for 10 ms frames and 11.5 ms for 7.5 ms frames, and notes these are codec-only figures; real end-to-end delay adds radio scheduling and the earbud's own buffering. The SIG says this removes lip-sync and echo problems for someone hearing both the room and the stream.

Auracast vs regular Bluetooth audio

Classic Bluetooth audio (A2DP with SBC, AAC or aptX) is a connection: one phone or TV pairs with one headset. Auracast is a broadcast: the TV never knows who is listening, so there is no pairing and no listener cap. Each receiver also sets its own volume, which is the SIG's example of two people watching the same TV at different levels.

The trade-off is compatibility. Fora Soft notes LC3 only applies when both source and earbuds support LE Audio, and many earbuds still fall back to SBC; its 2026 update adds that "iPhone supports neither LC3 nor Auracast." Samsung's support page says listeners "need an audio device that supports Bluetooth LE Audio, such as a speaker or headphones." Tom's Guide notes that Bluetooth 5.2 and later chips are capable of Auracast but the manufacturer has to activate it, so an older headset will not join a stream no matter what the TV can do.

Which TVs support Auracast

Samsung's support page lists broadcast (Auracast source) support on Galaxy phones and tablets running One UI 6.1.1 or later and on "2024 NeoQLED 8K QND800, QND900, 2023 Neo QLED 8K and 2023 MICRO LED models." Tom's Guide reports Samsung first added TV support in August 2023 and that Samsung's 2025 TV product pages do not mention it.

LG is the more visible 2025 case. Tom's Guide found Auracast broadcasting in the Sound menu of an LG C5 OLED with options for 16 kHz, 24 kHz or 48 kHz transmissions, and says LG confirmed that all 2025 OLED TVs and the QNED85A series and above support it. The reviewer joined the stream with three headsets at once (JBL Tour One M3, Earfun Air Pro 4 and LG xboom Buds) while streaming Dune from Max, heard no lip-sync problem, and also played the TV audio through an Onkyo RZ30 AVR with no audible delay against the headphones. LG's product page for the C5 did not mention Auracast at all, only Bluetooth 5.3, so check the menu rather than the spec sheet.

Sony BRAVIA support was not confirmed in the sources loaded for this entry, so that gap is left open rather than guessed. For an older TV, the SIG notes a TV may have an Auracast transmitter built in, or a user can plug in an Auracast transmitter adaptor to a TV audio output.

Worked example: bedroom listening

You want to watch a late movie without waking a partner. With a 2025 LG OLED, you open the Sound menu, switch on Auracast broadcasting and pick the 48 kHz option, then join the stream from an earbud app. If the earbuds are LE Audio devices, the link uses LC3, and the SIG's claim of far lower latency than Bluetooth Classic is what keeps dialogue on the lips. If the same earbuds only speak SBC, you are back to a normal pairing and its typical delay (see Bluetooth audio codecs and lip-sync delay).

For wireless surround speakers, do not confuse this with Dolby Atmos FlexConnect or proprietary wireless protocols: Auracast is for listeners, not for a calibrated multichannel speaker system, though Tom's Guide speculates a TV could one day be that hub.