Bluetooth Audio Codecs
Compare Bluetooth audio codecs by their quality ceiling, release era, and device support. The best result still requires both the source device and headphones or speaker to support the same codec.
Start with audio quality
Lossless is the highest ceiling here. High-quality codecs can be excellent but remain connection and implementation dependent. Codec support alone does not guarantee audible improvement.
- Lossless
- Highest potential fidelity
- High quality
- Transparent or near-transparent potential
- Standard
- Broad compatibility first
Codec directory
11 codecs listed, ordered by quality ceiling.
- SBC: universal Bluetooth baseline, introduced 2003.
- AAC: broadly used lossy codec, introduced 1997.
- LC3: LE Audio codec, introduced 2020.
- LDAC: Sony high-quality codec, introduced 2015.
- LHDC: high-quality codec, introduced 2018.
- aptX HD: Qualcomm high-quality codec, introduced 2016.
- aptX: Qualcomm lossy codec, introduced 2009.
- aptX Adaptive: adaptive high-quality codec, introduced 2018.
- aptX Lossless: lossless-capable Qualcomm codec, introduced 2021.
- LC3plus High-Resolution: lossless-capable codec, introduced 2021.
- LC3plus: scalable codec, introduced 2019.